Daily ALK dosing schema in SPS tank

[ryanjiang]

I am currently dosing ESV 2 part about 30ml each per day on my 75G SPS tank , this keeps my parameters at good level and my SPS have decent growth and color. I am using drew's dosing pump controlled by apex, now CA is dosed from 10PM to 10:15PM, ALK is dosed from 11PM to 11:15PM (in most case 10 to 11PM after kids sleep is the time I check my tank).

CA dosing at 1 shot is no issue, but ALK I am thinking to change to small/frequent dosing schema, that way try to avoid ALk (maybe PH as well?) swing. So my question is how should I spread out ALK dosing, in 24 hours (for example 15 X 1 minutes dose in 24 hours cycle)? or when is MH on (for example 7 X 2 minutes dose, when light it on).

I don't have PH probe yet, I will order it soon, maybe the best way is after I plug the PH probe look at the log for PH swing and setup ALK dose accordingly?

Thanks!

 

[ryanjiang]

Any taker?

 

[hawaiian_boi]

i dose twice a day with the lights off . 2hours after and before the light come on and go out

 

[MrKite24]

If you're only doing 30ml on a 75 gallon tank + sump, I don't see any problem with dosing all at once. I would move the dosing later at night or just before the lights come on. Your pH is higher right after the lights turn off so adding an alkalinity supplement will raise the pH even more.

 

[Allmost]

okay so ESV uses Sodium carbonate, which increases the PH !!! so do not add the KH additive at night !!! you ar overshooting your PH and shocking all live stock daily.

now regarding addition of KH and CA within an hour !! not a good Idea, as excesses KH and CA will precipitate out of water in form of sand ! I bet you have sand in your sump ? on heaters and pumps ? this, although not bad, is a waste !

now, SPS corals, use KH and Ca and MG at night to grow and ... .
so its best to add Calcium during the day. (midd day)
KH is most depleted in the early morning hours (like 5 AM) and that is when you have the lowest PH value. so it best added then. again its best to seperate it into a couple of doses not to shock PH. when you add sodium carbonate to your tank, it pulls and attracts the CO2 in water so it can dissolve in water, this lowers CO2 and raises PH. solutions : use sodium BIcarbonate (BAKED baking soda ) which has no effect on PH.

if you let the PH shock continue, your sand will percipitate and form a slack of cement !

also look into testing for MG, as it can become depleted fast, u want 3 times ure CA value.

lastly, have you checked out the balling methods ? specially baling method individual plus ? you can use Fauna marine salts, and make the 2 or 3 part dosing for a fraction of the price ESV charges you

Edit

look into Randy's DIY 2 part will give you better understanding and reef dreams for balling methods.

 

[ryanjiang]

Thank guys for the advice and good info!

At what hours do coral consume most of CA & KH has always been confusion to me, I somehow had wrong assumption that it mostly happens when light is on and photosynthesis happening.

Now the real confusion comes:

I have read that experienced reefers, for example former TOTM owner Sunny if I remember correctly he dose RBS 2 parts (also raise PH) by hand in one shot each at night(but slowly), his tank and corals just looks amazing. Plus his tank has way more SPS colonies than mine and consume much more 2 parts.

But I also read from other trustful reefers including some former TOTM owner that ALK (and PH) swing is very bad thing for SPS.

Anyway since I use dosing pump, I can do small dose in multiple shots, why not doing it. For now I will most likely set CA to midday and spread out the ALK from 5AM to 12AM (light off), after I have the PH probe online, I will look into data log and maybe refine the schedule a bit according to daily PH swing.

Coming back to 2 parts, I am not a DIY man, so my choice was between ESV and RBS, ESV 2 Gallon set cost $30, but it is more concentrated than RBS, plus I get lower shipping on ESV. Considering my daily consumption is only 30ml, that difference is really nothing. I am almost certain that ESV contains enough MG since I monthly test MG the reading is always around 1400.

I have not precipitation either on pump, sump, or heaters. So far I am pretty happy with ESV, I may try RBS later to see which one is better.

 

[Allmost]

well to be honest, cost difference between mixing your own additive rather than buying it is not up for debate.

same goes for PH swings. its a fact, not opinion.

also I am sure you read wrongly about the TOTM that added KH and CA additive together.

 

[ryanjiang]

No I never said he add them together, I mean he manually dose them, one shot for each part per day. Sunny advocate simple approach he said his hand is most reliable device

You can check out his stunning rimless tank here , also lot of detail can be found in his RC tank thread , I believe if you spend enough time you can find someone asking about his dosing method somewhere berried in that super long thread (spitted many times)