howaboutme April 18, 2014 Author Share April 18, 2014 Tonight, I dosed a recipe that was suppose to raise my alk 1 dkh from last nights number. It didn't. It only raised it 0.3 dkh. I am now at a whopping 6.6 dkh! Obviously there is some consumption going on here. 7 is soooo close. This is taking FOREVER! Tomorrow is water change night so I will not dose. I'll test alk the next day before I dose and adjust the recipe based on that reading. Leads me to a question. For those that dose, what do you do on water change day? Obviously the new salt will add some level of alk so how do you adjust your doser to compensate for that addition or do you not? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sachabballi reef April 18, 2014 Share April 18, 2014 I don't ever touch dosers wc or not......I set it and forget it..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YHSublime April 18, 2014 Share April 18, 2014 I don't ever touch dosers wc or not......I set it and forget it..... That's how it should be, Jack. Your consumption rate should equal out in the end, water changes are probably not enough to rock your numbers too far out of the park. I'm not dosing enough either, I'm VERY slowly creeping up... Kind of frustrating, but remember you're chasing a number, and most et in your tank is doing fine... Keep on keeping on! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami April 18, 2014 Share April 18, 2014 Jack, if the salt mix is mixing up to your desired parameters in your change water, then leave it. If you feel that you need to supplement the change water to alter it's out-of-the-box parameters, feel free to do so. For example, it used to be that IO would mix up with lower alk than, say, RC. For people that started with IO but wanted RC alk, they might add baking soda to the change water as they mixed it up (a day or longer before using it). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lnevo April 18, 2014 Share April 18, 2014 +1 for Set and forget. I don't see much change after a WC and corals don't stop growing when we change water...in your case its definitely good to wait at this stage. That .7 or whatever the difference is is what you should be tracking for your maintenance dose. Once you have it at your target level you'll be pretty close to what that number should be and you can dial back to that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howaboutme April 18, 2014 Author Share April 18, 2014 Thanks all! Tom..Since I'm using RC, I wonder if my water change day can be enough to be my maintenance dose?? I'll have to get more numbers from testing to figure that out. I have to double check what my RC mixes up as. The Red Sea said 9 but will try w/ Hanna. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sachabballi reef April 18, 2014 Share April 18, 2014 jack I use RC and to be honest my numbers have never changed from a 45 gallon weekly water change on my 180, not even a blip on the alk radar. You have to come to grips with dosing LOL...it's time grasshopper....ask Isaac...he is coming along kicking and screaming....and we are still pulling him by the ear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howaboutme April 18, 2014 Author Share April 18, 2014 jack I use RC and to be honest my numbers have never changed from a 45 gallon weekly water change on my 180, not even a blip on the alk radar. You have to come to grips with dosing LOL...it's time grasshopper....ask Isaac...he is coming along kicking and screaming....and we are still pulling him by the ear. I'm just waiting for all the "I told you so...." comments that I deserve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sachabballi reef April 18, 2014 Share April 18, 2014 nah.....we are all here for you....no told you so's......just good old friendship helping each other to succeed not that we aren't all saying it in our heads Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami April 18, 2014 Share April 18, 2014 Jack, just test your parameters on occasion - especially while you're changing things. For some tanks, regular water changes can be used effectively and provide a good balance between convenience and economics. For a smaller tank like yours, that could work in your favor. For larger tanks, a large SPS population will drive most to supplementing (dosing) sooner rather than later. The only way you can know, though, is to test as the tank evolves. Dosing / Supplementing need not be scary or mysterious. It can, in fact, lend itself to simplifying maintenance once you get into set-and-forget mode. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howaboutme April 19, 2014 Author Share April 19, 2014 (edited) Hmm..Fresh RC tested at 8.40 on Hanna tonight. I mind as well save a few bucks and do IO if this is the case! On a positive note...my strawberry shortcake is coloring up, tips are showing!!! yeah! Edited April 19, 2014 by howaboutme Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YHSublime April 19, 2014 Share April 19, 2014 Hmm..Fresh RC tested at 8.40 on Hanna tonight. I mind as well save a few bucks and do IO if this is the case! On a positive note...my strawberry shortcake is coloring up, tips are showing!!! yeah! I've not gotten a higher than 9dkh testing on my fresh made saltwater (always Reef Crystals) in.. ever. Glad to hear the shortcake is coloring up some, nice to see some positive reactions, eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howaboutme April 19, 2014 Author Share April 19, 2014 Glad to hear the shortcake is coloring up some, nice to see some positive reactions, eh? Yeah..but the skeptic in me wonders if that's truly because of the alk dosing or just plain ole father time in my tank and acclimation. But! A positive is a positive and I'll take it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sachabballi reef April 19, 2014 Share April 19, 2014 Yeah..but the skeptic in me wonders if that's truly because of the alk dosing or just plain ole father time in my tank and acclimation. But! A positive is a positive and I'll take it! SIGH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howaboutme April 19, 2014 Author Share April 19, 2014 SIGH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sachabballi reef April 19, 2014 Share April 19, 2014 Drink the kool-aide it's just easier Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howaboutme April 20, 2014 Author Share April 20, 2014 Drink the kool-aide it's just easier If the kool-aid doesn't involve testing..What a pain the a$$ testing is. But do as I say, not as I do. Sooo.....As Emeril would say, Bam! I'm at 7 dkh, finally. I was at 6 earlier this evening and decided to dose what was necessary to get up 1 dkh all at once, which is against my instinct and the warning of that chemistry website...Tank seems to have handled it well. The ph dropped a little but it was negligible. I guess now that I have climbed the stairway to heaven, I mind as well continue. I will monitor consumption and maybe even test for Ca too! Then I will decide how to maintain my holy number, whatever that may be. Thanks wamas! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YHSublime April 20, 2014 Share April 20, 2014 Good job, Jack! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taiscici April 20, 2014 Share April 20, 2014 Congrats! I'm sure your corals love you now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howaboutme April 20, 2014 Author Share April 20, 2014 Good job, Jack! Congrats! I'm sure your corals love you now Thanks guys! Chau..your coral is still doing well, never actually lost color..should have bought more from you..haha.next time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taiscici April 20, 2014 Share April 20, 2014 I'm glad it doing well Jack. Don't worry I'll have more cool frags by the next meeting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sachabballi reef April 20, 2014 Share April 20, 2014 once you dial it in you will barely test much...at least I don't....if I see any changes in the corals that make me want to test I do...but once a month I do a quick alk and ca and check it but otherwise I don't bother much..If I see the corals start to go on a growth spurt I always check to make sure I am still on track.... I have to say though my friend, when you decided to get into the hobby it was a well publicized fact you needed to test and tinker with the chemistry....it is probably part of the reason you decided to join in ....so don't get lazy now...otherwise the reef police will confiscate your tank and give you a bowl with a guppy in it and call it a day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howaboutme April 21, 2014 Author Share April 21, 2014 Ok...trying to stay focused and not be lazy, I tested Alk and Ca tonight. Alk: 6.2 dkh (hanna) Ca: 470 (red sea) Remember, yesterday at the same time, my Alk was 7 dkh. I am a bit shocked that my little, teeny, tiny tank can consume 0.8 dkh of Alk in 1 day. It must be that darn monti cap. haha. My Ca is better. It went from a high in the mid 500s to this number. I guess once the Alk is dialed in, the Ca will be consumed proportionally. I did not dose Alk tonight. I figure I would test tomorrow to see if my consumption is the same for 2 straight days. I suspect it'll be in the mid 5s so I will bring that up tomorrow and then I may get a better reading of what my daily usage would be. The tank continues to look pretty good. An unknown acro (that I think is an ORA frogskin) that was beat the living heck out of by the nem (nem has since shifted it's stretch away from this coral) has started to rejuvenate and is looking very good, great pe and color. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YHSublime April 21, 2014 Share April 21, 2014 If your consumption is that much from that cap, I wonder how mine isn't higher? I guess volume vs. corals? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM April 21, 2014 Share April 21, 2014 consumption should be independent of total tank volume. It would just depend on "coral density" or something. You 7 dKh is the same carbonate ions per liter in your tank as it is in Copps' new 1500 gallon SPS tank. If the two of you had the same proportional amount of hard coral in there, you'd both use the same amount of alk per day, other things being equal. I guess I'm also saying 0.8 in your teeny tank is much less in absolute numbers than 0.8 in a bigger tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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