question about dosing and params

[dandoozled]

So I have a 13.5g tank, mixed reef mainly softies + LPS and one birds nest, I've been having trouble keeping my params stable. and have a question about stability in general. I want my params to be around 450 calcium, 9-10 alk, I have been fluctuating between 350-450 calcium and 8.5-11 alkalinity within a span of 2-3 days. Are these fluctuating parameters considered unstable? Because I am now figuring out how much I need calcium + alkalinity I need to dose daily by testing, I lose about 50-75 calcium per day... My concern is alkalinity changing that much. My corals look good, but the lps aren't fully opening like they used to a few weeks back before an error in testing where my salinity got raised up to 1.032, it's now stabilized at 1.024-1.026..

 

[dandoozled]

do I dose slowly? If I dose 1 tsp of calcium from 400 I raise it to 450, is this to large of change even though my daily consumption is around 50? Same question with alk, If I dose about a tsp I can raise it back up to 9.5ish.. but is this too large of a change? I'm just really confused

 

[ZoWhat]

At 13.5g any dosing you do is going to make a major impact bc of such a low water volume.

Imo....buy the GOLD STANDARD Tropic Marin salt and do weekly water changes 10% or so.

The Tropic Marin 200g box would last you well over a year.


.

 

[kireek]

do I dose slowly? If I dose 1 tsp of calcium from 400 I raise it to 450, is this to large of change even though my daily consumption is around 50? Same question with alk, If I dose about a tsp I can raise it back up to 9.5ish.. but is this too large of a change? I'm just really confused

I try not to raise Calcium by more the 50ppm per day.So I think you are fine there. Alkalinity should not be raised by more than 1° a day. Maybe you could break the dose in half day and night. I would love to see a shot of your aquarium if you have one have handy.

 

[dandoozled]

I try not to raise Calcium by more the 50ppm per day.So I think you are fine there. Alkalinity should not be raised by more than 1° a day. Maybe you could break the dose in half day and night. I would love to see a shot of your aquarium if you have one have handy.

I will take a picture early in the morning since I just threw on the blue lights, thanks for that advice aswell! I'm hoping my corals will look a bit more relaxed with more stable parameters, I added a dose of Calcium earlier to raise by about 50 and I have been very slowly adding alkalinity today using a pipette. Most of my zoas completely do not want to open, while my other corals seem to be doing good but not perfect like I'm aiming for.

 

[dandoozled]

At 13.5g any dosing you do is going to make a major impact bc of such a low water volume.

Imo....buy the GOLD STANDARD Tropic Marin salt and do weekly water changes 10% or so.

The Tropic Marin 200g box would last you well over a year.


.

Yeah I went a little overboard a week back wanting to have perfect params, but I have been purchasing water from my LFS. How exactly would using my own saltwater thru that brand benefit me exactly?

 

[chefjpaul]

Stability is from patience first of all.

For such a small tank, and low demand, you shouldn't be having drastic swings. KH swinging that much can be very harmful, might not see effects for a bit though.

I would start with just consistent water changes, yes mixing your own would help, as it would be... consistency. Stop dosing stuff until you know accurate consumption.

Consistency leading to accuracy, accuracy leading to stability.

Test. Test. Test.
Keep testing you KH every day until you have a documented accurate demand %. Then you should be able to make the determination if you would need to dose to just continue with water changes, as they should replenish your demand. If they don't, then get the KH and CA in place and do the math based on what components you would be dosing. Most dose based of KH demand evenly.

Keep an eye on you nutrients, as the KH number will be greatly affected by them, vice versa. If you are to implement consistent water changes and keeping nutrients stable, keeping elements stable.

Read the articles in RHF Chemistry forum, great info.