BRS soda ash supplement stability vs red sea, 8.4, b-ionic, etc

[dontbuyxenia]

hey everyone. So I am having an issue with alkalinity stability. I am using the BRS soda ash supplement as my alkalinity buffer and notice that I am having a hard time keeping levels stable. I tested an hour after dosing and the kh was 10.9, the next morning it came out at 9.3. Now, this has obviously caused issues from tissue recession on lps to poor growth and rtn on some of my sps. However it seems inconstant with some lps/sps slowly withering away while others seem relatively unaffected. I assume this is the main issue. After talking with some people, they claim to have seen the same issue many times with the BRS product and said to switch to another supplement which should hold levels longer. However it seems many people are happy with the BRS product on r2r. I should mention that my rock is all pretty old and been in the tank for years. I never used to have this issue and never dosed anything except aquavitro 8.4 every few weeks and had huge thriving sps colonies. Never did a waterchange either. Anyways, has anyone had a similar experience or have any advice on if I should switch? Thanks

 

[TexanCanuck]

Are you also measuring calcium and magnesium? Are those levels stable?

I have often found instability in my Alkalinity if I'm not also keeping Calcium and Magnesium levels steady ... some magic chemistry at work there that I should probably understand but I don't ...

I can't imagine that the BRS product is really any different than any other ... it's the same pharmaceutical grade ingredients ...

 

[dontbuyxenia]

I am measuring calcium and magnesium as well(I should have mentioned that lol). But they have stayed more stable than alkalinity with the magnesium staying around 1400 and calcium at 450. I use the BRS calcium chloride product for calcium but aquavitro for magnesium.

 

[takitaj]

If your manually dosing once a day then you will have swings. It will depend on how much is being used between when you dose and the next morning, regardless of brand. Try dosing more than once per day or purchase a dosing unit and dose multiple times per day.

 

[MnFish1]

I agree with the other posts - in addition, I am not sure I would be using a continuous alkalinity monitor - if you're dosing only 1x day - for a variety of reasons. I would also caution you to perhaps investigate other reasons for your coral problems. Lastly - I would suggest that it would be nice to have an alkalinity value BEFORE your dosing - as well as 1 hour after. But - no matter what product you use - there is going to be a pH DKH change after dosing Na carbonate. Have you also checked pH?

For the example above - for example - it would be nice to know that at 7PM (example - pre-dosing) - the alkalinity was 9, then 1 hour post dosing - at 8PM - it is 10.9 - and then the following AM - its 9.3. This would be a much different scenario than if it was 10.1 pre-dosing 10.9 an hour later and 9.3 the next day.

My guess is your alkalinity should be 'mixed' within an hour. and that the drop is due to the coral in the tank, an error in measurement (alkalinity or dosing). Have you ever done the BRS test to determine how much alkalinity to dose/day?