When to start dosing to reach desired kH

[Chickadeedeedee]

I have a very new tank (~1 month) and have been struggling a bit on kH.

Some general parameters:
75 gallon
Fully cycled
2x Clowns (will be stocking more as the tank matures)
Small frags of LPS and softie coral

I would like to target a kH closer to 7-8 dkH, but am sitting around 6.6-6.7 dkH. I have been doing 10% water changes with the Black bucket Red Sea salt which sits at a kH of ~11 dkH. I plan to switch to the blue once I creep up on some of my parameters (Ca and Mg are also low). I have not seen any improvement in kH. I have just passed the diatom uglies and am bracing myself for hair algae. I assume the tank is just sucking up all the carbonate that I am giving it. When do I need to start thinking about dosing kH up (very slowly of course)? Right now my philosophy is: stability stability stability, so I really want to be avoid chasing parameters. When is the critical kH where I risk damaging corals?

 

[bluemon]

I have a very new tank (~1 month) and have been struggling a bit on kH.

Some general parameters:
75 gallon
Fully cycled
2x Clowns (will be stocking more as the tank matures)
Small frags of LPS and softie coral

I would like to target a kH closer to 7-8 dkH, but am sitting around 6.6-6.7 dkH. I have been doing 10% water changes with the Black bucket Red Sea salt which sits at a kH of ~11 dkH. I plan to switch to the blue once I creep up on some of my parameters (Ca and Mg are also low). I have not seen any improvement in kH. I have just passed the diatom uglies and am bracing myself for hair algae. I assume the tank is just sucking up all the carbonate that I am giving it. When do I need to start thinking about dosing kH up (very slowly of course)? Right now my philosophy is: stability stability stability, so I really want to be avoid chasing parameters. When is the critical kH where I risk damaging corals?

6.6-6.7 is okay especially with small frags but dKH is something you should chase (to be stable).

You want to be stable at 7-8, and that is something to chase.

It’s not a questions Stability vs Chasing Parameters.

You DO want to chase the important parameters and keep them there.

Do you know what you want to dose for your tank yet?

Answer these questions for yourself

1. What type of corals do you want to keep?

2. What additive (AFR, kalkwasser, calcium reactor..) would you like to use, with preferences depending on your answer to #1 and size of tank

3. Determine the optimal dosage you need based on daily/weekly dKH/calc/mg usage, and the amount of water you change monthly

 

[painter1982]

You need to slowly raise dkh. Then always do water changes with desired dkh. Start dosing now to maintain desired dkh.

 

[Reef.]

A new tank even with no coral will have alk dips, pick a number say 8.5 and match that to the salt you use, it makes more sense when doing a water change to have both match, as you can see now, with a target of around 8, its a bit crazy to be using a salt of 11 dkh.

As for when to start, now would be good to get some practice in before adding corals…easiest way is to not dose to raise the alk but to dose to keep the alk at the level you want, if your alk is 7 and you want it at 8, add baking soda to get it to 8, doing this over 2 days will be fine, there are calculators online for the amount to add, then for dosing test how much the tank uses in 24 hours, test alk again after 24 hours, that then becomes the amount of alk you need to replace, pick your choice of alk to use, ALL FOR REEF is probably a good easy option to start.

 

[KStatefan]

To me the easiest when starting out is the have a jug of Randy's Recipe #2 (297g Baking Soda to make 1 gallon solution) on hand to make alk adjustments and use this calculator for amounts to get back to your target value.

You have to chase numbers to keep important values stable.