morgan175 July 15, 2014 July 15, 2014 Not new but not seasoned. What do you consider an alkalinity swing. Is it more then 1 dkh or what. I have been reading where this hurts your corals but don't understand. I try to keep mine as close to 9 but it drops to 8 is this a swing. I manually dose with seachem. My calcium really does not drop like alkalinity but it is suppose to be 2 to 1 which is about right. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
gmerek2 July 15, 2014 July 15, 2014 1 is ok in 24 hour period. They say anything more that 2dkh plus or minus in 24 hours is bad. I personally have killed acros from Alk swings so I know it's not a myth.
zygote2k July 16, 2014 July 16, 2014 You're looking for a trend, not a one day difference. You should be testing and recording the results weekly to determine if you are really having an alk issue.
s2nhle July 16, 2014 July 16, 2014 I am facing the same problem right now. Try not to adjust it too quickly.
gmerek2 July 17, 2014 July 17, 2014 If you want to keep SPS a doser is a must to keep the number constant.
YHSublime July 17, 2014 July 17, 2014 If you want to keep SPS a doser is a must to keep the number constant. Disagree. I kept sps for 6 months no problem before I started dosing, or using dosers. I think people dose when they 1. Don't need to 2. Don't know why 3. Hear they have to because it keeps numbers constant. I don't disagree that once you have a need and do dose that having dosers is really good investment. I also think that Rob is right, he should track his trends.
gmerek2 July 17, 2014 July 17, 2014 He's right I bought an established tank. A new tank can get away without dosing as long as there is water change. My Alk has always dropped with crazy coralline growth. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
morgan175 July 17, 2014 Author July 17, 2014 I have 3 months of numbers. I really have only dropped below 8 once. It was during vacation I try as best as possible to keep around 9. I was just making sure that from 8 to 9 up and down was not hard on my coral. I don't know why I settled on 9 but that is where I'm at. Maybe one day I will push to 10. Not very likely. Looking at getting the jebao doser soon. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
lnevo July 17, 2014 July 17, 2014 If you want to keep SPS a doser is a must to keep the number constant. To address Isaacs protest and ultimate agreement i would just rephrase this to If you are successfully growing SPS and even LPS, dosing in some form will be an eventual requirement, if you want to keep your parameters consistent. Water changes are great up and to a point, but eventually the usage will overtake the replacement by WC. I was also told by another reefer that I respect that you don't really want a locked in number as there will always be some natural variance and corals will always grow in some cyclical fashion and some fluctuation can help build up some resilience. Take all that FWIW. Keeping it within 1dkh is definitely a good goal to strive for.
gmerek2 July 17, 2014 July 17, 2014 Lol I need to stop with the short and sweet answers good job guys! And good job Morgan once you get the doser fine tuned your Alk will be on cruise control! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
sen5241b July 17, 2014 July 17, 2014 I killed a couple small stonies with an alk swing. Ouch. 1+ If you dose then dose small amounts. Did you know? ORA grows all their corals at their coral farm in Florida with sub-optimal calcium and they do not dose. Also, scientific studies have shown keeping cal at the high end did not seem to benefit the corals in anyway.
sen5241b July 17, 2014 July 17, 2014 Also, it seems to me that some stonies are more sensitive to alk swings than others.
sen5241b July 18, 2014 July 18, 2014 Not only corals but algae are consuming alk and cal too. Green algae consumes alk and cal?
wangspeed July 18, 2014 July 18, 2014 Green algae consumes alk and cal? Coralline algae does, and it can come in green. -- Warren
zygote2k July 19, 2014 July 19, 2014 Of the 6 tanks that I keep accurate records on, I have found that the alkalinity of mature tanks with med to heavy coral growth of stonies, softies and clams, that it's between 7.5 and 10 dkh. I test weekly and dose 4 of them with a 24/7 continual drip. Alk fluctuautes as much as 1/2 dkh and Cal usually is within 10-25 ppm. I've plotted it on a chart along with Mg and when you figure out that sweet spot combination of the 3, corals will grow quickly. I run 3 gal batches of Cal and Alk before adjusting mixture of either. I usually tweak alk +/- 1/2 cup per gal per batch and cal is almost always the same. During each batch if I get a spike or drop in alk, I'll adjust the doser 2-5ml/day +/-.
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