Question about stability
- Thread starter Fringe09
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Reeferdood
2500 Club Member
If you are using dosing pumps or a calcium reactor it is possible to stay within .05 DKH over a 24 hr span. I would say .1 would be considered stable.
Reeferdood
2500 Club Member
I'm sure that is fine since I am pretty sure I have seen bigger swings than that. But if using the methods I mentioned it is possible to be pretty rock solid.
AdamNC
Lawnmower Blenny says nom nom
Pretty solid but will never be perfect unless your testing 2-3 times daily and always adjusting. I dose on an auto doser every hour 24 hours a day and test Alk twice a week. Usually my level is off about .5-1dKH each time and I adjust the doser for it.
Reeferdood
2500 Club Member
If you dose more frequently you will have more stable readings... I dose six times a day over 24 hrs.
AdamNC
Lawnmower Blenny says nom nom
Correct.
Reeferdood
2500 Club Member
We are both correct, I just wanted the OP to know how possible it is to be stable and the preferred ways to achieve their goal..
Randy Holmes-Farley
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My Tank Thread
IMO, the statement should be "only chase numbers appropriately". Everyone chases some numbers, its just that some people do it in suboptimal ways and may have issues they didn't expect.
As to the alk question, it depends on what corals you keep, and how finicky you are to keep things as optimal as possible, as opposed to simply "fine".
With SPS corals, folks who have started to use alk controllers have found that most demand is during the day, and that maintaining alk as stable as possible seems to be beneficial. Say, 0.1 dKH variation or less. Most folks find that 0.4 dKH changes are "OK".
If you do not have SPS corals, I think alk stability is not a major concern as long as it stays in normal ranges, and, preferably, has roughly the same range every day.
