How stable is your ALK?

[wjgeese]

Just curious as to how stable my fellow reefers Alk levels are from day to day. I dose ESV two part and kalk reactor and I find that I am somewhere btw 7.5 and 8.2 on a day to basis. My phos is on the low side around 5 ppb using hanna low phos tester. What are your thoughts on my alk swings from day to day. Too great, or within acceptable limits. I understand that the Hanna test kits have inherent variability, so am I getting frusttated over nothing here? Meaning 0.5 to 0.8 dKH dffc from day to day.

 

[Billldg]

I use a DOS and a Trident to keep my ALK stable. Unless you are using the same, or something similar, I would say you are doing pretty good at keeping it that stable.

 

[tank of gems]

Your alk will swing on a day to day basis when your lights come on and go off. You shoukd always text your alk and other parameters at the same time of day every time you do a test. Example test alk at 11 am. Then always check your alk at that time because if you dont you will be chasing numbers all the time. And do the same for calcium etc.

 

[esther]

Just curious as to how stable my fellow reefers Alk levels are from day to day. I dose ESV two part and kalk reactor and I find that I am somewhere btw 7.5 and 8.2 on a day to basis. My phos is on the low side around 5 ppb using hanna low phos tester. What are your thoughts on my alk swings from day to day. Too great, or within acceptable limits. I understand that the Hanna test kits have inherent variability, so am I getting frusttated over nothing here? Meaning 0.5 to 0.8 dKH dffc from day to day.

For the last week it’s been between 8.5 and 8.7. My target is 8.6. I use the GHL KH Director.

 

[esther]

Your alk will swing on a day to day basis when your lights come on and go off. You shoukd always text your alk and other parameters at the same time of day every time you do a test. Example test alk at 11 am. Then always check your alk at that time because if you dont you will be chasing numbers all the time. And do the same for calcium etc.

Oh, and I test 6X a day.

 

[Uncle99]

My flux is about .5 dkh or about 10ppm.

 

[tank of gems]

My kh guardian pro does 4 test per day and pretty much makes adjustments when needed but pretty much one point per day for each test from the day before and I also use my trident to to make sure my numbers do go of incase an error occurs

 

[wjgeese]

thanks all. Keep looking at the Trident, but cant justify the $ for my being too lazy to test. I do test at the same time each day to keep numbers as comparable as i can, though I only test once at that time. Ideally, I sshould test at least 3 times to get a sense of the variability of the measurement, but Im way too lazy to do that!

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

 

[Crustaceon]

I test every few days at the same time each morning and alk is usually in the same place. I might make a 1ml change each on my my dosing pump as my alk sort of see-saws through the month. My corals don’t seem to care and are growing nicely, but it bugs me a little bit and has me digging my calcium reactor out of storage now. The hassles of calcium reactors seems to be less compared to dealing with soda ash sometimes. Plus, why am I not using a calcium reactor if I own one? lol.

 

[dtruitt]

Eesh. Our alk consumption changes pretty radically day to day. Generally, consumption seems to be around .5 dkh / day, and I dose no more than 0.5dkh per day, so in theory it wont swing more than 0.5dkh or the daily consumption, whichever is larger.

That said, if I forget to test (every three days right now), things can get ugly...

 

[Cwentz758]

I shoot for 9.5 DKH and by the next day at the same Time I’m usually at 9.1 or 9.2 so I dose 10mL of soda ash and go about my day.

 

[jeffww]

Alk swing is no big deal. I'm at 9 +/-1.5 dkH throughout the day in my 7g acro cube. It consumes 5dkH daily as dosed using 2-part. Importantly, realize that 5dkH in 7g is around .7dkH a day in a 50g tank. It's all a matter of total tank volume and stocking.

 

[Gordonm]

Alk swing is no big deal. I'm at 9 +/-1.5 dkH throughout the day in my 7g acro cube. It consumes 5dkH daily as dosed using 2-part. Importantly, realize that 5dkH in 7g is around .7dkH a day in a 50g tank. It's all a matter of total tank volume and stocking.

Huh?

 

[Deep dive coral]

Here is mine

 

[jeffww]

Huh?

In terms of mass of Calcium and alkalinity consumed, for small systems the total dkH (concentration measurement) consumption is very high although the total mass of chemicals used up is very small.

 

[Uncle99]

Alk swing is no big deal. I'm at 9 +/-1.5 dkH throughout the day in my 7g acro cube. It consumes 5dkH daily as dosed using 2-part. Importantly, realize that 5dkH in 7g is around .7dkH a day in a 50g tank. It's all a matter of total tank volume and stocking.

Can you clarify what you mean by a Alk swing is no big deal?
I think minimizing Alk swings to the least possible flux is actually critical, assuming the tank has stoneys.

 

[jeffww]

Can you clarify what you mean by a Alk swing is no big deal?
I think minimizing Alk swings to the least possible flux is actually critical, assuming the tank has stoneys.

I would say that you shouldn't be worrying about daily swings that much. There are people with SPS nano reefs front loading their daily alk consumption as a large bolus of 2-part at the beginning of the day. As long as the long-term average is consistent I think you will be fine. This is just my experience. Of course you don't want to be going from NSW alk to 10+ in a single spike, but most folk's drop from daily consumption (0.5-2dkH) probably isn't a big deal.

edit: I will also say, that automatic dosing options have come a very long way and a good dosing pump is probably more important than what lights you use.

 

[Camaro Show Corals]

Mine is between 8.8 and 9.1 I aim for 9.0 I’ve always wondered how big of a alk swing can really cause problems with receding at the base? For me I see that with a 0.6+ or - swing.

 

[AquAttila]

I have a Kh Guardian and can't imagine running a tank without it now! it is expensive but in my opinion well worth the investment. However, I do have a smaller 65 gal (Red Sea max 250) that I do dose to keep Kh stable and found that the CarboCalcium is a great product that I switches to from ESV. It keeps Calcium and Kh at a level I want... I run my tank at around 8.6 - 9 Kh and 450 - 500 calcium.