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09/19/2018, 02:06 PM | #1 |
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DKH help
Hi everyone,
I am considering setting up a automatic dosing system in preparation for buying more corals, I have a 120g tank, running for 10months now. Contains around 10 fish, 5 soft corals and 6 LPS corals. I've measured my calc, mag & alk for the last 3 days at the same time and it's come out as follows. Calc - 420 / 420 / 420 Mag - 1260 / 1260 / 1260 DKH - 7 / 6.85 / 6.7 I know my alk is too low but as it's dropping steadily should I start dosing just alk and leave the others to water changes? I change 15% water every two weeks with red sea salt. |
09/19/2018, 03:23 PM | #2 |
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Perfectly fine to just dose ALK.
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80G SCA Build: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2560256 Originally posted by der_wille_zur_macht: "He's just taking his lunch to work" |
09/19/2018, 06:01 PM | #3 |
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I agree. Dosing just the alkalinity should be okay. I'd watch the calcium level from time to time, and the SG, since the alkalinity supplement will raise it.
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Jonathan Bertoni |
09/20/2018, 02:47 PM | #4 |
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Calcium drops much slower than dKH and anything from about 380 to 440 is fine.
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Gary 180 gallon, 40 gallon sump, 3 250 W MH + 4 80W ATI T5's, MTC MVX 36 Skimmer, Apex controller Aquamaxx T-3 CaRx Current Tank Info: A 2 Barred Rabbitfish, Red Head Salon, Yellow/Purple, McMaster Fairy, Possum, 2 Leopard Wrasses, Kole, & Atlantic Blue Tangs, 2 Percula Clown, 3 PJ and 1 Banggai Cardinalfish , Swallowtail, Bellus and Coral Beauty Angels |
09/21/2018, 10:46 AM | #5 |
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I agree with all above. Every time you purchase sps or lps you should test all 3 elements often. Once you get the consumption, you can move to once a week, then once a month. Auto-dosing will fail you if you don’t test promptly.
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09/22/2018, 01:01 PM | #6 |
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Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: Ontario, Canada
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3 days testing is not long enough to validate consumption.
I tested weekly for 3 months to understand consumption Red Sea mixes high in the range, your ALK should be maintained in conjunction with you nitrate levels, usually higher nitrates like 5-10 ppm Alk better lower in the range but not exceeding 8.5 so your not far off. I would want to rule out testing errors first and this just takes time Measure your levels both before and after water change, and record. Most important is the stability, especially the ALK I see only 6 corals (now) that would use ALK/CA so not a big load. For example, I have 10 SPS, three clams, and 40LPS in a 70g and my daily consumption is only 5 ppm for both I can’t count the number of corals people killed with excessive dosing regimes that existed because consumption rates were inaccurate. Take your time, manually dose, add some corals, test, record, see what the longer term pattern is, then automate if that makes sense Last edited by Uncle99; 09/22/2018 at 01:21 PM. |
09/22/2018, 03:31 PM | #7 |
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I agree that 3 days is only a few data points, but 3 months is long enough that animal growth might change the consumption rate quite a bit, especially in a newer tank. I'd measure every day for a few days, then slowly back off to once a week or once a month, depending on the tank in question, and how often new inhabitants are added.
I agree that adding new animals is a good time to test more frequently for a bit, especially if they are stony corals or the like.
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