Started dosing Baking soda, got questions

[Bens_Reef]

the calculator i found said to raise my dKH from 7 to 10 i needed to dose 3.6 tbsp of soda to achieve this. i didnt say how often to dose this amount. this is what i am doing.

4 tbsp to 1 gallon fresh, slow drip it to return of sump. 1 drip every 3 seconds.

just wondering if i am doing this right, i read a couple threads from people who do this but couldnt make a solid formula for my system from them.

TIA

[1carpenter]

I was wanting to start dosing baking soda like you said i haven't found an exact method. So i'm interested to see how this turns out for you, and am in the search for some exacts i hope to return with some good info.

[fishflorist]

i would not raise KH more than 0.5 dKH in one day.

7dKH is good enough, so you should raise it in slower way, maybe 0.2dkh a day

[Bens_Reef]

i have been searching and reading threads for weeks and alot today as ive been wanting to actually start it for a week now. i have a headache and cant read too many more threads on the subject. :(

[Bens_Reef]

fishflorist, that more like what i want to do, but i need a solid formula to base my math on in order to achieve this, right now im just taking a shot in the dark with my OP method. i will only know its true effect after testing which i am not going to do every 5 mins to make sure its not going too fast.

[fishflorist]

4tbsp in your tank that is 3.3333dkh , 3.3333dHK/1gallon = 0.0008806dKH/ml

suppose 1 drip is 0.05ml-0.075ml

you are now dripping at 1drip/3seconds that means :
24*60*60seconds /3
=28800drips/day
=1440ml-2160ml/day
=1.268dKH-1.902dKH/day

that is too much in my opinion,

I will slow down to at leaat 10 seconds / drip

ignored the RO water volume above , if you are driping slowly, that will not be a problem I think

[Bens_Reef]

wow, that is interesting math you have there, i am not sure how many ml are in a drip but could do a test to find out. i have slowed the rate to 1 drip per 8 seconds. i definitely dont want to raise it too fast.

[fishflorist]

and you still got KH depleting in the tank it self, so I think 1 drip/ 10 secend is suitable.

and the boost of KH will be a little lower than it should be (0.3804dkh - 0.5706dkh when 1 drip/ 10 secend)， so you'd better test the KH every 3-5 days.

that is all theory numbers, other things make have a little influence to the result, which I do not understand too, maybe Randy or some other big boss can explaine that. But basically this is enough we need to know.

[fishflorist]

wow, that is interesting math you have there, i am not sure how many ml are in a drip but could do a test to find out. i have slowed the rate to 1 drip per 8 seconds. i definitely dont want to raise it too fast.

if you want to know you can do a simple test as how much time it need to fill a certain volume container.

but that is not neccesary I think. Zeovit droppers have 0.05ml/drop， and MB7 bottle have 0.075ml/drop , so I supposed the ml in the calculation will not be too far away.

[Bens_Reef]

after further adjustment i am now sitting at 1drip/13 seconds which depending on drip volume would be .292-.439 dkh/day according to your math. is this good enough or should i slow it more?

[fishflorist]

and another number I can remember is DO NOT EXCEED 1.4dKH/day

but I can not remember where it came from. I always take 0.5dKH as my limit.

[Bens_Reef]

i am dripping from a airline gang valve made by penn-plax, they are pretty small drips. i just dont want to upset my tank by dosing too rapidly

[fishflorist]

after further adjustment i am now sitting at 1drip/13 seconds which depending on drip volume would be .292-.439 dkh/day according to your math. is this good enough or should i slow it more?

Yes I think that is good enough.

but you have to make sure the number 3.6tbsp for boost 3 dkh is right in the beginning. is this the calculator you are using ? http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html

[Bens_Reef]

yes thats the one i used, i am guessing i am somewhere around 50g actual volume, sump is 16.6 working volume and i have 80# LR and 90# sand. its probably less now that im looking at these numbers. :(

[lokii_37]

If you go to the bulk reef supply web site they has a calculator to tell you how much soda will raise your tank KH. That is what I used. You can figure what it will take to raise it .5 KH and dose that much each day until you are where you want to be. As long as the tank is not using more then .5 KH per day you should be able to get to 8-9 KH in a week or so.

[Bens_Reef]

if i am more near 40g volume then it says 2.8 tsp not tbsp, i have this issue with mixing up tbsp and tsp when my wife tries to make me bake.

[lokii_37]

Tablespoon should have a capitol T and teaspoon will have a lower case t

[Bens_Reef]

that calc has the same dosing that i got with the other one, it does say dont go more than 1.4 dkh in one day

[bertoni]

The maximum safe dosing rate might depend on what's in the tank. I regularly dosed 2-3 dKH in one shot, but the tanks had no stony corals. For the touchier corals, I might spend 3 days or so raising the tank level by 3 dKH. The corals and coralline might be consuming 2-3 dKH per day, given the chance, so you'll need to check the level every day for a while.

[Bens_Reef]

i will pick this up tomorrow, thank you all for the help

[lokii_37]

My tank uses about .4-.6kh per day I dose about 40ml of recipe 1 each day at one time