Help with new 125 gallon build

Fish are doing great! 2 chromis have come out more now with the clowns and seem to be more playful. They are all eating well also, got some mysis shrimp and pellets besides the flake food. I didn't replace the missing chromis, not sure if I will, they seem to be doing fine as a pair...
 
Dosing

Dosing

Finally got around to yesterday to mixing my dosing solutions from BRS for Cal, Alk and Magnesium. Want to know whats the best way to initially dose my system to get the parameters up where they should be without using the dosing pumps. Going to setup the dosing pumps with my Apex to maintain the parameters once I am up to par.

My readings last night were:

Alk 6.94
Ca 584
Mag 1260

PH this morning was 8.03

According to BRS reefcalculator, to bring up the Alk to 9 from my current level with a volume of about 150 gallons, I need 220 ml or Alk. I know it should be dosed over time so what would the best way be to do it? Take a few ml at a time daily and dump into the sump?
 
What did you get from BRS for alkalinity? Sodium Bicarbonate or Sodium Carbonate (Soda Ash)? Soda Ash is twice as strong as Sodium Bicarbonate.
 
BRS suggests you don't raise your alkinality by more than 1.4 dkh per day and should spread out the amount in multiple doses throughout the day. I would like to play it on the safe side and just raise your alk by 1dkh per day. The total amount needed for Soda Ash is about 110ml per day so I would add that amount in 3-4 doses in 24 hours.

Tassod, when you get a chance, post a couple full tank shot pics. How is the diatom bloom?
 
SimonSKL said:
BRS suggests you don't raise your alkinality by more than 1.4 dkh per day and should spread out the amount in multiple doses throughout the day. I would like to play it on the safe side and just raise your alk by 1dkh per day. The total amount needed for Soda Ash is about 110ml per day so I would add that amount in 3-4 doses in 24 hours.

Tassod, when you get a chance, post a couple full tank shot pics. How is the diatom bloom?
Click to expand...

Sure, I'll post some FTS pics tonight when i get home. Diatom's are getting a lot better and the CUC is helping tremendously. Those crabs and snails are just licking those rocks clean! So 110ml /4 is 27.5 ml that I should add within 24hrs. I should add this amount then every 6 hours. Do i just pour it into the sump?
 
Yep, just pour the 28ml in the sump, the high flow there will mix it up in no time. To raise the alk by 2 dkh, you need to put in 8 doses of about 28ml each.
 
In thinking about this a bit more, I think I will have my Apex do the dosing as my schedule will not permit manual dosing. I've downloaded and excel spreadsheet that builds my programming for this from http://www.reeftronics.net/

Is it acceptable to have it dose every hour for 24 hours? The amount it will dose per hour is 4.6 ml's and each dose will last for 250 seconds.
 
That perfectly fine and probably is better for the tank with small incremental dose. Just make sure you don't forget to reprogram the controller at the end of two days.
 
SimonSKL said:
That perfectly fine and probably is better for the tank with small incremental dose. Just make sure you don't forget to reprogram the controller at the end of two days.
Click to expand...

Simon, on your 92 gallon, How did you secure the tubing to your sump coming from the dosers? Also, what size hole did you make in the bottle caps of the storage containers?
 
I made a little acrylic holder with four 7/32" holes that straddled over the rim of the sump. The 4th hole is for RODI water from ATO.

Airline2_zps78214726.jpg


For the hole in the bottle cap, I drilled a 3/16" hole and insert a hard (not soft) clear tubing thru it. The end is bevel cut so if it touches the bottom of the bottle, the precipitate will not clog the opening.

Airline1_zpsf48690c6.jpg
 
Nice setup to hold the tubing, going to have to come up with something myself. Thanks for the pics and info.
 
Oh, if you drill a 3/16" in the bottle cap, make sure you drill a small vent hole also otherwise the hole is so tight it will create a vaccuum inside the bottle and nothing will come out. Or you can drill a slightly larger hole.
 
SimonSKL said:
Oh, if you drill a 3/16" in the bottle cap, make sure you drill a small vent hole also otherwise the hole is so tight it will create a vaccuum inside the bottle and nothing will come out. Or you can drill a slightly larger hole.
Click to expand...

Got it, thanks!
 
Well i can see the Alk dosing is taking effect...my PH has been rising all day. Its now at 8.44. this morning it was at 8.15. Should i be concerned with this or just let the dosing continue?
 
It just dropped to 8.36 as I wrote my last post. The graph on my apex shows small spikes followed by reductions. I believe the spikes are occuring at the same time the dosing is happening.
 
tassod said:
It just dropped to 8.36 as I wrote my last post. The graph on my apex shows small spikes followed by reductions. I believe the spikes are occuring at the same time the dosing is happening.
Click to expand...

As you know there are two sodium salts that can raise alk, sodium bicarbonate and sodium carbonate. Sodium carbonate not only provides more alkalinity than sodium bicarbonate but also has greater effect in raising PH. If your PH is persistently high, you may want to consider using sodium bicarbonate instead.
 
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