Manual dosing, timing and ALK swings

[Kooma]

Hey all, I am new to tracked dosing and am starting some ALK dosing and have mixed up a brightwell Alkaline 8.3p, 8oz water to 20grams powder. I am dosing this at about 8ml per day, but have been adding it daily all at once in the evenings before lights out.

I am finding that if I test around 1pm, I am at 9, but then testing at 8:30pm I am at 8.6. I can only assume that the dose in the evening is swinging my alk into the 10's or higher and I am not a fan.

Besides a doser, can i do this manually? Should alk be dosed evenly throughout the day, say 1lm every two or 3 hours? Are these daily spikes problematic for the corals? Pretty sure i know the answer, but want to ask as a search didn't turn up much.

I am thinking of picking up a ecotech versa and going to AFR to make life simple. Would this be the best recommendation?

Thanks!
Kooma

 

[UMALUM]

If your only consuming .4 through your photo period I seriously doubt your ever seeing 10. My tank consumes roughly .9 during the photo period and .4 lights out. There's no evidence that a "stable" alk has any benefit as long as it's kept available. I dose my full 1.4 at lights out.

 

[York1]

Invest in a quality dosing pump. One of the best things Ive bought

 

[Kooma]

If your only consuming .4 through your photo period I seriously doubt your ever seeing 10. My tank consumes roughly .9 during the photo period and .4 lights out. There's no evidence that a "stable" alk has any benefit as long as it's kept available. I dose my full 1.4 at lights out.

It would seem that I am either consuming or precipitating more though. if I test an hour after dosing, I am much higher than the goal, with the goal dose getting me to my low point by the same time each evening.

 

[NCsalt]

I dose my Alk in morning before I go to work. I think its a couple hours before photo period starts most days. I always test around 8:30pm if i’m going to. Stays between 8.3 and below 9. I dose a half teaspoon of Seachem Reefbuilder mixed with 7-8 oz RODI everyday. 40 Breeder “mix reef”. They reommend a beginner dose that amount only twice a week for that size tank. I think Alk is the most important test to conduct after tank somewhat settles in. Tank will be 2 years old end of the month.

Going to get back on my Quantum EZ on next order as I ran out of Alk but still use Cal mix.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

What size tank ware we talking about?

AFR is a fine choice, but it's certainly not always the "best" choice.

https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/pros-and-cons-of-alkalinity-and-calcium-dosing-methods.1069/

 

[Kooma]

What size tank ware we talking about?

AFR is a fine choice, but it's certainly not always the "best" choice.

https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/pros-and-cons-of-alkalinity-and-calcium-dosing-methods.1069/

30 gallon.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

For that size tank, I'd probably personally use AFR. As a one part that also includes many needed trace elements, it is much simplified compared to other methods, and cost is not as big of a concern as on a larger tank. It can be dosed once a day just fine in most tanks, but spreading it out over the light cycle is also OK.