New to dosing

Neo Jeo · Oct 20, 2018

Ok ,

Thanks for working with me on this.
So I did a water change with RC 6hrs ago.

On 10/19/18 my cal was 460 and alk was 8.06. Now after my water change 10/20 my cal is 479 and alk 8.68.

Seems like a large jump for the alk. Should I continue my dosing of 36ml each of back off after a water change?

Brew12 · Oct 20, 2018

Neo Jeo said:
Ok ,

Thanks for working with me on this.
So I did a water change with RC 6hrs ago.

On 10/19/18 my cal was 460 and alk was 8.06. Now after my water change 10/20 my cal is 479 and alk 8.68.

Seems like a large jump for the alk. Should I continue my dosing of 36ml each of back off after a water change?

I would back off just a little. Small changes are always better.

Neo Jeo · Oct 20, 2018

Brew12 said:
I would back off just a little. Small changes are always better.

Must be that RC. That alk jumped quite a bit. What should I do. I was at 36 ml each.

Brew12 · Oct 20, 2018

Neo Jeo said:
Must be that RC. That alk jumped quite a bit. What should I do. I was at 36 ml each.

I think I would go to around 32ml per day and see how it goes. Since your RC will cause an alk jump, I would try to get it to slowly drift down.

Neo Jeo · Oct 20, 2018

Brew12 said:
I think I would go to around 32ml per day and see how it goes. Since your RC will cause an alk jump, I would try to get it to slowly drift down.

Ok thanks

Neo Jeo · Oct 21, 2018

Today my calc was 460 and alk stayed at 8.68. All set to 32ml

Neo Jeo · Oct 22, 2018

My calc stayed around 460-465. My alk dropped down to 8.56.

I’m selling the extra RC I have and move to Red Sea salt. That jump made a difference and my corals don’t seem happy after the water change. I understand that the Red Sea will be the closest match to my levels. I think that RC alk at 13 is way to high especially someone that’s dosing.

Brew12 · Oct 22, 2018

Neo Jeo said:
My calc stayed around 460-465. My alk dropped down to 8.56.

I’m selling the extra RC I have and move to Red Sea salt. That jump made a difference and my corals don’t seem happy after the water change. I understand that the Red Sea will be the closest match to my levels. I think that RC alk at 13 is way to high especially someone that’s dosing.

I think that is wise.

Remember, a drop of 2.8dKH will cause a drop of 15ppm to 20ppm of calcium. Your Alk dropped less than 0.5dkh so the maximum your calc should have dropped was under 3ppm. Your test kit won't be accurate enough to detect that.

I would stop dosing the Calc component until you get it where you want it, unless you want it at 46oppm

Neo Jeo · Oct 22, 2018

Brew12 said:
I think that is wise.

Remember, a drop of 2.8dKH will cause a drop of 15ppm to 20ppm of calcium. Your Alk dropped less than 0.5dkh so the maximum your calc should have dropped was under 3ppm. Your test kit won't be accurate enough to detect that.

I would stop dosing the Calc component until you get it where you want it, unless you want it at 46oppm

Ok, I’ll hold off on my calc. Then turn back on when it hits my target. Then see if it stables. If it increases then I turn down the ML I would assume.

Brew12 · Oct 22, 2018

Neo Jeo said:
Ok, I’ll hold off on my calc. Then turn back on when it hits my target. Then see if it stables. If it increases then I turn down the ML I would assume.

Yup. But, if you let it drop to where you want it and then get it to match your alk dosing, it should stabilize there. It's a good starting point.

Neo Jeo · Oct 22, 2018

Brew12 said:
Yup. But, if you let it drop to where you want it and then get it to match your alk dosing, it should stabilize there. It's a good starting point.

Ok great. Again thanks for all your help

Neo Jeo · Oct 31, 2018

Brew12 said:
Yup. But, if you let it drop to where you want it and then get it to match your alk dosing, it should stabilize there. It's a good starting point.

Ok, it’s been a little bit .

The alk was not dropping that much so I moved it to 26ml per day and it went down then up a little bit. 8.25.

Also, I turned on my cal to match my alk at 26ml but that’s going down to 425.

So, today my corals are looking a little different , well last few days. Acans have been kinda closed up . 2 torches and kinda small and 1 octo is also smaller kinda hidding and a few other corals that we’re doing well and no polyps coming out.

So, I check my PH 8.4 my Pho 0 Amonio 0. Salt at 1.26

So I don’t know what’s going on...

Everything seems it got better when I stated dosing now seems worse.

Brew12 · Oct 31, 2018

Neo Jeo said:
Ok, it’s been a little bit .

The alk was not dropping that much so I moved it to 26ml per day and it went down then up a little bit. 8.25.

Also, I turned on my cal to match my alk at 26ml but that’s going down to 425.

So, today my corals are looking a little different , well last few days. Acans have been kinda closed up . 2 torches and kinda small and 1 octo is also smaller kinda hidding and a few other corals that we’re doing well and no polyps coming out.

So, I check my PH 8.4 my Pho 0 Amonio 0. Salt at 1.26

So I don’t know what’s going on...

Everything seems it got better when I stated dosing now seems worse.

Sounds like you are nutrient deficient. Where is your NO3?

Neo Jeo · Oct 31, 2018

Brew12 said:
Sounds like you are nutrient deficient. Where is your NO3?

My salfit test kit medium range is 0 and looking at low range it’s maybe a 1? Slight pink.

So I need to feed more?

Neo Jeo · Oct 31, 2018

I’m also running carbon and phosphate removal

Brew12 · Oct 31, 2018

Neo Jeo said:
My salfit test kit medium range is 0 and looking at low range it’s maybe a 1? Slight pink.

So I need to feed more?

Yes, I would feed more. I think your coral are starving. If you aren't above 0.02ppm PO4 I would also stop the phosphate removal. Carbon is fine.

Neo Jeo · Oct 31, 2018

Brew12 said:
Yes, I would feed more. I think your coral are starving. If you aren't above 0.02ppm PO4 I would also stop the phosphate removal. Carbon is fine.

Ok. That makes sense. I’ll pull the phosphate removal. When do I start use it? Also what should my nitrate be at ?

Thanks

Brew12 · Oct 31, 2018

Neo Jeo said:
Ok. That makes sense. I’ll pull the phosphate removal. When do I start use it? Also what should my nitrate be at ?

Thanks

Every system is different. I like NO3 to be betwee, 5ppm and 25ppm. I like PO4 to be between 0.02 and 0.08

Neo Jeo · Oct 31, 2018

Brew12 said:
Every system is different. I like NO3 to be betwee, 5ppm and 25ppm. I like PO4 to be between 0.02 and 0.08

Wow. I never would of thunk to have NO3 in those ranges. As well as PO4.

Let’s just this a try. Now that I’m thinking back 2 weeks ago I did have my carbon and pho off for a bit. Now that it’s back on I see the difference. That might be it. I was quick to judge the dosing bc it was new.

Brew12 · Oct 31, 2018

Neo Jeo said:
Wow. I never would of thunk to have NO3 in those ranges. As well as PO4.

Let’s just this a try. Now that I’m thinking back 2 weeks ago I did have my carbon and pho off for a bit. Now that it’s back on I see the difference. That might be it. I was quick to judge the dosing bc it was new.

I'm going to encourage you to read this article. You will likely find it interesting.
https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/tank-parameters-of-some-masters.263/