Aquaforest Guide

[Anirban]

do you recommend a specific amount to dose? what is the number we're shooting for to hold my Alkalinity at? i assume the number you choose is what i'd ideally try to keep it at ongoing from here.

I forgot your total water volume. But mix 80 gm i 1000 ml of water. Then I want your ALk to rise 0.5dkh and stay somewhere near 8.3dkh. 100ml of kH buffer solution will increase 1.6 dkh in 27 gallon so calculate accordingly.

 

[landlubber]

I forgot your total water volume. But mix 80 gm i 1000 ml of water. Then I want your ALk to rise 0.5dkh and stay somewhere near 8.3dkh. 100ml of kH buffer solution will increase 1.6 dkh in 27 gallon so calculate accordingly.

alright so here's where i get feeling stupid so i want to double confirm something i've already asked before regarding magnesium but again... you're saying add 80 grams to 1000ml of KH plus or KH buffer? i'm guessing you mean plus which to me seems to me would be the concentrated product. buffer is the additive to be used with their calcium, magnesium and mineral salts. correct?

 

[Anirban]

alright so here's where i get feeling stupid so i want to double confirm something i've already asked before regarding magnesium but again... you're saying add 80 grams to 1000ml of KH plus or KH buffer? i'm guessing you mean plus which to me seems to me would be the concentrated product. buffer is the additive to be used with their calcium, magnesium and mineral salts. correct?

I said KH buffer not KH plus. No you dont need to use the KH buffer always with Ca and Mg. You do it when you make components. You dose each of them separately too for increasing individual element levels.

 

[landlubber]

I said KH buffer not KH plus. No you dont need to use the KH buffer always with Ca and Mg. You do it when you make components. You dose each of them separately too for increasing individual element levels.

well then i don't need to buy anything. i just have to get 1000mL of rodi made and i can make up the KH buffer i already have. thank freakin god hahah.

 

[landlubber]

well then i don't need to buy anything. i just have to get 1000mL of rodi made and i can make up the KH buffer i already have. thank freakin god hahah.

so i arrived at adding 120mL to get a .5dKH increase. the tank is a 120 standard and the system total volume is about 150g.
my plan is to dose 40mL over 3 times.

 

[Anirban]

so i arrived at adding 120mL to get a .5dKH increase. the tank is a 120 standard and the system total volume is about 150g.
my plan is to dose 40mL over 3 times.

It should be somewhere near 170ml for 150 G water volume.

 

[landlubber]

It should be somewhere near 170ml for 150 G water volume.

i hate this crap... i'll just go with that lol. enjoy your day

 

[landlubber]

@Anirban really not much to report in terms of change aside from the Alkalinity raising from the 170mL dose.
24 hours ago: Ca 450 Alk 7.84 Mg 1470
currently: Ca 450 Alk 8.32 Mg 1470

 

[Anirban]

@Anirban really not much to report in terms of change aside from the Alkalinity raising from the 170mL dose.
24 hours ago: Ca 450 Alk 7.84 Mg 1470
currently: Ca 450 Alk 8.32 Mg 1470

No dosing today. We want that alk to stay there. By the way what Mg kit you use?

 

[landlubber]

No dosing today. We want that alk to stay there. By the way what Mg kit you use?

all my kits are salifert except for phosphate in which i use a hanna

 

[Anirban]

all my kits are salifert except for phosphate in which i use a hanna

Ok, check both your Mg and CA test kit. Its weird that Ca and Mg are sitting at same place while the Alk is going down.

 

[landlubber]

the i've taken water to my lfs a couple of times (last time was just 3 weeks ago) for redundancy. a bad alkalinity test kit is how i got into a dosing mess in the first place so i'm very cautious with them.
to be honest i expected with a dose of alkalinity buffer we'd see some change too. even just by things i've read, with the abundance of the Alk it's strange that the system isn't consuming any of the positively charged ions.

 

[Anirban]

the i've taken water to my lfs a couple of times (last time was just 3 weeks ago) for redundancy. a bad alkalinity test kit is how i got into a dosing mess in the first place so i'm very cautious with them.
to be honest i expected with a dose of alkalinity buffer we'd see some change too. even just by things i've read, with the abundance of the Alk it's strange that the system isn't consuming any of the positively charged ions.

Either its not using any of Ca/Mg or its taking it for someplace else or something else is happening. What are your current nutrient levels?

 

[landlubber]

Either its not using any of Ca/Mg or its taking it for someplace else or something else is happening. What are your current nutrient levels?

nitrates read out at 1ppm and phosphate was 0.03ppm. my hair algae is picking up but aside from the high/normal nitrate i don't know what's driving it. i also don't know if hair algae or the rock can somehow retain Ca and Mg from when it was being overdosed?

 

[Anirban]

nitrates read out at 1ppm and phosphate was 0.03ppm. my hair algae is picking up but aside from the high/normal nitrate i don't know what's driving it. i also don't know if hair algae or the rock can somehow retain Ca and Mg from when it was being overdosed?

Leave it like that...its nothing bad. So we will just hold the Alk in that 8.2-8.3 range. Once you add more corals and the reef matures it will take care of itself.

 

[HolisticBear]

Ok, check both your Mg and CA test kit. Its weird that Ca and Mg are sitting at same place while the Alk is going down.

Sorry if I haven't followed close enough, but isn't this in the margin of error on our test kits? We can measure a 1dkH change in alkalinity, but the change in Calcium on a Salifert kit would still be the same number? 1dKH is < 10 change in Ca?

 

[Anirban]

Sorry if I haven't followed close enough, but isn't this in the margin of error on our test kits? We can measure a 1dkH change in alkalinity, but the change in Calcium on a Salifert kit would still be the same number? 1dKH is < 10 change in Ca?

I understand the margin of error part but its hard to understand when over 7 days period its not moving but the Alk is moving....but I think he does not have a lot of coral and also started dosing the probiotics recently so these will affect too. It does not matter a lot. I was just asking him because I was trying to fix another guys parameters and after quite sometime he was telling me his Mg sits at 1470ppm. I did not pay attention but when finally everything else hit the balance mark but Mg still at 1470 I told him to try another kit. Today he reported 1410ppm with the new kit while the old one was still at 1470. So, I was just checking if he trusts his kits or not.

 

[landlubber]

good morning! @Anirban
i started a new Alkalinity test kit today but left enough from the old one to compare and they were very close (within .01) so it passes.
24 hours ago: Ca 450 Alk 8.32 Mg 1470
currently: Ca 450 Alk 8.64 Mg 1425
the magnesium finally fell but kicked the alkalinity up just a little in the process.

 

[Anirban]

good morning! @Anirban
i started a new Alkalinity test kit today but left enough from the old one to compare and they were very close (within .01) so it passes.
24 hours ago: Ca 450 Alk 8.32 Mg 1470
currently: Ca 450 Alk 8.64 Mg 1425
the magnesium finally fell but kicked the alkalinity up just a little in the process.

Good, no dosing today.....good job on comparing the kits.

 

[landlubber]

@Anirban the sun is shining and the parameters are falling into place... but at a snails pace lol
24 hours ago: Ca 450 Alk 8.64 Mg 1425
currently: Ca 445 Alk 8.64 Mg 1440
i won't dose anything today aside from my np pro and pro bio s.
tomorrow is generally the day i do my 10% water change. should i hold off a bit to see if we can't get things to fall a little further?