Does anyone does Kalk with 2- part to maintain PH?

[Downbeach]

I started dosing with kalk to help maintain those levels between WC's, but had to start the two part as the demand grew. Ultimately, I was dosing 124mL of both Ca and Alk using Randy's recipe #1 along with 2 gal. of saturated kalk daily. With regular WC's the Mg would remain ~ 1350ppm.

 

[beachsidereefer]

thanks all for the replies. I'm going to try and see if I can maintain my ALK and CA levels by slowly upping my daily dosing using BRS 2 pat while keeping a close eye out for CA build up.

 

[beachsidereefer]

Hi Randy,

so here's some pics of what starts to happen as I increase the dosing of 2- part. I'm following the pattern of testing then using the BRS calculator to figure out how much ALK and CA I need to add to bring my levels back up. next I've upped my doser by an additional 10 ML per day of 2 part.

Keep in mind both these carbon reactors were cleaned during the last month and did not have any build up till a couple of days ago. Which corresponds with the ramping up of the dosing and bulk adding of Reef Builder and BRS CA.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Higher pH will lead to more precipitation. Is that what we are seeing?

Is there any GFO in those?

Where does the limewater get added in relation to those reactors? Downstream would be best.

 

[beachsidereefer]

Higher pH will lead to more precipitation. Is that what we are seeing?

Is there any GFO in those?

Where does the limewater get added in relation to those reactors? Downstream would be best.

I have a GFO reactor and it looks similiar to my two carbon reactors in these pics. Yes I believe it's CA precipitation as when I try to clean them the carbon is all bonded together and is as hard as a rock.

PH is ranging between 8.0 and 8.1

The 2 part and lime water are dosed directly into the tank in a high flow area (above a power head) so it circulates in the tank before going through the wet/ dry filter and then into these reactors which are plumbed off the return pump.

 

[beachsidereefer]

When my doser runs for ALK here's what I'm seeing. Is this normal?

 

[cginter]

I think u maybe chasing numbers bud. Especially the PH. My opinion PH is good from 7.8-8.4 And as far as dosing alk and cal, what's your tanks demand for these two additives ? Once you figure out your daily Demand it's pretty easy to go from there.

And another thing I seen was how much carbon you have in those reactors? I have a 180g and I only use 1-1.5 cups of carbon.. I know that's kinda off topic but just throwing that out there.

 

[beachsidereefer]

I think u maybe chasing numbers bud. Especially the PH. My opinion PH is good from 7.8-8.4 And as far as dosing alk and cal, what's your tanks demand for these two additives ? Once you figure out your daily Demand it's pretty easy to go from there.

And another thing I seen was how much carbon you have in those reactors? I have a 180g and I only use 1-1.5 cups of carbon.. I know that's kinda off topic but just throwing that out there.

Yea, I'm starting to think the same about chasing numbers. How do I go about figuring out my tank demand? is there a article I could read?

with the carbon I run two reactors so I can swap out each one monthly with a offset of two weeks. So essentially every two weeks I have a fresh reactor of carbon running on the tank. it could very well be overkill.

 

[cmcoker]

Here you go, Randy 2 part recipe article, check out under dosing instructions. http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php#15

Also there is a sticky in this subforum that has a ton more articles Randy has written about Reef Chemistry, including many more on alk/Ca

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

When my doser runs for ALK here's what I'm seeing. Is this normal?

It is hard to tell from the picture, but if that is cloudiness in the water, it is normal for high pH additives. It is magnesium hydroxide that will redissolve as it mixes in.

If it never redissolves, it may be calcium carbonate from not having enough mixing where you are adding it.

 

[cginter]

Yea, I'm starting to think the same about chasing numbers. How do I go about figuring out my tank demand? is there a article I could read?

with the carbon I run two reactors so I can swap out each one monthly with a offset of two weeks. So essentially every two weeks I have a fresh reactor of carbon running on the tank. it could very well be overkill.

Randy could prolly explain it better than me or maybe even have a link for you. But how've I found out the demand... First you have to get your cal alk mg up to where u want them first. Do mg first then cal then alk. And note there is a maximum amount you should put in daily. After you get your levels where u want, stop dosing for three days and on the third day you test again and see how much each has dropped . Example. alk/kh was at 9.5 and it's now at 7. I then use a reef calculator ( I use one on bulk reef supply) to figure out how much it would take to go from 7 to 9.5 then divide that number by 3 = your daily consumption

Now for your carbon... I also use the BRS calculator to figure how much carbon I should be using. Like I stated before I only use 1.5 cups on 180 gallons. You have 2 full reactors!! Unless your trying to pull out some heavy toxins or metals there's no benefit of running that much carbon.

 

[beachsidereefer]

Thank you all for the feedback and tips. I'm going to do a water change this week so I'll re balance MG/ CA and ALK post water change then see what my consumption is over three days.

 

[cginter]

[emoji106]. We'll be here. Happy reefing

 

[beachsidereefer]

well it appears I screwed up this past weekend with re-balancing CA and ALK after a 25% water change.

after the water chang I ran my tests and got the following results.
MG - 1360
CA - 413
ALK - 6 dka

Since MG was good I used the BRS calculator to measure out how much CA and ALK I would need to add to bring those two values up to my target of 430 CA and 9 dka. For the CA solution the calculator specified 12.3 OZ. which I measured out and dosed directly into the tank over a power head. After about 15 minutes I proceeded to measure out the soda ash solution which to go from 6 to 9 DKA was 15.2 oz.

As I started to add the soda ash solution I got a lot of participation in the water column. I probably should have just stopped but being inpatient I keep dosing the entire amount. the water turned really hazy and soon my glass was covered in white chalk like coating and it was stuck like glue. Had to use my metal scraper to remove it!

realizing something went wrong after about 3 hours I retested and my CA had dropped to 393 and ALK was still at 6 DKA.

So I guess I made two mistakes. 1. Dosing the ALK to soon after dosing CA. 2. Dosing the ALKtoo fast.

Looking for folks to confirm and offer advice on what I should do differently. guess I'll try again today and see if I can get this right!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

What exactly were you adding?

 

[beachsidereefer]

What exactly were you adding?

ALK - BRS soda ash
CA - BRS calcium chloride
Both mixed per instructions on the containers using RO/DI water.

then I use their online calculator to figure out how much to dose.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

OK, you definitely should not try to boost alk by 3 dKH all at once using sodium carbonate. That boosted pH by more than 0.6 pH units instantly, and likely caused the precipitation.

Look to raise alk by no more than 0.5 dKH this way, then wait at least half a day to add more.

The time between the calcium and alk was not a problem.

 

[beachsidereefer]

OK, you definitely should not try to boost alk by 3 dKH all at once using sodium carbonate. That boosted pH by more than 0.6 pH units instantly, and likely caused the precipitation.

Look to raise alk by no more than 0.5 dKH this way, then wait at least half a day to add more.

The time between the calcium and alk was not a problem.

thank you! do I need to restart with another water change or just attempt to re balance again? It doesn't look like I hurt any of fish, invert or corals but don't want to risk it.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

A water change is not generally a useful way to deal with issues like these.

 

[beachsidereefer]

A water change is not generally a useful way to deal with issues like these.

thank you and I appreciate all your advice. I'm going to try again and divide up the ALK dosing as you recommended.