ATO will it reduce ALK

[David osborne]

Ok thanks , I did start with 1ml per day but got bacteria explosion in the tank , so I stopped dosing for one week and today iv started with a 0.25ml per day with a 50 / 50 mix with rodi ! I will see how it goes from there

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Ok thanks , I did start with 1ml per day but got bacteria explosion in the tank , so I stopped dosing for one week and today iv started with a 0.25ml per day with a 50 / 50 mix with rodi ! I will see how it goes from there

A bacterial bloom is an unfortunate occurrence, but isn't necessarily an indication that the dose is too high from a nutrient reduction perspective.

The bacteria have to grow somewhere. I dosed vinegar upstream of a rock filled refugia to encourage growth there as opposed to the main tank.

 

[David osborne]

@david. If you are going to go through the process of buying a pump and doing all that. I would recommend you get a GHL Doser. It can handle your ATO, and have the trojan purpose of having a doser for alk and Ca. I know they are a little pricy, but I like there easy of use and power user functions. Plus I don't trust, Apex to run my reef. I don't want want a catastrophic failure like some of the horror stories that are circulating the internet. I feel the GHL product line is high quality works on wifi internal access and internet access from iPhone app if you do dynamic dns and port forwarding. a GHL doser 2.1 is my go to system right now it has be 3 months so far and know on wood. I have not run into any game breakers.

Hi and thanks for the reply , yes I think it would be better to put a few more pennys in when buying equipment for the system and so far every thing has been a DIY build even the tank it self and including building cabinet as well , but things like the doser I will try and get the best I can

 

[BigJohnny]

Im running ULNS at the min and my plans are

AlK 10
Ca 440
Mg 1450 +
No3 0
PO4 0
SG 35ppt
Temp 25

Do not run a ulns with 10 dkH alkalinity. You will experience issues with your corals. Run your alk at 7-8 dkH.

 

[David osborne]

Hi bigjohnny

Yes iv been reading up on UNLS and sps recipes by red sea and I'm letting the ALK drop own its own to about 8dkh ! May be 7dkh but not sure if that might be to low as I'm manuly dosing the big 3 balling method ! Im home every day so testing ALK every day is not a problem but what happens if it drops lower than 7dkh ? Not sure if that' possible tho ?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Hi bigjohnny

Yes iv been reading up on UNLS and sps recipes by red sea and I'm letting the ALK drop own its own to about 8dkh ! May be 7dkh but not sure if that might be to low as I'm manuly dosing the big 3 balling method ! Im home every day so testing ALK every day is not a problem but what happens if it drops lower than 7dkh ? Not sure if that' possible tho ?

You may not notice any difference, but hard coral growth might be less at 7 dKH than 8. But 7 is certainly fine.

 

[BigJohnny]

Hi bigjohnny

Yes iv been reading up on UNLS and sps recipes by red sea and I'm letting the ALK drop own its own to about 8dkh ! May be 7dkh but not sure if that might be to low as I'm manuly dosing the big 3 balling method ! Im home every day so testing ALK every day is not a problem but what happens if it drops lower than 7dkh ? Not sure if that' possible tho ?

I would keep it between 7.3-7.8 dkH. It's better if it drops too low then too high (above 8) with ulns. It can definitely drop below 7 if you don't keep up with dosing. Just test ALK and dose daily and you'll be fine.

 

[David osborne]

Ok really appreciate the good advice you guys have given me here thanks

 

[Itsander]

Yes that would be a great idea but I will have to work out how much to add to the ATO and I don' want to mess this up , I will try and work out the usage of the top up and alk together

If by any chance you have an Apex , I dose kalwaser in the ATO to supplement calcium and Alk, but also have a probe from the Apex in the kalk reactor that it's set up like this, see attached, my PH it's very stable, at night it's at a regular 8.10 and during the day 8.30 that my main goal in the tank, stability.

 

[David osborne]

Wow apex I would love to get my hands on one ! Really are the way fwd , I used to have a aquatronica system many years ago