Alk driving me crazy

[cec09]

Yeah I would say the coralline is just starting to take off. How would I know if it is precipitating out? And what would cause it? Im going to double check my Ca and Mg tomorrow. There is a very thin layer of white on the sump walls and on probes and my heater.

 

[jerpa]

The thin layer of white is precipitation. If you are using soda ash you can try switching to sodium bicarbonate. It is less likely to precipitate.

I would double check the calcium and magnesium tests against an LFS or another test kit. How much were you dosing for cal and alk prior to this issue?

 

[swcc]

I'm thinking it is precipitating out.

 

[cec09]

So lets say i switch to the regular baking soda. What affect will this have on my ph? My ph is on the low side. 8.0-8.1 during day and 7.8-7.9 at night. also should i scrape everything in the sump and clean all the residue off?

 

[swcc]

first your ph is just fine. it just will not raise ph when dosed like other alk dosing does.

 

[jerpa]

I didn't see it mentioned above. Are you dosing into a high flow area of the sump?

I agree that I wouldn't worry about the PH unless it drops significantly upon dosing. Also keep in the baking soda mixture will be half as strong as the soda ash recipe so you will need to adjust your dosing accordingly.

 

[cec09]

Well I guess I have it figered out. It must be precipitating. I used plain baking soda mixed as Randys recipe 2. Been a couple days and it seems to be holding. Ph is ranging from 7.7-8.0 now. Only other question i have is I am using about twice the calcium as I am using alk. Can I use recipe 2 for alk and recipe 1 for Ca? If I do it this way it should be close to equal dosing times. I know I have heard that I should be dosing them equally but I just dont know how that will work. I use 20 ppm of Ca per day and 1.8 dkh of Alk per day.
Thanks again for everyones suggestions and help with this.
John

 

[bertoni]

The consumption rate should be about 1:1 with the two-part. I suspect that your measurements reflect the noise in the test kits and perhaps the effect of water changes. I would dose 1:1 and give that a few weeks.

 

[cec09]

Will do
Thanks

 

[bertoni]

You're welcome! Good luck!