Dosing ESV in Equal Parts? Why If Params are NOT equally out of sync

[daghostryder]

Greetings All,

So I use HW-Marinemix Reefer Salt, I have a 150g deep with a 40g sump. I have been up and running a month and trying to get my ALK up. I am using ESV-2 part. My Paramas are all ideal excluding ALK at 7.8 to 8.2 Dkh. I only have a few fish, live rock, pukani and live sand 2-3 inches. So not a huge suck on CA or MG at the moment. So I am dosing the ALK (only) to get it my ideal number 9.5Dkh-10Dkh. (The tank is 30 plus days young-cycled about two weeks ago)

My question is once i get the Alk to my desired range- Should i begin to dose Ca in equal parts to Alk as i keep reading i should, or wait till the Ca number starts to drop then dose as needed??

I have done some research, but it was older, much older posts, so i wanted to post a fresh thread in case something has changed. I am in the process of reading the article, 'When Do Calcium and Alkalinity Demand Not Exactly Balance'. But a quick skim does not seem that it has my answer readily available, plus i like to hear multiple thoughts from current hobbyist

Any thoughts and ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Floyd79]

normal alk is from 7-11 dkh. Stability is more important than getting a certain number as long as your number is within normal ranges. why are you trying to achieve 9.5?

your target number should be what your salt mixes at and dosing is done to maintain that number everyday from coral consumption. If there is no consumption, then there's no need to dose.

When you try raising your alk to higher levels than your salt mixes at, every time you do a water change, it will alter the parameters within your tank. fluctuations are very bad in a reef.


esv is meant to be dosed 2 part equally because calcium and alk effect eachother. As one increases the other one drops.

 

[daghostryder]

Thank you Floyd, I was trying to get my Alk up higher to push my PH into the 7.8 range as it hovers at 7.5-7.6 (i keep windows open etc.) So my hope was to increase Alk thereby increasing PH which it has done but you make a very valid point also the article that i thought would not be beneficial was actually more then helpful as well.

As for the statement if there is no coral consumption then there is no need to dose? I have to question that because the Alk without fail drops quicker and more rapidly then the Ca. Although THIS could be because i am dosing only one part in an effort to increase another param. So i am simply going to back off and allow the system to find its equilibrium, do a water change this week and go from there. I have enough live rock that if i keep my params consistent that should begin to calcify with coralline....i hope. Thanks.

 

[rtparty]

A) Don't chase pH
B) There should be no reason to dose on a tank that young unless you somehow have ridiculous amounts of coralline already.
C) Alkalinity any where between 7-12dkh is fine. Just don't chase numbers. Most of my tanks have loved 7.5-9dkh so I keep constant around there. Stability is more important

 

[daghostryder]

Thanks Ryan...It's funny how being away from the hobby you can quickly forget the basics. I have an Apex on this system and it is soooooo easy to see those numbers on a daily that you just want to make it a little more ideal lol.

Thanks again!

 

[daghostryder]

After much concern around my Alk being so lowl and trying to raise that one of the items mentioned above made me remember that i should periodically test the Control group, the salt going in the tank, I tested my freshly made water for water change this morning and all params are where they should be EXCLUDING Alk. My Alk tested at 5.8Dkh when it should be 9Dkh out of the box. I am going to work now, but will retest when i get in with RedSea rather then Hanna checker. I may have received a bad batch of salt. Any ideas??

 

[d2mini]

Greetings All,

So I use HW-Marinemix Reefer Salt, I have a 150g deep with a 40g sump. I have been up and running a month and trying to get my ALK up. I am using ESV-2 part. My Paramas are all ideal excluding ALK at 7.8 to 8.2 Dkh. I only have a few fish, live rock, pukani and live sand 2-3 inches. So not a huge suck on CA or MG at the moment. So I am dosing the ALK (only) to get it my ideal number 9.5Dkh-10Dkh. (The tank is 30 plus days young-cycled about two weeks ago)

My question is once i get the Alk to my desired range- Should i begin to dose Ca in equal parts to Alk as i keep reading i should, or wait till the Ca number starts to drop then dose as needed??

I have done some research, but it was older, much older posts, so i wanted to post a fresh thread in case something has changed. I am in the process of reading the article, 'When Do Calcium and Alkalinity Demand Not Exactly Balance'. But a quick skim does not seem that it has my answer readily available, plus i like to hear multiple thoughts from current hobbyist

Any thoughts and ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Your current Alk is my ideal Alk. Right where I keep it give or take.

Yes you would want to dose each equally.
Get the two inline, then start dosing equally.

As far as not needing to dose at a certain tank age... age doesn't really matter. If you have coral and your tank is using alk/calc, then you have to dose. If no coral yet or just softies, I wouldn't worry about it yet.
But I'm wondering why you want Alk that high? Natural Sea Water is usually where you are now, or even lower. Do you have a high nutrient tank?

 

[daghostryder]

Hi D2Mini- Thank you for the reply- I guess the DKH goes back almost 10 years ago when i was reefing. I maintained a DSB, 75g SPS tank and for "growth" reasons i kept a higher DKH because it served two purposes for me (based on research then) 'better" growth and a higher ph that stuck at 8.1-8.2, so i guess old habits die hard. I am very sure the husbandry of our hobby has come a long way since ten years so i may be a touch stuck in the past. For example ten years ago I used IO salt and could always remember lower numbers from start where as now you have salt that already come with CA, Mg, alk et. at very high levels. One of the reasons I purchased the HW Salt, but as mentioned above I am not getting the 9dkh it says I should be so more testing is needed. All in all i have been a firm believer of keep your hands out of the tank-once you set it forget it and just let it do its thing. We also dosed CA and Alk at the same time back then there was no off set on dossers- we used medical dossers bought off ebay lol. I think anyone who had Apex was rich! Ohhh and frags were much cheaper way bigger these little splinters (frags) being offered are just the cutest little things lol

Also the HW Marine Reef Salt says out the box Alk is 9dkh.

Thanks again for the reply!!