Alkalinity Fluctuation...

Jaysushi · Jul 12, 2018

@BoomCorals I'll look into the KH Director too!

chipmunkofdoom2 · Jul 12, 2018

I think we should keep in mind that up until now, we haven't had a good way to monitor daily alkalinity swings, aside from manually testing hourly. Even that can be problematic because of human error. An alkalinity monitor might reveal that your alkalinity is higher when the lights go on because coral demand dropped during the night and your calcium reactor was dosing anyway. An alkalinity monitor might reveal that your alkalinity is lowest right before the lights turn off, since the demand has increased during the day, but the dose from your reactor has not. Whatever the case may be, historically we have not been able to monitor with this level of accuracy, and plenty of hobbyists have been successful despite that fact.

In the past, if you test your alkalinity at the same time of day and get the same result repeatedly, your alkalinity is considered to be stable. I think we should still use this as our definition of "alkalinity stability" for the time being. Perhaps 100% stable alkalinity and calcium is better. Perhaps it is not. We need a lot more people using alkalinity monitors to control their calcium and alkalinity before we can make this kind of decision.

I wouldn't worry about changes in alkalinity throughout the day if your alkalinity is consistent at a given time of day.

DarthSimon · Jul 12, 2018

I am setup with KH Guardian and ready to go....

DarthSimon · Jul 12, 2018

BigJohnny · Jul 12, 2018

DarthSimon said:
Was curious what other members Alk fluctuations are that keep SPS.... Acros, Monti Ect.

I Dos 20ml of Calcium and Alk for a 24 hour period which breaks down to about 2ml of each every 15 minutes or so.

I also do 2 gallons (7000ml) a day water change with Red Sea Pro salt which is about 55ML per dos all day....

My alk ranges from 7.9 to 8.2 on a daily basis... Calcium just sits at 420.

Is this fluctuation to much for acros??? Lately I have experienced amazing growth on all my sps. Most all of my acros are encrusting not only up but out over rocks..... How can I dial in my dosing to have minimal fluctuation of Alk and not have it move? Is this possible or is a .2 to .3 swing ok for 24 hours???

Thanks in advance.
Steve

Perfectly fine. It's pretty hard to not have it swing less than .2-.3 dKH, especially because the accuracy of most tests has that margin of error, your good.

Mr. Roboto · Jul 13, 2018

I am old school in my approach. Test everyday at least once a day but usually twice a day, when the lights come on and when the lights go off. I dose depending on where the numbers fall. A .3 to .5 wave is nothing to worry about. I usually ride it somewhere between 7.8 and 8.2 myself. I dont have any issues. and dont consider it a swing. Now, when the wife hit it with soda ash instead of bicarb.... Well... It spiked to 9 for the day ... Thats a swing IMO.

PhreeByrd · Jul 14, 2018

DarthSimon said:
I Dos 20ml of Calcium and Alk for a 24 hour period which breaks down to about 2ml of each every 15 minutes or so.

No, it doesn't.
Before I climb on the bandwagon of recommending that you do the same thing I do...

If you're really dosing 2mL every 15 minutes, then you are dosing 2mL*4*24=192mL per 24 hours.
If you're actually dosing 20mL per 24 hours, then you're dosing an equivalent of 2mL every 144 minutes or every 2 hrs & 24 minutes.
A huge difference, so it would be nice to know which is correct.

DarthSimon said:
How can I dial in my dosing to have minimal fluctuation of Alk and not have it move? Is this possible or is a .2 to .3 swing ok for 24 hours???
Steve

IME, a .2 to .3 dkH swing is not a problem unless you're trying to race sps growth with somebody. I highly doubt that you would even detect any difference in corals by correcting this small of a fluctuation.
In order to minimize the fluctuation, you would need to monitor and log the alkalinity level over a 24 hour period for at least couple of days (with no dosing). I'd suggest a test at least every 2 hours. If you find a big swing between consecutive tests, then you may want to insert an extra test point. Once you have that data and feel confident in your numbers, then you can set up a schedule to dose the amount of alkalinity or 2-part needed to offset the alkalinity drops. For example, if it falls .1dkH between 1AM and 3AM, then dose enough at 2AM to provide that lost .1 dkH. This is not rocket science, but it does require good testing, accurate dosing, and some dedication to collecting the data and chasing the numbers. Graphing your alkalinity levels will probably help you to more easily identify the periods of largest change.

The KH Guardian, of course, if it works reliably, makes this all pretty moot. Very pricey for a hobby setup, though.

DarthSimon · Jul 14, 2018

PhreeByrd said:
No, it doesn't.
Before I climb on the bandwagon of recommending that you do the same thing I do...

If you're really dosing 2mL every 15 minutes, then you are dosing 2mL*4*24=192mL per 24 hours.
If you're actually dosing 20mL per 24 hours, then you're dosing an equivalent of 2mL every 144 minutes or every 2 hrs & 24 minutes.
A huge difference, so it would be nice to know which is correct.

IME, a .2 to .3 dkH swing is not a problem unless you're trying to race sps growth with somebody. I highly doubt that you would even detect any difference in corals by correcting this small of a fluctuation.
In order to minimize the fluctuation, you would need to monitor and log the alkalinity level over a 24 hour period for at least couple of days (with no dosing). I'd suggest a test at least every 2 hours. If you find a big swing between consecutive tests, then you may want to insert an extra test point. Once you have that data and feel confident in your numbers, then you can set up a schedule to dose the amount of alkalinity or 2-part needed to offset the alkalinity drops. For example, if it falls .1dkH between 1AM and 3AM, then dose enough at 2AM to provide that lost .1 dkH. This is not rocket science, but it does require good testing, accurate dosing, and some dedication to collecting the data and chasing the numbers. Graphing your alkalinity levels will probably help you to more easily identify the periods of largest change.

The KH Guardian, of course, if it works reliably, makes this all pretty moot. Very pricey for a hobby setup, though.

It's .2 per dos every 15 minutes or so.....
Here is the first couple of days of alk on the KH Guardian :

I have verified 3 of the above tests with Hanna and they were spot on...
Also still waiting for my AIM module to sync to apex....
Well see how the Guardian goes... Got it for almost next to nothing.... I wanted to dial in my alk and make sure my SPS were ok.... This will fulfill my need for Alk until the Trident comes out. I will for sure get a Trident when available....