Easiest stability method

[Bagabaga]

What's everyones method of keeping stable parameters? How do you maintain them so well? What testing do you do? What do you do in an emergency situation like one is crazy off? (Like alk). Do you use name brand additives or off brand? What is in everyone's opinion the absolute best method of adding the big three to the reef in their home?

 

[Member No. 1]

Daily AWC
Calcium Reactor
Can't remember the last time I tested.

 

[homer1475]

I test every Saturday just before I do a WC. Parameter are never out of wack that far, if ever since I auto dose 2 part. I also use regular old IO and test every batch and match my WC to my display's parameters so a WC doesn't throw off the dosing schedule.



Supplements I use are bulk BRS for CAL and MAG, plain arm and hammer baking soda for ALK. Once you get 2 part dialed in on dosers, you barely have to change them unless consumption changes. And with weekly testing I can catch changes faster and keep my parameters in line.

 

[sde1500]

Stability has not been great in my aquarium. Just made some adjustments to be able to address that. Set up a system for auto water changes, should keep all parameters in line well enough. Pairing it with weekly testing and will dose with BRS calcium and arm and hammer baking soda as needed to adjust.

 

[nereefpat]

What’s everyones method of keeping stable parameters? How do you maintain them so well? What testing do you do? What do you do in an emergency situation like one is crazy off? (Like alk). Do you use name brand additives or off brand? What is in everyone’s opinion the absolute best method of adding the big three to the reef in their home?

Method: mostly limewater/ also 10% water changes every couple weeks.

Testing: alk, at least once a week
Ca, maybe once a month
salinity, about once a week
Mg, only if/when something seems off. I bought it when trying to diagnose something...probably should have saved my money and not purchased it

Emergency: never had a major parameter emergency. If alk gets too high, I just turn off my kalk pump for a while.

Brands: pickling lime (kalk), baking soda (alk), CaCl for pickling, Epsom salt for Mg if I wanted to raise that.

Edit: forgot to mention that I'm not an SPS guy.

 

[Uncle99]

RODI water with 0 TDS.
Good salt that mixes high in the ranges to reduce or eliminate dosing.
A make water, mix salt and use within 48 hour strategy.
A rinse of the RODI bucket and the mixing bucket after each use.
Weekly 10% - 15% water change every week.
ATO to keep SG stable at 1.0255
First 6 months, testing weekly, once stable, testing only monthly.

 

[Bagabaga]

when I kept my little nano reef i tried manual two part and kalk, both of which i always seemed to struggle getting my alkalinity to be stable. It always seemed like my alk would go down and my calcium would stay the same. I dont have a tank anymore because of the space restrictions and time it took to maintain a stable environment around my already busy work schedule. I really admire you guys that can juggle both that and families.

 

[Tripod1404]

I calculated my daily alk consumption rate, based on that a doser pump adds 1/12 of required amount every 2 hours. So my alk levels stays at a constant level.

I did the same for calcium as well. But rather than using a separate doser pump, I add that to the top off water.

I test for alk every day, and test for Ca, P and N once a week, and test for Mg and K every other week.

If anything deviates from set values, I manually correct it. I manually add Mg as well.

 

[biecacka]

Daily AWC
Calcium Reactor


This is my method too. But I will say if you go this route, get your tank parameters in order first. Meaning get all the numbers where you are okay with them and use the daily water changes to help hold them there. It is time consuming to use this method to correct your parameters. For example, if your n03 is high, do a large water change and bring it down then use the AWC to help keep it there. Trying to lower them with a few gallons a day isn't effective.
I however do test every few days right now because I just got back to my tank after being in Puerto Rico for 75 days.


Corey

 

[top shelf]

Weekly 10% wc with io salt and like Homer match my mix salt levels to that of my tank.

I dose 3ml of alk every morning before work to keep up with alk consumption. Looking to invest in a dosing pump though because even adding 3ml a day gets old fast.

As of now since my consumption is low enough I use Kent brand for alk, mag, and calcium since it isn't to heavy on the wallet yet and it's straight forward for me.

I test mag and calc once a week before a wc and alk usually every other day. I find doing it so often while note costly doesn't allow much time for things to get to far outta whack. As for no3 and po4 I test when I'm curious to see where there at which is maybe once a month. So far they haven't budget from .03 and .2

 

[Uncle99]

when I kept my little nano reef i tried manual two part and kalk, both of which i always seemed to struggle getting my alkalinity to be stable. It always seemed like my alk would go down and my calcium would stay the same. I dont have a tank anymore because of the space restrictions and time it took to maintain a stable environment around my already busy work schedule. I really admire you guys that can juggle both that and families.

Seems quite a few people dose. Seems many chase the numbers when being in the range consistently is the most important.
You must have a ton of Stoney corals which are using the Calc and Alk for calcification and not want to do just water changes to replace what being used.
Frequency and amount of water changes can usually keep the numbers mostly in check, provided the salt mixes higher in the ranges. I find it easier to replace the water, then dose up to the range, harder for me to mess up.
Unstable balances can occur easily when dosing, if one is not absolutely sure of the actual rate of consumption, and with hobby grade tests, the results may not be accurate.
That being said, really experienced hobbist know their consumption rates and can reduce water changes through dosing.

I would venture that in most cases, (excluding SPS dominant DT) a weekly 10-15% water change is the foundation of creating a stable environment and should work well if done regularly and timely.

 

[Bagabaga]

I was mostly curious what people do in an emergency like say your alk shot up Because your kalk pump got stuck. Or say your calcium reactor ran out of co2 and you didnt catch it. What about people with nano systems that dont have a fish room? How do you maintain stability for sps dominated nano reefs? I may get back into it sooner than later if i could have a super stable system that required weekly maitenance of like 20 minutes max.

 

[Sk8r]

If your magnesium is above 1200 (1350 is a good number) and your alk is around 8.3 and cal at 420, everything 'locks' in place so long as you have a source of calcium, and if you have no stony coral or clams using it up, it can stay steady for a bit: testing your alk will tell you the need to test the other two, as it will not fall until the mg (which is used more slowly) starts to fall. If you do have stonies and clams, putting calcium (kalk) into your topoff water (1-2 tsp per gallon) will supply calcium as used up and keep the other numbers stable, again, until the mg runs down. I run without a controller or dosers, and just add kalk to my ro/di, plus water changes. I use Salifert tests and Kent cal, buffer, and mg.

 

[nereefpat]

I was mostly curious what people do in an emergency like say your alk shot up Because your kalk pump got stuck. Or say your calcium reactor ran out of co2 and you didnt catch it. What about people with nano systems that dont have a fish room? How do you maintain stability for sps dominated nano reefs? I may get back into it sooner than later if i could have a super stable system that required weekly maitenance of like 20 minutes max.

Kalk overdoses aren't as harmful as you might think. The tank turns white with precipitation and the levels for alk and Ca drop. Don't know about CO2 reactors. A lot of folks use controllers like Apex that would have alarms for a lot of stuff, and you try to have fail safes and redundancy where you can.

As far as a reef that only takes 20 minutes a week to maintain, I don't think that is possible. Maybe a fish only with dim lights, auto-feeders, and auto top-offs.

 

[Bagabaga]

I was mostly being sarcastic about the 20 minutes a week thing, that’s not possible for corals. When I had my nano it was no where near stable, I always struggled to keep my alk up and saw minimal growth. I did have a billion of those tube worms in my sump that kept growing so maybe that’s where it all went so fast.

Redundancy and a controller almost seem necessary for a stable environment. Also space to keep all the stuff for it.