I think stability is the key. You could do smaller water changes twice a week, or start dosing to keep up your alk. Sodium Bi-carbonate which you can get bulk at many of our vendors, commonly known as baking soda. disolve some in ro water<a small daily batch or mix it bulk> figure out what your daily alk drop is and use one of the many calculators online to figure out what you need to keep it steady.
I think you can bake it in the oven to turn it into sodium carbonate which is more soluble in water making a stronger dose.
do some searches on 2 part dosing, I was only dosing alk at first, especially when i was using reef crystals<high ca> but once things got dialed in calcium needed to be added daily. You do not need a fancy dosing machine or anything that just makes it less work for you or the spouse. I just split my daily dosage into 2 and do it when I am feeding the fish.
I am using io right now and my alk is around 15 on a fresh batch but when only doing a 5-10 percent water change i just don't dose that day. I keep my alk around 7-7.5.
Last edited by blacknife; 06-26-2012 at 04:59 AM.
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