Alk raising at night?

[zack801]

I've started trying 24hr all dosing but it seems every time I test in the morning my all is higher than when I test in the evening after work. Should I just switch back to dosing half of the day? Before trying this I would just dose from about 6pm - 8am and my testing results seemed much more consistent. Anyone else do 24hr dosing? I'm using seachem reef fusion 1 and 2 butbhavent been dosing calcium to let it drop a bit

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Some folks have found that the demand is much higher during the day than at night, which explains your results. Some of these folks now dose daytime only.

IMO, it is not clear if this is a pH issue or a direct lighting/photosynthesis effect, but it is not unexpected.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I'm using seachem reef fusion 1 and 2 butbhavent been dosing calcium to let it drop a bit

FWIW, that product seems to have excess calcium, so don't expect to dose exactly equal parts.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/s...y-alk-calcium-balanced-for-1-1-dosing.352635/

 

[zack801]

So most likely when i dosed in the evening hours before it carried the tank throughout the day until it started dosing again. How stable should we be aiming for as far as daily 'swings' ? I'd like to keep it close to .5dkh if possible.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

So most likely when i dosed in the evening hours before it carried the tank throughout the day until it started dosing again. How stable should we be aiming for as far as daily 'swings' ? I'd like to keep it close to .5dkh if possible.

Some folks with some of the newer autotitrators have claimed that their SPS look better with alk as stable as possible. IMO, it is certainly reasonable to strive for less than 0.4 dKH changes in a tank with an SPS focus. Even tighter might be better.

I'm not sure that this potential benefit translates to other organisms (LPS, soft corals, anemones, etc.).

 

[zack801]

I keep reading about people allowing their alk to drop for a day or two and then taking that number and dividing it by number of days to determine daily consumption rate. My worry is allowing it to drop like that may cause unneeded stress on the corals but im not sure if that short period of time is something to be concerned with?

 

[Tommy's Reef]

I always make sure I test at the same time ever evening. To get that consistency, but my alk is a little higher at night also, never had any issues with it.