Let's talk about Alkalinity, Calcium and Magnesium in an SPS Tank
- Thread starter JB NY
- Start date
Aquarist007
New member
I like your writing style--chris--technical but not too technical--start working on a book if you haven't already.
Scott
Scott
Aquarist007
New member
I have read or been told that under certain conditions--low calcium high magnesium that corals will use magnesium and combine with the carbonates---to calcify ???
Aquarist007
New member
Is kent super DKH---a non borate ph/alkalinity booster? If not what would you recommend--other then dosing with Kalk
MCsaxmaster
New member
No worries :thumbsup:
Ha, thanks!
I'll get things written in a larger format someday. For now life is just too busy to do much more than magazine articles/reef club presentations.They always use Mg when they calcify, just not very much (very, very small portion of what is available). I suppose it is possible that they might increase use of Mg when Ca is low, but given recent findings I'd be skeptical of this. Of course, ya never know until you try it, and I don't believe anyone has ever done that.
That should be fine to use. It is most likely just a mix of sodium bicarbonate with a little sodium carbonate. Seachem's buffer (I forget the name) has a lot of borate in it, which can lead to problems. Honestly, considering how cheap sodium bicarbonate is relative to most salts, I don't know why any company would rely on borate alkalinity, but anyway....
If you need to boost just alkalinity I'd use either baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) or baked baking soda (sodium carbonate) as per Randy Holmes-Farley's articles on the subject. It's extremely cheap, and does exactly the job we want. Since it's intended for human consumption, it's probably as pure as any product we could buy (though not as pure as like reagent or analytical grade sodium bicarbonate intended for lab use).
cj
Hey everybody, Sorry if this question has already been asked but i was wondering how to lower DKH? My DKH is around 16.0 and my CA is at 420, fortunatly all my corals have great color. However, with my DKH being so high i know there has to be some improvement if it is lowered. Does anyone have any advice?
Aquarist007
New member
running high alk level you take the chance of some rapid precipitation of carbonates and or rapid corraline algae growth.
Either way that will consume carbonates and indirectly affect coral growth
Aquarist007
New member
------I agree with melev----20- 25 per cent water change and bring it down to around 10.5 dKH
JB NY
Active member
Easiest way to bring your alk down is to only dose calcium for a while. Just check your alk every few days, you will notice that the alk seems to drop more than the Ca. Meaning, you might notice your alk drop 1-2 points before you see you calcium drop much at all. just dose some turbo calcium or some other calcium only additive (to keep the calcium levels stable) until the alk is where you want it, then re-start your normal dosing routine.
Aquarist007
New member
for future consideration-----while your alk is falling
what is your pH----did you or are you dosing with a buffer---alot contain boron which can raise your alk levels very high.
what is your pH----did you or are you dosing with a buffer---alot contain boron which can raise your alk levels very high.
Nice thread.
Need some help from expert advise
tank size 120 gal
I'm currently dosing Randy's receipe 1 for my SPS tank
Kh 50ml - 2 hrs once start from 12am (eg. 12am, 2am, 4am ...)
Ca 90ml - 2 hrs once start from 1am (Eg. 1am, 3am, 5am....)
each dosing amount will last 55mins and 5 mins rest before the next one started (about 7drops or so every 20sec estimated)
Total dosing amount at night Kh 350ml ca700ml
Mg 300ml every 3 days once at 7pm
Every night measure at 9.00pm Ca 400-420, kh 8.0-8.4 Mg 1280-1320
i struggled for almost 2 weeks before i manage to get this result due to ionic imbalance
Recently, PH drop significantly after switching all the dosing after lights off. Now (8.0-8.3) before was (8.2-8.5). I'm contemplating to slowly adjust back to 8.1-8.4 by delaying the dosing starting from 4am instead of 12am.
I'm very keen to know
1) Is there any way to measure the highly concentrated dosing solution using our test kit.
2) I don't know why but i need to dose a lot more ca solution than kh - i'm worry. Is it because CA precipitate causing more solution required when dosing?
3) what is the safe dosing amount/qty quantity within an hour ?
Hope someone can share his experience. Thanks
Need some help from expert advise
tank size 120 gal
I'm currently dosing Randy's receipe 1 for my SPS tank
Kh 50ml - 2 hrs once start from 12am (eg. 12am, 2am, 4am ...)
Ca 90ml - 2 hrs once start from 1am (Eg. 1am, 3am, 5am....)
each dosing amount will last 55mins and 5 mins rest before the next one started (about 7drops or so every 20sec estimated)
Total dosing amount at night Kh 350ml ca700ml
Mg 300ml every 3 days once at 7pm
Every night measure at 9.00pm Ca 400-420, kh 8.0-8.4 Mg 1280-1320
i struggled for almost 2 weeks before i manage to get this result due to ionic imbalance
Recently, PH drop significantly after switching all the dosing after lights off. Now (8.0-8.3) before was (8.2-8.5). I'm contemplating to slowly adjust back to 8.1-8.4 by delaying the dosing starting from 4am instead of 12am.
I'm very keen to know
1) Is there any way to measure the highly concentrated dosing solution using our test kit.
2) I don't know why but i need to dose a lot more ca solution than kh - i'm worry. Is it because CA precipitate causing more solution required when dosing?
3) what is the safe dosing amount/qty quantity within an hour ?
Hope someone can share his experience. Thanks
MCsaxmaster
New member
For measuring the concentration of the solutions you could do a 50 or 100 fold dilution (or whatever dilution you'd like to) and measure the concentrations. Make sure you're as accurate as possible in diluting, otherwise your calculated values will be off.
A possible and perhaps likely reason that the you need to use more of the calcium solution is that the actual calcium concentration is lower than calculated value due to hydration of the calcium chloride. Calcium chloride picks up water very, very easily (used as a dehydrant in some applications because it sucks up water so easily). This means that you may have mixed up a more dilute solution than you intended because much of the mass/volume of the salt was actually just water.
That does seem like a lot of dosing, so I'd be suspicious that a lot of what you're adding is precipitating abiotically. How exactly are you adding these solutions?
cj
A possible and perhaps likely reason that the you need to use more of the calcium solution is that the actual calcium concentration is lower than calculated value due to hydration of the calcium chloride. Calcium chloride picks up water very, very easily (used as a dehydrant in some applications because it sucks up water so easily). This means that you may have mixed up a more dilute solution than you intended because much of the mass/volume of the salt was actually just water.
That does seem like a lot of dosing, so I'd be suspicious that a lot of what you're adding is precipitating abiotically. How exactly are you adding these solutions?
cj
JetCat USA
In Memoriam
He might have a huge pair of Gigas in there
Aquarist007
New member
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10941634#post10941634 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JetCat USA
He might have a huge pair of Gigas in there
lol I had to look this one up--for other duh"s like myself they are giant clams
http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Tridacna_gigas.html
MCsaxmaster
New member
"One point twenty-one gigawatts?! One point twenty-one gigawatts!?!"
I'm using aquatronica dosing pump, suck from a 8gal storage bottle (seal) and dose directly into my sump at a very high flow area. I did monitor, it is like 1ml/30sec or a min. same happens to kh and ca with an hour apart
Potentially, I have made a mistake when mixing the solution. Anyway, will try your 100 fold dilution method since the suppose solution should be Ca - 47000ppm.
many thanks
