Having terrible time hand-dosing

[RynosReef]

Well don't get discouraged. Everyone is on the same road just different places on it. And stable alk is something you never stop chasing as your sps collection grows and they grow themselves. You're doing great if it's just burnt tips your worried about... I've bleached out my fair share of corals due to alk probs

If you can consistently keep alk from swinging more than 1dKH to 1.5dKH per day you can keep SPS. But they will do better if the swing is kept to a minimum of say 0.5 dkH within a 24hr period. So 8 to 10 for example in one day is bad. I would recommend first getting a good test kit like a salifert kh or red sea. And then hold off dosing a few days and test frequently to see how much your kh drops. Don't let it get below 7 though. Then start out dosing say 5ml for example and see if that maintains it. If not go up. Once you get it dialed in maybe split up the dosage like half in the morning and half at night. Or get a doser or try out kalk if your up to it.

It's not too hard. Just take it slow

 

[dunk373]

The brs reef calc. For mg is off. I did the same think but to 1600 lol no ill effects. I chased dkh too for about two months. I was dripping it with that jug dropper and adding calcium in the am. To me it seems alk will be where it wants to be it'll keep dropping until eventually it will balance out. I now have a doser and it is so much better. I used to dose 130ml alk and 100ca to keep alk at 9 I now dose both equal and corals grow the same. Also brs says add 20ml of mag after you use a gallon of two part which is accurate. Keep at it it'll get better. You have all these people to help. Just imagine no Internet lol. I have gone through exactly the same as you are now. But if you get dosing pumps don't let one run out like I did. It rtn'ed a coral and it's frag my dkh went up 2 points.

 

[iwishtofish]

To increase your API alk kit's resolution, magnify the testing volume. Instead of using the 5mL tube the kit comes with I use a shot glass and measure sample volumes with a 50mL syringe. A 10mL sample volume makes your API test .5 degrees per drop, 20mL gives you .25 per drop and so on.

Regardless of the accuracy of the API kit vs other brands, measuring the same way each time will diagnose stability issues if that's actually what's going on.

Thanks for that tip! Right now when I test, I use a cheap medical syringe to measure 5ml, rather than trust the line on the tube. I also invert the solution bottle and waste the first drop to ensure that all the drops will be as consistent as possible. I also waste the first drop every time I have to invert the bottle again, after shaking the tube.

I'm hoping that helps to ensure consistent testing.

Well don't get discouraged. Everyone is on the same road just different places on it. And stable alk is something you never stop chasing as your sps collection grows and they grow themselves. You're doing great if it's just burnt tips your worried about... I've bleached out my fair share of corals due to alk probs

If you can consistently keep alk from swinging more than 1dKH to 1.5dKH per day you can keep SPS. But they will do better if the swing is kept to a minimum of say 0.5 dkH within a 24hr period. So 8 to 10 for example in one day is bad. I would recommend first getting a good test kit like a salifert kh or red sea. And then hold off dosing a few days and test frequently to see how much your kh drops. Don't let it get below 7 though. Then start out dosing say 5ml for example and see if that maintains it. If not go up. Once you get it dialed in maybe split up the dosage like half in the morning and half at night. Or get a doser or try out kalk if your up to it.

It's not too hard. Just take it slow

Great advice - thanks! Not just burnt tips on the staghorn, I'm afraid. Now the edge of all the coralites are starting to suffer - it's strange, a while back I put a pocillopora in my tank, and it almost just melted away. Now that my levels are pretty good, I didn't expect this to happen. At least the other acro (tri-color, about 9 mos) still looks like it is actually improving. Strange things going on...

The brs reef calc. For mg is off. I did the same think but to 1600 lol no ill effects. I chased dkh too for about two months. I was dripping it with that jug dropper and adding calcium in the am. To me it seems alk will be where it wants to be it'll keep dropping until eventually it will balance out. I now have a doser and it is so much better. I used to dose 130ml alk and 100ca to keep alk at 9 I now dose both equal and corals grow the same. Also brs says add 20ml of mag after you use a gallon of two part which is accurate. Keep at it it'll get better. You have all these people to help. Just imagine no Internet lol. I have gone through exactly the same as you are now. But if you get dosing pumps don't let one run out like I did. It rtn'ed a coral and it's frag my dkh went up 2 points.

No Internet! I can't imagine!

My Ca doesn't seem to be consumed. Am I having a different effect by just dosing alk, and not Ca? I know my alk is being consumed - exactly where, I am not sure...

 

[iwishtofish]

The descent continues...only two corals expiring, but it's kind of rapid.