Exact Alkalinity or a Range?

[R33fDaddy]

I'm new to dosing my reef tank and I was wondering if you all go for a range or do you try to get it exact?

I'm going for 11-12 dkh because this is where my tank was the happiest. Is the range between 11 and 12 too much of a fluctuation? Should I just always try to be at exactly 12?

What do you'll do?

 

[gbroadbridge]

I think it's impossible to stick to an exact number, as consumption varies due to many factors.

When I was testing automatically every 4 hours, it was interesting watching the number bounce around.
The best I was able to achieve was +- 0.2 dkh over 24 hours by tailoring the amount dosed every hour (significantly less from 3 hours after lights out until 3 hours after lights on).

I test twice a day now, and try to keep between 7.5 and 7.9 and even that is tricky as sometimes for no apparent reason the consumption will make a sudden jump upwards.

 

[R33fDaddy]

I think it's impossible to stick to an exact number, as consumption varies due to many factors.

When I was testing automatically every 4 hours, it was interesting watching the number bounce around.
The best I was able to achieve was +- 0.2 dkh over 24 hours by tailoring the amount dosed every hour (significantly less from 3 hours after lights out until 3 hours after lights on).

I test twice a day now, and try to keep between 7.5 and 7.9 and even that is tricky as sometimes for no apparent reason the consumption will make a sudden jump upwards.

Are you testing manually?

 

[JCM]

I try to stay around 7.5 but don't take any corrective action unless it's above 8 or below 7. I only test every 2-3 days.

 

[gbroadbridge]

I'm new to dosing my reef tank and I was wondering if you all go for a range or do you try to get it exact?

I'm going for 11-12 dkh because this is where my tank was the happiest. Is the range between 11 and 12 too much of a fluctuation? Should I just always try to be at exactly 12?

What do you'll do?

I misspoke - I'm actually testing 3 times a day, and as you can see the consumption jumped last night - must be the Reef Energy I fed the night before.

If you manually test once every few days, and ignore variations of less than 0.3 everything will be fine.

 

[Gtinnel]

I try and can usually keep mine within .25 above or below my target value, but if it goes a little outside of those limits I don’t worry about it.

I guess to answer the question IMO you should have one specific target value but don’t fret if it goes a little above or below that target. I would personally try to keep mine a little more consistent than 1dKh, but even at 1 you probably wouldn’t have any issues.

Also, how tight you should keep the range can somewhat be dependent on what type of corals you are keeping.

 

[R33fDaddy]

I try and can usually keep mine within .25 above or below my target value, but if it goes a little outside of those limits I don’t worry about it.

I guess to answer the question IMO you should have one specific target value but don’t fret if it goes a little above or below that target. I would personally try to keep mine a little more consistent than 1dKh, but even at 1 you probably wouldn’t have any issues.

Also, how tight you should keep the range can somewhat be dependent on what type of corals you are keeping.

I have a mixed reef but mostly Goniopora, Torches, Zoas and GSP; Just a few SPS.