Carbocalcium dosing

[Wildreefs]

Hello,

I set up an ecotech versa dosing pulp yesterday with carbocalcium.

prior to turning it on, my alk was 7.8.

after having it dosed last And today, 24 hours later it is 7.5

how long before I should up dose to keep 7.8? I know to use just alk to raise the alk to 7.8, but does it take time for this 2 in 1 blend to start registering ?

meaning should I hold off upping the dose from day 30 ml to 35 ml to keep up with demand?

 

[Rybren]

Carbocalcium requires bacterial action to release alk. How long it will take will vary from tank to tank. I THINK that in most cases 24hours should be enough; however, if the tank is relatively new, it may take longer.

What size is your tank and how old is it? In my well established 120G, I find that 26ml per day holds my alk at 8.0 +/- 0.1. I don't have much in the way of SPS, it's mostly LPS and softies.

 

[GoVols]

When you tuning in the TM, test every 24 hours to lock it in.

But I would think, if you dosed pure alk then you could test that bump, with in a few hours.

Bump it up with pure alk, test it in a few hours, then raise the TM dose and test again 24 hours later.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I would not bump it much until you get a routine going.

 

[Wildreefs]

I manually dosed it back up to 7.8 last night. Here today I am again at 7.5.

so either my tank is consuming .3 a day, and the TM alk/cal liquid isn’t doing anything , or I’m losing more than that, and it’s enough to replenish some (say without I’d be at 7.2, brought me back to 7.5, not 7.8)

or is it all building up and waiting for bacteria to unleash it, and then it would spike when it finally does let go.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I doubt it is still building up. I'd keep dosing on the current dose and keep dosing up with normal alk supplement for a few days if needed, then up the dose of the carbocalcium to match.

 

[Bramzor]

I manually dosed it back up to 7.8 last night. Here today I am again at 7.5.

so either my tank is consuming .3 a day, and the TM alk/cal liquid isn’t doing anything , or I’m losing more than that, and it’s enough to replenish some (say without I’d be at 7.2, brought me back to 7.5, not 7.8)

or is it all building up and waiting for bacteria to unleash it, and then it would spike when it finally does let go.

New or old tank? Why does it matter: As I understood, corals calcification can slow down or increase rapidly when things change like available nutrients etc. So some day you could use 0.1 KH and another day 0.3 KH.
That is why I think it's important to not try to chase a number but just dose and measure and change dosage if you see that for a longer time, you need to dose a bit more just to keep it level over a long time.

Would be easier if consumption would be level all the time but in my case (newer tank), I see the consumption fluctuate 0.1-0.2 every day

Personally I like the TM stuff as because they use organic and inorganic stuff all the time, it prevents you from chasing numbers and it forces you to measure and do changes over a longer time. Same thing for NO3 and PO4 in my case, which I manage with TM NP Plus and this is also something you cannot measure using test kits...

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

New or old tank? Why does it matter: As I understood, corals calcification can slow down or increase rapidly when things change like available nutrients etc. So some day you could use 0.1 KH and another day 0.3 KH.
That is why I think it's important to not try to chase a number but just dose and measure and change dosage if you see that for a longer time, you need to dose a bit more just to keep it level over a long time.

Would be easier if consumption would be level all the time but in my case (newer tank), I see the consumption fluctuate 0.1-0.2 every day

Personally I like the TM stuff as because they use organic and inorganic stuff all the time, it prevents you from chasing numbers and it forces you to measure and do changes over a longer time. Same thing for NO3 and PO4 in my case, which I manage with TM NP Plus and this is also something you cannot measure using test kits...

Fluctuations of 0.1 dKH in demand would not be surprising to me, but it is not likely you can accurately measure that level of change.

 

[Bramzor]

Fluctuations of 0.1 dKH in demand would not be surprising to me, but it is not likely you can accurately measure that level of change.

So no point in measuring it daily if you only expect such a fluctuation? Currently I measure daily but probably every few days makes more sense and only change something if you see a considerable change in dKH over time?

 

[Wildreefs]

Just looking to insure I’m not loading it up for it to release and bang or add too little .

kinda like putting gas into a car without a working gage, how much is in there if I can’t measure it .

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

So no point in measuring it daily if you only expect such a fluctuation? Currently I measure daily but probably every few days makes more sense and only change something if you see a considerable change in dKH over time?

The concern and reason to test is not day to day fluctuations, but ongoing trends up or down that require adjustments to dosing.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Just looking to insure I’m not loading it up for it to release and bang or add too little .

kinda like putting gas into a car without a working gage, how much is in there if I can’t measure it .

Lou (Tropic Marin) says that it won't accumulate for long, so after a few days that seems like a nonconcern.

 

[GoVols]

Lou (Tropic Marin) says that it won't accumulate for long, so after a few days that seems like a nonconcern.

Yeah,
Lou is right, just dose and test 24 hours later.

Once it's locked in and your done adjusting / your alk will test (with the same results) every time each part of the day.

The dosage formula that Hans tossed out, worked pretty good, but it's carbon source fueled cyano.