took over a 65 gallon Red Sea reefer tank about a month ago a lot of lps coral and a little bit of sps everything is doing well but after picking up some Hanna checkers my alk is low yesterday it tested 6.2 alk. Cal is ok at 410. I dosed minimum as per directions of b-ionic two part. tested today and my alk is now 6.8. I’m not sure where to go from her do I continue minimum dose until it stops rising? Do I have room to do more alk dosing? All corals are fine so I would hate to overdose and mess things up. My guess is if I test before dosing tomorrow it would be Lower than 6.8 because my Original test was before dosing for 6.2 and about 2 hours after dosing today I got 6.8 (really two doses in two days) I know slower is safer so I’m ok with doing things slow but if I’m ok to ramp up a bit safety I would be ok with that too. Also I’m right in keeping equal parts dosing correct? Not just dosing alk since that’s the only low measurement. Water is 1.026 with reef crystals. Water change once a week with about 16 gallons
Alk cal level help b-ionic
- Thread starter Jhoussock
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Yes equal dosing.
Yes go slow with slow increases.
Same method for auto dosing in fact.
RC does have a slightly high alk so that may scew your tests. Depending on the volume of the change.
Depending on your nutrient level you may be able to cut down the WC volume as well.
OR
Keep the wc vol and you may be able to stave off the auto doser purchase.
Yes go slow with slow increases.
Same method for auto dosing in fact.
RC does have a slightly high alk so that may scew your tests. Depending on the volume of the change.
Depending on your nutrient level you may be able to cut down the WC volume as well.
OR
Keep the wc vol and you may be able to stave off the auto doser purchase.
afartindolphin
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You need to figure out your daily consumption. 6.2 was low but not a problem compared to increasing it too quickly. Like Salty said Reef Crystals has high alkalinity so water changes will be increasing alk as well.
Test your alk at the same time daily to figure how much to dose and look up a reef chemistry calculator to get an idea of how much the B-ionic will change levels in your tank. Dialing in dosing can take a lot of testing initially but finding stability is worth it. If your tank has low nutrient levels then low alkalinity is probably what you want anyway you may not even want to increase it very much.
So low nutrient tanks are a new concept to me as I’m new to the hobby...from what I read this means low nitrates and phosphates? Also with low enough nutrients the 7 range for alk is exceptable. Is this correct?
afartindolphin
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Yes that's pretty much it! Every tank is different though so a lot of initial testing along with observation of how your corals are doing will help you find your happy place. Having higher nutrients is totally fine but you also have to manage algae growth and try to maintain a healthy bacterial population.
I went in 5 ml increases and decreases with dosing to keep it simple.
I also don’t care if my alk is 8.0 or 8.7. As that’s well within test error parameters.
I also don’t care if my alk is 8.0 or 8.7. As that’s well within test error parameters.
