ALK and Cal dose !!!

[dannynguyen3573]

Hi All,
Last night I did a test :
ALK: 10.6
Cal: 430 ppm
PH 8.05
Tonight I did the test again,
ALK: 8.6
Cal: 400 ppm
PH: 8.00
Then I use the chemistry calculate fing down that I need,
2.3 cup of cal Randy's part#1, 1 cup of ALK Randy's part#1 every day. Is this normal to dose this amout every day??

 

[Hef]

Seems like a large dose for a 180. I have 150 gal. lots of Sps, and dose less than 1/2 cup per day.

If you do dose that much, keep up with the testing, it can rise quickly.

 

[steve the plumb]

I am dosing Randys alk formula#1 I use a one half gallon jug and it lasts me 8 days at a constant dkh of 9.6.The calcium formula last me longer and I keep it at 460ppm.Danny did you get the pics I sent you.

 

[Hef]

OK, so Steve is using 1 full cup per day. Danny, I just read your post again, I thought you were dosing 2.3 cups of ALK, So it's 1 cup also. Sounds about right. Seems I'm a little light, but it seems to work well in my system.

Steve, tell me how you dose. I just went to a slow drip.

 

[dannynguyen3573]

Steve, I got your pic..thanks
Hef, how do you drip it ? Dosing pump? to expensive for me...

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

dannynguyen3573:

How would you describe the expected demand in the tank? Lots of SPS? Lots of coralline? Clams? Only soft corals, LPS, etc?

 

[Hef]

Yea, I had a dosing pump that I retired a while back, Kalk kills dosing pump tubing fast.
I stopped dosing kalk, and now I pour 1/2 cup of alk into a jug containing about 3/4 gallon ro/di water. Shake it up, and dose it at a rate of 75ml per hour. Only been doing this for a couple days, so I'm fine tuning it.

Randy, while we have your attention, I just posted in the Salifert forum last night. I've been using a new Salifert Alk Test kit, showing steady readings of around 9 to 9.5 dkh. Couple of my corals looked funny, so I pulled out my older Salifert Alk Kit. It is reading a good 2 pts higher @ 11.5.
Not sure what to do about it.

 

[dannynguyen3573]

Randy,
I don't have much SPS coral, about 3 pieces (2"x2") monti cap 4pcs of sps (4"x6") and 2 bib toolstoad leather (7"x10"), 1 clam, and couple more solft coral.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Randy, while we have your attention, I just posted in the Salifert forum last night. I've been using a new Salifert Alk Test kit, showing steady readings of around 9 to 9.5 dkh. Couple of my corals looked funny, so I pulled out my older Salifert Alk Kit. It is reading a good 2 pts higher @ 11.5.
Not sure what to do about it.

Well, I can't say which, if either, is likely to be accurate, but whether it is 9.5 or 11.5 dKH, it is likely fine and not causing any coral problems (IMO). You could always drop it by 1 or 2 dKH and still be fine.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I don't have much SPS coral, about 3 pieces (2"x2") monti cap 4pcs of sps (4"x6") and 2 bib toolstoad leather (7"x10"), 1 clam, and couple more solft coral.

A drop of 2 dKH in 24 h is not unreasonable. You might check magnesium, but I would not assume there is a problem.

 

[steve the plumb]

I dose the kalk with an auto top off(Tounze osmolator)I dose Randys 2 part with the Aqua Medic Reef Doser.I like the doser it doesn't require any priming.It works as a timer goes on by the hr setting drips by timing.I dose alk every 8 hr for 30 seconds.It drips slowly.What I did was started with hrs and then played with dose.I dose for 3 seconds but the doser goes on for 30 seconds.I don't know why it goes on for 30 when its supposed to go for 3.I played around with the times and amount while testing every time to see what results I got.I first got results of 8 DKH when I set doser to dose for 1 second.The problem was it was dosing for 27 seconds.When I adjusted to 3 seconds it dosed for about 30 to 35 seconds.I used to dose every 10 hrs for 1 second got DKH OF 8 8.4.My dose of 8hr for 3 seconds gives me a DKH of 9 to 9.4 Its kind of hard to read I am using the Salifert test kit and my results seem right in between those 2 readings.My DKH always remains the same I test 3 times a week.I was testing 2 to 3 times a day when setting up the doser.I have about 25 acros plus 2 brains,2 frog spawns,a hammer,diff zoos,mushrooms,a montipora cap,a scroll coral,and ricordias,2 anemones,16 fish,plus crabs,inverts and 5 types of starfish.