Skimmer Added, Alk Consumption Up

[infinite0180]

hey guys,

I added a skimmer last weekend to my 20 gallon nano. I had been dialing in Alk and Cal dosing by checking dialy for the week before i added the skimmer. I had just got to the piont where i was confident enough to dial back my testing and started doing it every other day. Then mid way through the week i tested my Alk at the same time as always and it was way down. I was shocked so i upped my Alk dose and waited 24 hours. Sure enough it was low again. So im increasing again to try and find my new balance. Now it just dawned on me, could the increase in airation from my oversized skimmer be driving my pH up enough to effect my Alk levels? I remember reading that with higher pH comes higher calcification/abiotic precipitation. Anybody else ever notice this? Im kind of shocked by how much Alk im using now. I have two small sps frags, a small chalice frag, a small hammer, a small acan, and a few small ricordea. Im not really noticing any visible growth. Also i have slowly been ramping up my lighting as well but i stopped that this week in order to solve this Alk issue. The swing in consumption is up to 0.7 dkh a day now. Is that unheard of for a lightly stocked mixed tank like mine? Thanks!

 

[Brew12]

hey guys,

I added a skimmer last weekend to my 20 gallon nano. I had been dialing in Alk and Cal dosing by checking dialy for the week before i added the skimmer. I had just got to the piont where i was confident enough to dial back my testing and started doing it every other day. Then mid way through the week i tested my Alk at the same time as always and it was way down. I was shocked so i upped my Alk dose and waited 24 hours. Sure enough it was low again. So im increasing again to try and find my new balance. Now it just dawned on me, could the increase in airation from my oversized skimmer be driving my pH up enough to effect my Alk levels? I remember reading that with higher pH comes higher calcification/abiotic precipitation. Anybody else ever notice this? Im kind of shocked by how much Alk im using now. I have two small sps frags, a small chalice frag, a small hammer, a small acan, and a few small ricordea. Im not really noticing any visible growth. Also i have slowly been ramping up my lighting as well but i stopped that this week in order to solve this Alk issue. The swing in consumption is up to 0.7 dkh a day now. Is that unheard of for a lightly stocked mixed tank like mine? Thanks!

What has your calcium been doing? Are you seeing an increase it it's consumption, also? If so, I feel you can contribute it to coral growth.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

More aeration will increase the pH if the tank has more CO2 in it than the air used for the skimmer.

Many people plumb outside air to their skimmer specifically to raise pH if they have excess CO2 in their indoor home air.

 

[infinite0180]

Thanks guys.

So as far as calcium is concerned i kind of had a little issue. I had my calcium where i wanted it last weekend and the plan was to test friday and adjust accordingly. Well i used the wrong titration reagent twice in a row on the red sea cal test (used the mag reagent) and as a result i had a little panic attack because i thought my cal was way down as well. In a tizzy i added calcium to my tank to start the process of bringing it up. Then i went to test mag and it dawned on me that i used the wrong reagent when titrating. So then i tested cal again with the right reagent and got a 430. But that was after the 6 ml of red sea cal i had added, so i didnt get to see exactly how much cal i consumed this week. Last time i checked cal it was last sunday and it was 415. So if my rough math is correct i added about 20 ppm cal. That means cal only decreased about 5 pmm since sunday.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I don't see any issue to be concerned with related to calcium.

 

[infinite0180]

I don't see any issue to be concerned with related to calcium.

Thanks. My acans are deffinitely ticked at me today due to all this fluctuation i assume. I really have been focused on stability but this week i got all messed up! Im going to try and slowly dial it in today. Im going to look into dosing pumps as well so i can have dosing be stable throughout the day. Im also going to switch from red sea alk and cal to something else. Is the "balling method" when alk and cal are concentrated to be dosed in equal amounts? I think thats what i want to do instead of dosing them independantly!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thanks. My acans are deffinitely ****** at me today due to all this fluctuation i assume. I really have been focused on stability but this week i got all messed up! Im going to try and slowly dial it in today. Im going to look into dosing pumps as well so i can have dosing be stable throughout the day. Im also going to switch from red sea alk and cal to something else. Is the "balling method" when alk and cal are concentrated to be dosed in equal amounts? I think thats what i want to do instead of dosing them independantly!

A two part or balling are often designed to dose equal parts, and I think they are a big improvement over dosing them separately.

What exactly were you dosing?

 

[infinite0180]

A two part or balling are often designed to dose equal parts, and I think they are a big improvement over dosing them separately.

What exactly were you dosing?

I have red sea foundation A B C. They are NOT a true two part. They are meant to be supplemented independantly... i just wasnt sure if two part and balling were the same thing. I am going to switch to one once i use this red sea stuff up. I think dosing them equally is a much smarter idea. Are you the one who developed that method?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Bob Stark of ESV developed the original two part, and Hans Werner Balling invented the Balling method.

My contribution was to publish DIY recipes that companies like BRS use.

I can't really imagine why Red Sea and a few other companies do not make their products at concentrations to allow 1:1 dosing, but I agree Red Sea does not. Their liquid foundation is skewed to a lot more alk part needed.

I discuss and compare different methods here:


The Many Methods for Supplementing Calcium and Alkalinity - REEFEDITION
https://www.reef2reef.com/blog/the-many-methods-for-supplementing-calcium-and-alkalinity

 

[infinite0180]

Bob Stark of ESV developed the original two part, and Hans Werner Balling invented the Balling method.

My contribution was to publish DIY recipes that companies like BRS use.

I can't really imagine why Red Sea and a few other companies do not make their products at concentrations to allow 1:1 dosing, but I agree Red Sea does not. Their liquid foundation is skewed to a lot more alk part needed.

I discuss and compare different methods here:


The Many Methods for Supplementing Calcium and Alkalinity - REEFEDITION
https://www.reef2reef.com/blog/the-many-methods-for-supplementing-calcium-and-alkalinity

Awesome info, thanks. I was actually considering the ESV products just because i can get them locally easily. I would much prefer to just dose 1:1 and not deal with the extra testing involved with the red sea stuff. It leaves too mich room for error, especially with how busy i am. I also noticed ever since i dosed all the cal yesterday i have had very little skimmate production. Could that be related? My skimmer is new but has been pully a ton of gunk since day one.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Awesome info, thanks. I was actually considering the ESV products just because i can get them locally easily. I would much prefer to just dose 1:1 and not deal with the extra testing involved with the red sea stuff. It leaves too mich room for error, especially with how busy i am. I also noticed ever since i dosed all the cal yesterday i have had very little skimmate production. Could that be related? My skimmer is new but has been pully a ton of gunk since day one.

I can't see a reason that a calcium supplement or a rise in calcium would impact skimming. I suspect a coincidence.

 

[infinite0180]

I can't see a reason that a calcium supplement or a rise in calcium would impact skimming. I suspect a coincidence.

I figured. Its skimming decent again now. Also one more piece to the puzzle, my salinity came down 1 ppt due to the skimmer this week. Maybe this has had some effect on Alk? I raised it back up to slightly over 35 ppt where its been hovering for months...