First SPS (Birdsnest). Acclimation Advice?

[Pigpen17]

It replaces and raises Alkalinity and Calcium. Calcium + Magnesium and other elements are usually in Part A, while Part B is usually the Alk supplement. Over the years various companies have perfected the two parts with the idea being to replenish the chemicals that are typically used up by corals in a reef tank.

Your tank has a daily usage of Alk and Calcium plus you want to raise it. If your daily usage is, say, 10ml of Alk and you dose 10ml of Alk daily you won't get anywhere.

You need to read those articles, it's critical to understand the balance. You keep saying you lost Alk and you need to get it back up. You in fact lost both Alk and Calcium but you are only noticing the Alk drop because it's easier to see in our tests. Don't dose just one, dose equal parts A & B when raising it up.

Yeah. So now that I'm starting with my ALK at 7, and adding daily to raise it, I'm chasing usage. Damn. I did lose ALK though. I have no corals in my tank but a Xenia before this. I tested ALK every week and it's always around 8 or 9 without me doing a darn thing. When it gets to 8, I add buffer. Maybe once a month. It's been like this for almost a year. Then all of a sudden, right after I order this guy, boom! Alk 7 out of nowhere.

So, going by the bottle, if I'm adding the 2 part daily and testing, I should start to see my numbers go back to where they were? Or should I go back to what I know works and add my buffer until I get back to 9, then start the 2 part?

 

[Pigpen17]

Alright! I think I'm on it. Just tested

ALK:8
CAL:400

Finally! A change. I'll keep my course until I get to ALK:9 and see where my CAL is then as well. Then it's just test every day until I see it drop. Then I can gauge my usage and dose the 2 part appropriately.

Thanks for your help. It was kind of a crash course.

Now I'm off to figure out my lighting.

 

[Pigpen17]

I think figured out my ALK loss problem. It's my water. I just started buying my water from a local water company. Their water is excellent. I just learned yesterday that their water has an alkalinity of 7.5. I had just done a water change Sunday. I think that might have done it. Obviously I am losing ALK naturally as well, but that may have caused my sudden drop. They sell alkaline water as well that is 9. I'm switching today.

I got a general handle on my lighting as well. Looks like the spot I picked out will be at about 150 PAR. Now that’s just by measuring the corals depth in my tank by Reefbreeders charts and then multiplied by my power settings. I have no top on the tank right now, so that might be pretty close. I will start raising my peak from 30%. Probably about 10% at a time.

I had one more stupid question. I’m testing everyday, and it’s still very early in the process, but it looks like my ALK is dropping faster than my CAL. Is it normal practice to just dose part one or part two if you need to, or should you always dose both every time?