Flash21 Posted February 4, 2018 Share Posted February 4, 2018 So I have 2 25 lagoon tanks. Both of the Parms are the same...I have never dosed anything. Yesterday I tested Alk and 4.5 Cal 400 I bought some part 1 and 2 ESV from upscales. What are yours guys thoughts on how I should approach this? I added 5mls of each yesterday...should I gradually add a certain amount each day? I have been reading a lot about low ALk. Thoughts, Ideas.... any information will help. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted February 4, 2018 Share Posted February 4, 2018 Wow that was even lower than my alk when mine was 5.5. I used Brightwell’s and there was a recommended starting dose per gallon of water. I started there tested the next day and realized I needed to double it. Initially it’s just tinkering around to see but it was close to the recommended dose for maintenance. The key is checking daily. I would dose at night and then check in the evening before I dosed again because I knew that was the low point of my alk. The ph will increase when you dose alk but I have not seen any harmful effects from an elevated ph other than I wanted to kill my Apex for alerting me every 5 minutes !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash21 Posted February 4, 2018 Author Share Posted February 4, 2018 Will I raise it too much per day if I use recommend amount? Says 1ml every 4gallons of water. Meaning say I’m at 4.0 and I use recommend amount and it goes to 6.0 I doubt it but just saying will this affect anything with a spike? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted February 4, 2018 Share Posted February 4, 2018 I didn’t have an issue. It depends on what you have but 4 to 6 isn’t a big jump. I would say it would only be an issue with possibly the most sensitive of zoas and sps. Overall I found some things actually did very well like magicians and blondie zoas seem to do better with a high alk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danlu_gt Posted February 5, 2018 Share Posted February 5, 2018 So I have 2 25 lagoon tanks. Both of the Parms are the same...I have never dosed anything. Yesterday I tested Alk and 4.5 Cal 400 I bought some part 1 and 2 ESV from upscales. What are yours guys thoughts on how I should approach this? I added 5mls of each yesterday...should I gradually add a certain amount each day? I have been reading a lot about low ALk. Thoughts, Ideas.... any information will help. Thanks You can mix baking soda in RO water to raise your ALK. If you have SPS, raise 1dkh per day. Use following calculator to determine how much baking soda to add.http://reef.diesyst.com/flashcalc/flashcalc.htmlSent from my SM-N950U1 using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash21 Posted February 5, 2018 Author Share Posted February 5, 2018 I would not no how much to add In the ATO bucket and that would just be too complicated for me. Thanks for the Info tho Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash21 Posted February 6, 2018 Author Share Posted February 6, 2018 Do corals use more alk if they are starving? Yesterday morning it was at 5.1 Today 2.8 tested at the same time. I ordered a Hanna Checker last night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taylorhardy1 Posted February 6, 2018 Share Posted February 6, 2018 With your alk being that low you're probably gonna have a really tough time getting it back to where it's supposed to be and keeping it stable just by adding alk supplements. I use io reef crystals, and every batch I've had mixes with stupendously high alk (12-14dkh). Ive learned atleast with my tank I would have to add over 100mls of alk in a day and it might bump the number up .5. I can get about .5 increase just by a 5g water change with io rc. For some perspective, I use 22mls of alk/ day on my 100g sps dominant system just to keep it stable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash21 Posted February 6, 2018 Author Share Posted February 6, 2018 Is it ok to use more then the recommend amount? Says 1ml per 4 gallons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash21 Posted February 6, 2018 Author Share Posted February 6, 2018 Just don’t get from one day to the next 5.1 to 2.8. I might have a bad test kit. Even from those readings I’m sure it’s low. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taylorhardy1 Posted February 6, 2018 Share Posted February 6, 2018 Could be numerous things. Do you dose in a high flow section? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chewie Posted February 6, 2018 Share Posted February 6, 2018 Are you measuring your Alk by Dkh or meq/l? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash21 Posted February 6, 2018 Author Share Posted February 6, 2018 I dose in high flow. Dkh. I added 4teaspoons of bake soda to the top off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taylorhardy1 Posted February 6, 2018 Share Posted February 6, 2018 If I were in your position, I'd dose and do waterchanges until everything was where I wanted it, then keep it stable from there. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash21 Posted February 6, 2018 Author Share Posted February 6, 2018 I agree. Weekly Water changes is what I always have done. I’ll dose very little until new checker comes...if I have time I’ll swing by Jeffs to get a double check. These are our tanks....I tested because lately corals have been just there and no growth. I’m glad that I noticed. I’ll be testing and testing more often now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chewie Posted February 6, 2018 Share Posted February 6, 2018 It's surprising how much alk a maturing tank will go through weekly and or daily. I agree though that it sounds likes bad test kit. Is it a Red Sea kit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash21 Posted February 6, 2018 Author Share Posted February 6, 2018 I have Red Sea and Salifert and both are reading almost the same. Tested Wife’s hers is at 5alk... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chewie Posted February 6, 2018 Share Posted February 6, 2018 If both kits read the same or close then I doubt they're bad. Fwiw, I have had great success with salifert. Time to start manually dosing ca/alk/mg on a regular basis.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash21 Posted February 6, 2018 Author Share Posted February 6, 2018 13 minutes ago, chewie said: If both kits read the same or close then I doubt they're bad. Fwiw, I have had great success with salifert. Time to start manually dosing ca/alk/mg on a regular basis.... I’m doing that 2 times a day until level is reached. Making a new batch of water to see if Red Sea is what it claims. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted February 6, 2018 Share Posted February 6, 2018 52 minutes ago, Flash21 said: I’m doing that 2 times a day until level is reached. Making a new batch of water to see if Red Sea is what it claims. Been following along... This does seem oddly low given everything you have been reporting and the coral variety you have in your tank. I would be really curious to see what your fresh mix salt is measuring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash21 Posted February 6, 2018 Author Share Posted February 6, 2018 I must be doing something wrong? New Salt water is low....add 4ml water put 4 drops in. Add the 1 ml to deal. Slowly add in mls to blueish in color til pink orange reads 2.5. Means I used 7.5 look on the chart at 7.5 and wow! Right Guys? Or is the 2.5 the reading I hope so. Because if so I’m dumb 😂. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taylorhardy1 Posted February 6, 2018 Share Posted February 6, 2018 My red sea kit asks for 10ml of water, then you titrate with 1ml, put 0.4 straight in, then drip and mix till pink. Mine is an older test kit, but it's always read the same as my brand new Hanna checkers so I still trust it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash21 Posted February 6, 2018 Author Share Posted February 6, 2018 I have two test kits. The checker is on its way Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash21 Posted February 6, 2018 Author Share Posted February 6, 2018 Red Sea 10mls Salfiert 4mls Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted February 7, 2018 Share Posted February 7, 2018 1 hour ago, Flash21 said: I must be doing something wrong? New Salt water is low....add 4ml water put 4 drops in. Add the 1 ml to deal. Slowly add in mls to blueish in color til pink orange reads 2.5. Means I used 7.5 look on the chart at 7.5 and wow! Right Guys? Or is the 2.5 the reading I hope so. Because if so I’m dumb 😂. This sounds like the Salifert titration kit. So, 4 mls of tank water, 4 drops of indicator. Draw up 1ml of reagent 2 into the syringe with the fine yellow/orange tip then add dropwise with mixing to the tube. When indicator changes color from blue to orange read the position of the black tip on the plunger and compare that to the chart. Not exactly sure what your number mean here but if your black tip is at .75 then your KH is indeed pretty low. If it is at .25 then your KH is actually high. .35 corresponds to a KH of about 10 if memory serves (don't have the chart in front of me). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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