Is this possible????

[Bela N]

Is it possible for a HEAVELLY stocked tank to soak up 180 mL of ESV B-Ionic #1 per DAY?????

Our school has a 140 gal mixed reef tank, see pics, which is dosed 15 mL 12 X a DAY. I can NOT get the Alk above 7. I am thinking to increase the dosage but I am already 40 mL or more a day over the maximum recommended dose of 140 mL. In actual fact, I may be as much as 80 to 120 mL a day over the recommended dosing. I estimate the rock & corals take up 50 to 60 % of the volume of the tank. This means that the tank probably only has 60 -80 gallons of actual water. The rock work/corals go from the back to the front of the 18" wide tank. I cannot clean the front glass in certain areas of the tank as the large MagFloat will not fit by the corals. I also have frag racks at the top of all sides of the tank, including one in the front center. If anyone is good at estimating actual volume of water based on coral density I would love you feed back. The tank is 72"L X 18"W X 20" H, see the pics.

Specs are as follows:

General "“ All corals are growing like weeds. I use a number of Zeo/Phol's products; Xtra, Snow, Sponge power, Vitalizer, LPS, AA, Bak & Start3. Heavy flow rate, Tunze- 6065, 2 X 6055, 6025, behind the rock MJ1200 & 2 X pic 300. Feed mixed; Cyclo, live phyto, Reef Roids, ProReef, PE Mysis, FaunaMarine & other frozen foods. Deltec MC600 skimmer. Lighting = 14 X 39W T5: 8 X KZ New Gen, 4 XGeis Actinic, 2 X KZ FijiP. No sump or fuge, hence only the smaller fish.

Salinity = 1.025 "“ 1.0265
Mag = 1500+ ( salifert) the one time I reloaded the syringe I got about 1510.
pH varies from 8.48 at lights off around 6:30pm to 8.05 at lights on at 8:30 am. Dig Aquatics pH meter.
Ca = 395 to 415 (Hanna Checker) Dosing 140 mL of Bionic # 2 a day. I Do a 27 gal water change a week, most of the time, with Reef Crystal.
Temp = 25.5C +/- 0.5 C Alternating fan & heater with DigAqua controller.

Using a GHL dosing pump, I add 12 X 15 mL. Dosing starts 1/2 hour after lights off at 7:00pm.The GHL adds 15 mL every half hour till 1:00 am. I know it is working as I get a brief pH spike on my DigAqua meter/graph. Note, my sensors are next to the dossing inlet.

Alk was hovering around around 6.1 to 6.4 when I was dosing 140 mL. This jumped to 6.9 to 7.0 when I increased to 180 mL a day.

Is it possible to dose 180mL a day & still have an Alk of 7?

Should I increase dossing?

Thanks!

 

[Ron Reefman]

I'm not familiar wit ESV B-ionic, but with a tank stocked that heavy, I believe it for sure. I have a 180g that has maybe half as many corals as your tank and I dose 200ml/day of both BRS calcium and soda ash (that's 200ml of each). Hopefully somebody with experience using EVS B-ionic will jump in here and let you know.

BTW, love your avatar. And how are things in London? My dad grew up in Startford, eh.

 

[jeffreylesser]

I dose 169ml a day of ESV in a 120 gallon(~100galons of actual water). My corals are growing very fast. If you have high growth, corals, coralline, and clams can suck up a lot of two part. So yes I say it's very possible. You do need to watch your Ph when you start dosing that much.

 

[jimsplace]

Are you getting any precipatation on any of your pumps, heaters ... which might indicate overdosing to compensate for that lost to precip.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

That looks like a pretty high demand tank. If you do not see a lot of the precipitation that Jim mentions, then there is no concern (except monitoring salinity, which rises with two part additions).

 

[Bela N]

That looks like a pretty high demand tank. If you do not see a lot of the precipitation that Jim mentions, then there is no concern (except monitoring salinity, which rises with two part additions).

I get zero precipitate of any kind, the water is crystal clear including the surface. Salinity is relatively stable, occasionally goes close to 1.027 but that is it. I have worked out my rate of evaporation & add 4 L of RO/DI water a day with the GHL dosser. Each dose is 1L (takes 16 min.) & the 4 doses are spaced an hour apart. This lowers the salinity when it approaches 1.027 due to evaporation.

I am going to increase the total dose to 192 mL a day ( 12 X 16 mL) & see what happens. If that works I will gradually increase till I get a descent Alk or go bankrupt.

Thanks Randy, Jim, Jeff & Ron!

 

[Bela N]

Quite warm most of the time, almost like Florida . It has been an atypical winter. I assume you saw a few plays as a kid.

As for avatar, I am actually an entomologists turned biology teacher. I keep/breed bugs and all kinds of tarantulas. I got roped into looking after the fish tank after the previous teacher crashed it a few times. Now I am totally HOOKED! If my wife found out how much I spend on the tank, she would skin me alive. The school gives me $700 a year, that barely pays for the salt.