Simple method of dosing alk? - Page 3

High tide · #21 02-10-2009, 05:29 PM

First of all, for anyone to help you properly we need to know the ph and alk levels of your tank. Adding a bunch of baking soda and nothing else is not going to solve your problem, it will just throw things more out of wack. Are your corals and clams growing? Is your RO unit working? If you live in a place with high mineral content it is possible that your RO membrane is clogged. Test the RO unit for calcium. If the RO is working fine and you want to keep it simple, which it sounds like you do, (no reactor,doser, or stirrer)here is what I would do. First of all I would switch salt, Instant Ocean is tried and tested with buffering capacity. Secondly, I would do a large water change(at least 50%) after a couple smaller ones(25%)to get your animals used to the change in salt/chemistry.Thirdly, take a five gallon pail, mix kalk accordingly, and drip kalk to match evaporation. Your aquarium probably has little demand for calcium so this should suffice.

midgetwaiter · #22 02-10-2009, 05:58 PM

This is awful.

Quote:

Originally Posted by High tide

First of all, for anyone to help you properly we need to know the ph and alk levels of your tank. Adding a bunch of baking soda and nothing else is not going to solve your problem, it will just throw things more out of wack.

The baking soda he is adding will raise alkalinity. He has problems with low alkalinity. WTF is the disconnect there?

Quote:

Originally Posted by High tide

Are your corals and clams growing? Is your RO unit working? If you live in a place with high mineral content it is possible that your RO membrane is clogged. Test the RO unit for calcium.

Probably a good idea.

Quote:

Originally Posted by High tide

First of all I would switch salt, Instant Ocean is tried and tested with buffering capacity.

Yeah it's got higher alk than other salts but the calcium sucks when mixed with RO water. Regardless of your personal salt preference the fact is BioSea is an excellent salt mix, it is not the root of this problem.

Quote:

Originally Posted by High tide

Secondly, I would do a large water change(at least 50%) after a couple smaller ones(25%)to get your animals used to the change in salt/chemistry.Thirdly, take a five gallon pail, mix kalk accordingly, and drip kalk to match evaporation. Your aquarium probably has little demand for calcium so this should suffice.

So your solution to somebody with normal calcium but depressed alkalinity is to add calcium and alkalinity to the tank in equal parts. Respectfully, WTF?

It's indeed a little unusual to see alkalinity demand much higher than calcium but it's not unheard of. Phosphate resins and liquids can eat it up, other things can contribute. It's an easy fix.

The ozmolator is nice, doesn't come with a tank though, you can just use a bucket. I also like the Tsunami AT-1 + Aqualifter combo, it's served me well for years and the Aqualifter stands up fairly well to moving sodium carbonate solutions or kalk.

High tide · #23 02-10-2009, 06:30 PM

Thank you midgetwaiter for your respectful WTF. Obviously you have no clue what the desired effect is....returning ionic balance! If you have to throw baking soda at your aquarium and calcium levels never drop most definitely there is an ionic imbalance. Besides that, we don't even know the Kh or the Ph of the system. You can adversely affect both with excessive baking soda use. Baking soda will not buffer.Treating the cause is always a better way to go than treating the symptom. It's more important that the alk/ca ratio are proportionate than have "normal calcium" levels. If the alk is low and the Ca is "normal" things are not "normal".

ponokareefer · #24 02-10-2009, 06:45 PM

My PH is at 8.2, and my alk varies, depending on if I've just dosed or not. It has gotten as low as 2.2 when I didn't realize it was being used up so quickly, but I am able to maintain it between 2.5 and 2.7 with proper dosing. I can't remember how that corresponds to on the Kh scale.

ponokareefer · #25 02-10-2009, 07:00 PM

I found my conversion scale. My alk was at 6.2, but I try to maintain it at 7.5. All corals and clams are growing quite nicely.

ponokareefer · #26 02-10-2009, 07:19 PM

So I added Kalk, not alk, through the morning, and my alk shot up to 8.3, and my calcium maintained at 450. I had no idea adding kalk would increase the alk so much, and leave the calcium pretty much the same. Thanks for the helpfull tip.
After sorting through everyone's advise, and my goal being to try to simplify the process of keeping the levels in my tank constant, I'm going to look for a ATO, and have a smaller holding tank(10gallons). Although I'll have to add water regularly(I get about 1.5 gallons of evaporation in the winter, and close to 2.5 gallons of evaporation in the summer), this will still be easier than doing it daily. This will give me the opportunity to add kalk to the system, and keep my salinity at more of a constant.
Thanks for everyone's advise and help

untamed · #27 02-10-2009, 07:53 PM

RE: adding Kalk

You've just seen a good example of what I was referring to earlier. By adding Kalk, you've added both Alk and Ca...yet only seen a lift in the Alk.

As Kalk has a very high pH, that explains why the tank pH moved up....but that effect would only be temporary. I don't know how you are measuring your tank pH, but if you measured it every hour you would find that it moves considerably through the day/night cycle. That is normal.

In fact, the main concern with pH is mostly about not moving it around too fast. What it actually IS at any given point in time isn't too important. (to a point..of course)

mseepman · #28 02-10-2009, 08:00 PM

It's interesting to see where your CAL is at. Biosea is an excellent salt (my favorite behind their Marine Environment version) but I recently decided to try Reefer's best and my CAL has just dropped through the bottom while my ALK has stayed fairly high.

I believe salt does make a big difference on your dosing regime so make sure you watch both numbers carefully so one doesn't get out of wack more quickly than you realize.

If you go to Walmart, they sell TDS meters for $15 in the Auto/RV section so that you can regularly check your RO water.

ponokareefer · #29 02-10-2009, 08:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mseepman

It's interesting to see where your CAL is at. Biosea is an excellent salt (my favorite behind their Marine Environment version) but I recently decided to try Reefer's best and my CAL has just dropped through the bottom while my ALK has stayed fairly high.

I believe salt does make a big difference on your dosing regime so make sure you watch both numbers carefully so one doesn't get out of wack more quickly than you realize.

If you go to Walmart, they sell TDS meters for $15 in the Auto/RV section so that you can regularly check your RO water.

Our RO unit has been producing less water lately, so we are going to change out the filters and membranes now as well, so if there is any issues, they should be cleared up quickly. This did not coincide with my alk readings dropping though. The alk readings dropped well before the RO unit started slowing down. I am positive it was my new clam that is causing all the issues.
I'll have to look for a TDS meter next time I'm at a Walmart.