TrueTricia January 20, 2015 January 20, 2015 So what constitutes an alk swing for SPS? 0.5? 1? 0.1? My alk tested on Jan 11 at 10.2 dkh, and then 9.6 on Jan 19th using a salifert testing kit. While both are within the acceptable range, I noticed some STN on a few of my corals. Now, my nitrate also jumped up a bit, which is what I'm actually attributing to the decline, probably die to the introduction of some macroalgae that died off a bit before looking like it's growing. But I was also wondering if a contributing factor could be the alk swing.
YHSublime January 20, 2015 January 20, 2015 Between the 11th and 19th is not a swing, IMO. If you're not dosing, that's consumption . Track it daily and find your average after a week or two..
Origami January 20, 2015 January 20, 2015 An alk drop of 0.6 dKH (or 0.21 meq/liter) is not very much. I would not attribute the STN from that. The nitrate jump seems more probable.
Der ABT January 20, 2015 January 20, 2015 What test kit you using. also alk your should test at the same time of day several days in a row....will give you a better idea for consumption i used to test religiously but now its been about 3 months a swing of 1 isnt great but isnt bad....i find the higher you keep your alk the more affected corals are by a swing.....i shoot for 8.5-9 on mine well i used to and will in the near future Genereally shoot for alkalinity and the rest do what they do.i try for 8.5-9dkh...found problems with going higher (mainly with zoa's)i always shoot for around 78-79 tempCA is usually 380-420MG i keep a little higher around 14001.026/35pptand my ph is usually 8-8.3 depending on the time of day
Rob A January 20, 2015 January 20, 2015 Mine was dropping close to 1 dkh a day in my frag tank, then I would hand dose enough to bring it back up by 1. I'm not sure if it was having an effect on things or not. I never had a massive die off or anything, but I assume things were growing slower than they should. This has gone on for months but now I have a doser so I'll see if things suddenly take off and grow like crazy.
Orion January 20, 2015 January 20, 2015 What he said. What test kit you using. also alk your should test at the same time of day several days in a row....will give you a better idea for consumption i used to test religiously but now its been about 3 months a swing of 1 isnt great but isnt bad....i find the higher you keep your alk the more affected corals are by a swing.....i shoot for 8.5-9 on mine well i used to and will in the near future Genereally shoot for alkalinity and the rest do what they do.i try for 8.5-9dkh...found problems with going higher (mainly with zoa's)i always shoot for around 78-79 tempCA is usually 380-420MG i keep a little higher around 14001.026/35pptand my ph is usually 8-8.3 depending on the time of day
TrueTricia January 20, 2015 Author January 20, 2015 What test kit you using. also alk your should test at the same time of day several days in a row....will give you a better idea for consumption i used to test religiously but now its been about 3 months a swing of 1 isnt great but isnt bad....i find the higher you keep your alk the more affected corals are by a swing.....i shoot for 8.5-9 on mine well i used to and will in the near future Genereally shoot for alkalinity and the rest do what they do. i try for 8.5-9dkh...found problems with going higher (mainly with zoa's) i always shoot for around 78-79 temp CA is usually 380-420 MG i keep a little higher around 1400 1.026/35ppt and my ph is usually 8-8.3 depending on the time of day Good info! Thanks. Salifert for alk. ATI for the rest. I have a ton of the ATI test kits, so trying to use them up. I'll have to get into a testing routine to test at the same time each day.
Der ABT January 20, 2015 January 20, 2015 Big fan of salifert test kits, especially the pink tips for the syringe.... i have the hannah tester to but if you break it down to the cost per test ill talk the salifert all day long....though the digital read out is nice....once you have the tank stable with dosing etc...the salifert gets easier as you know within a few ml where the tank should be. salifert $15-$20 100-200 test...so lets say 140 to be on the safe side. so approxiamately 10-15 cents per test. hannah new reagent - $10 25 tests so $.40 ....40 CENTS per test???.... plus the cost of the checker....50 bucks man why didnt i do this comparison before i bought one??? or is my math wrong? anyways....just do the test at consistent times of day for a week. write down results and what ever additions you do, that will give you the consumption and daily needs, as you get it dialed in you can test less and less, then once a week or month you will notice that as teh corals grow demand goes up so you adjust slightly.
Origami January 20, 2015 January 20, 2015 I have both, plus a Red Sea Pro and others for alkalinty. I can do a Hanna check faster than Salifert. I buy my reagent for about $7.50 (delivered), though, so the cost is about $0.30 each. So, yeah, more expensive than a titration kit, but no surprise there. If you really want to save money on alkalinity tests, you can do it yourself with a pH probe and some 0.1 N acid. But, if you're only doing the test a couple of times a month, then I'm not sure that it's a big concern, as the difference in cost only adds up to, what, $3.60 a year?. We pay a lot more (typically) for electricity since that's the same as saving about 4 Watts operating 24 hours a day. So don't kick yourself too hard. Like the rest of us, you're spending a lot more money in other areas than your choice of alkalinity test kits.
Der ABT January 20, 2015 January 20, 2015 your missing the points tom i have to recoupe for the cost of running my metal halides haha
zygote2k January 20, 2015 January 20, 2015 I track my parameters on the 500 for the last 4 years and when plotted out on a graph, the alk, cal, and mg make nice alpha waves. When A&C intersect, coral grows best. I also notice a tendency for alk to rise in the winter time vs in the summer and I believe this has something to do with water chemistry at the municipal water facility. I use r/o of course and track TDS. TDS goes down in the winter, alk rises, TDS rises in the summer, alk goes down.
s2nhle January 23, 2015 January 23, 2015 I track my parameters on the 500 for the last 4 years and when plotted out on a graph, the alk, cal, and mg make nice alpha waves. When A&C intersect, coral grows best. I also notice a tendency for alk to rise in the winter time vs in the summer and I believe this has something to do with water chemistry at the municipal water facility. I use r/o of course and track TDS. TDS goes down in the winter, alk rises, TDS rises in the summer, alk goes down. Good to know about this fluctuation between seasons. Thank you Rob for sharing this.
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