Raising Alk after mixing a fresh batch of Tropic Marin

PigFarmer · Nov 9, 2019

Made the switch recently to tropic marin reef pro salt and I've been raising the ALk from its mixing point of 6.5 up to 8.5 before doing water changes using the red sea liquid Alk supplement... I'm a little concerned if I'm doing this wrong with just 1 part and will be causing a ionic imbalance over time by not dosing it equally with a 2 part solution? Thanks for any help!

hotdrop · Nov 9, 2019

Where do you want the CA to be at? If you want it at the mixed level you are doing ok except the ph will move around on you so you might have second order effects like settling or ph spikes if you dose too much

PigFarmer · Nov 9, 2019

hotdrop said:
Where do you want the CA to be at? If you want it at the mixed level you are doing ok except the ph will move around on you so you might have second order effects like settling or ph spikes if you dose too much

cal tested at at 425 after I dosed up the alk. I run a cal reactor and keep parameters around 440 and 8.8. mixing 40 gallon batches I only needed to add 40ml of the redsea Alk up to get me to 8.6 which I called close enough

maroun.c · Nov 9, 2019

Tropic marin pro mixes at 440 Ca for me so I dont bother raising Ca. I add around 120 ml of alk (Randy's formula) to raise alkto 9.5 to.match my tank. My water change is around 300 litres. A shame that the non pro version of the salt has lower alk and Mg so no solution for reefers not running ULNS.

Lukas75 · Nov 9, 2019

I'll second watching the pH. Other than that just make sure you are keeping the calcium and magnesium in line with the alkalinity to prevent precipitation.

Edit: The calcium looks fine for that level and if memory serves me correctly the mag should be fine too (at least from their stated amounts.)

PigFarmer · Nov 9, 2019

maroun.c said:
Tropic marin pro mixes at 440 Ca for me so I dont bother raising Ca. I add around 120 ml of alk (Randy's formula) to raise alkto 9.5 to.match my tank. My water change is around 300 litres. A shame that the non pro version of the salt has lower alk and Mg so no solution for reefers not running ULNS.

thanks. I agree. after 1 bucket I think the Hw reefer mix might be more user friendly and up my alley

Rollman · Nov 9, 2019

Hey-
I use TM as well and need to dose alk. I just try not to raise too much at once. you’ll have to monitor and see how it effects cal in your system. once you know how the alk is consumed you can focus on cal. Try not to chase both at once is my experience

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 9, 2019

PigFarmer said:
Made the switch recently to tropic marin reef pro salt and I've been raising the ALk from its mixing point of 6.5 up to 8.5 before doing water changes using the red sea liquid Alk supplement... I'm a little concerned if I'm doing this wrong with just 1 part and will be causing a ionic imbalance over time by not dosing it equally with a 2 part solution? Thanks for any help!

That's is perfectly fine and appropriate for one time corrections like this. Baking soda will work equally well.

PigFarmer · Nov 9, 2019

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
That's is perfectly fine and appropriate for one time corrections like this. Baking soda will work equally well.

thanks Randy! I might stay on this boat. I sure appreciate how clean it mixes and not cleaning the brown outta the mixing barrel

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 9, 2019

PigFarmer said:
thanks Randy! I might stay on this boat. I sure appreciate how clean it mixes and not cleaning the brown outta the mixing barrel

Sounds good.

Happy Reefing.

Reefahholic · Nov 9, 2019

I bet it’s nice to have a clean brute can. I have to do the opposite. I lower my AlK (Reef Crystals) with an acid buffer. The buffer lowers pH as it converts KH into available CO2. This drops my pH quite significantly. I keep air stones in my brute and allow the CO2 to blow off before I do a water change.

I would monitor the pH before and after you buffer the water to make sure you are not seeing a pH swing > 0.2 just to be on the safe side. You might need to wait a few hours after the dose.

maroun.c · Nov 9, 2019

One thing I'll.be doing is to set my doser to dose the set amount of alk I need to.compensate over 24 hours and I can slow down the water change (connected water change system ) by slowing the water flow to mixing tank for 24 hours and opening it back fully following day. This way I don't have to dose to water change limited volume.and possibly risk precipitation

PigFarmer · Nov 13, 2019

Reefahholic said:
I bet it’s nice to have a clean brute can. I have to do the opposite. I lower my AlK (Reef Crystals) with an acid buffer. The buffer lowers pH as it converts KH into available CO2. This drops my pH quite significantly. I keep air stones in my brute and allow the CO2 to blow off before I do a water change.

I would monitor the pH before and after you buffer the water to make sure you are not seeing a pH swing > 0.2 just to be on the safe side. You might need to wait a few hours after the dose.

Will do, i have been mixing the salt for around 2hrs then dosing the ALK up and doing the water change the next day

Reefahholic · Nov 13, 2019

PigFarmer said:
Will do, i have been mixing the salt for around 2hrs then dosing the ALK up and doing the water change the next day

That’s the safest way or just check pH before and when you want to do the change.

SeaDweller · Nov 13, 2019

maroun.c said:
Tropic marin pro mixes at 440 Ca for me so I dont bother raising Ca. I add around 120 ml of alk (Randy's formula) to raise alkto 9.5 to.match my tank. My water change is around 300 litres. A shame that the non pro version of the salt has lower alk and Mg so no solution for reefers not running ULNS.

Dont you mean the non pro version has HIGHER alk? it advertises in the 9-10 dKh range.

maroun.c · Nov 13, 2019

SeaDweller said:
Dont you mean the non pro version has HIGHER alk? it advertises in the 9-10 dKh range.

No that's not what I meant. Meant that the price has good ca and Mg but lower alk than what non ulns tanks require. And the non pro which has alk of about 9-10 has a lower Ca and mag which will need to be supplemented if used for a reef .