POLL: Mixed Reef/SPS dominant tanks alk swings

[UCF Alum]

Title says its all.
How much does your alkalinity swing in your SPS dominate reef tank?
I have a Trident and I’m baffled at how much it changes throughout the day.
Post your comments on your successes or failures with your experiences in alk swings and how much of a daily swing you think acropora can tolerate before they ;Dead

Looking forward to peoples opinion/experiences on this!

 

[SuncrestReef]

I also have a Trident and currently testing alk 8x daily. I'm dosing BRS 2-part and use Trident-controlled dosing for the past couple months. It's gone through periods where the alk swing was as low as 0.05 dKH per day, but for the past couple weeks the swing has been higher due to slightly higher magnesium:

 

[Daveobrien]

Bump. My trident has been running for a week, and I'm trying to figure out my swing range - and reasons for it.

If I can see it, I can pay attention to it. Whoops, now I have to Do something about it.
MY swing was 0.5-0.7ish per day. And I just hit a >1.0 change in a day. I think I need to fix it. Am I right?

 

[bkbrowning]

Measuring with my Trident for over a month now. My daily peak ALK is right at 10.0 which occurs at the 06:00 measurement. My daily low ALK is near 9.6 which occurs at the 18:00 measurement. Currently, I'm measuring four times daily at 00:00, 06:00, 12:00, and 18:00.

Would be interested to know if others are seeing the same pattern of high ALK at the beginning of their daily light cycle and low ALK at the end of their light cycle.

 

[UCF Alum]

Measuring with my Trident for over a month now. My daily peak ALK is right at 10.0 which occurs at the 06:00 measurement. My daily low ALK is near 9.6 which occurs at the 18:00 measurement. Currently, I'm measuring four times daily at 00:00, 06:00, 12:00, and 18:00.

Would be interested to know if others are seeing the same pattern of high ALK at the beginning of their daily light cycle and low ALK at the end of their light cycle.

I have since bought a Dos and setup controlled dosing then modified it even further by the results I get every 4 hours. So every four hour “block,” I’m dosing different amounts based off consumption. I selected the “dose more during the day less at night” option when I set it up and my swings are no more than .1 per day.

 

[bkbrowning]

I have since bought a Dos and setup controlled dosing then modified it even further by the results I get every 4 hours. So every four hour “block,” I’m dosing different amounts based off consumption. I selected the “dose more during the day less at night” option when I set it up and my swings are no more than .1 per day.

My ALK supply is via Ca reactor today. I have thought about the possibility of controlling the CO2 valve but I'm worried that the lag time between taking an action there, the corresponding ALK change, and the delay in reading a new ALK level with the Trident could create some chasing effects and get out of control. I'd certainly implement some upper/lower bound limits to avoid a runaway condition, but the whole thing feels too complicated to control with the CO2 valve.

So, I think I'll just stick with my fairly stable setup of setting my CO2 valve manually, controlling flow manually, and watching tank inhabitants as primary indicator and Trident as secondary indicator for now. Maybe with more Trident experience I'll eventually do something differently.

 

[Gribbliest]

Measuring with my Trident for over a month now. My daily peak ALK is right at 10.0 which occurs at the 06:00 measurement. My daily low ALK is near 9.6 which occurs at the 18:00 measurement. Currently, I'm measuring four times daily at 00:00, 06:00, 12:00, and 18:00.

Would be interested to know if others are seeing the same pattern of high ALK at the beginning of their daily light cycle and low ALK at the end of their light cycle.

I measure 12 times a day with GHL KH Director. I really don't see a clear pattern to my consumption. I do however dose Kent A+B 24 times a day.

How often are you dosing?

 

[Joedubyk]

I am dosing every day w/ a DOS pump. They are spread evenly throughout the day/night. No more than .2 over a weeks time.