Ready to Give Up!!

[Bj’s Reef]

I think your alkalinity is your problem. You need it to stay rock solid and consistent without peaks and valleys. Once your alkalinity is stable the coralline algae will grow better than you want it to. Check the calibration of your Doser if it’s dosing different amounts all the time, that will affect your stability.

 

[hhholds]

I think the most confusing part for me is that if my corals are not growing and/or dieing and coralline is not really growing...where is the Alk/Ca going....something is using it....right? IMO I am dosing quite a bit and not seeing any benefit. I dosed a gallon of soda ash from Oct 20 to Nov 05....

 

[hhholds]

I think your alkalinity is your problem. You need it to stay rock solid and consistent without peaks and valleys. Once your alkalinity is stable the coralline algae will grow better than you want it to. Check the calibration of your Doser if it’s dosing different amounts all the time, that will affect your stability.

The doser I have is relatively cheap but it works. I do have an issue with the pump heads occasionally stopping. I think they get air locked...? I check them frequently.

 

[Bj’s Reef]

Your Doser is the problem. It’s dosing the two part at the same time or too close together. The two chemicals when mixed together particulate out. Meaning they drop out of solution and they both are rendered useless. I think you need to look into your dosing schedule. I think there is some cross over. Once you fix this you should see steady alkalinity and you should use less product. You may want to look into a better Doser.

 

[hhholds]

Par may be too high, spectrum may be off. It's a reach, but everything else pramameter wise looks good.

I do question the amount of soda ash your adding. Your coral load is small. Shouldn't be needing supplement a side of water changes at this point.

I thought the same but if I reduce my dose then Alk crashes. EX.....On the 9th Alk was 9.1. I had to make up a new bottle of solution and when I checked Alk today it was 8.3. I started looking and found doser had locked up on me and was not pumping solution. If I hadn't been using Kalk in ATO the drop in Alk would have been much worse.

 

[hhholds]

Yea the Alk and Ca overlap during the morning hours. I will modify the schedule and see what happens.

 

[Flippers4pups]

I think the most confusing part for me is that if my corals are not growing and/or dieing and coralline is not really growing...where is the Alk/Ca going....something is using it....right? IMO I am dosing quite a bit and not seeing any benefit. I dosed a gallon of soda ash from Oct 20 to Nov 05....

Lack of coraline growing may very well have to do with light intensity and spectrum. Most coraline species like more blue spectrums. Even blue dominant systems may not have much coraline growth if it's very high par.

Dosing sodium carbonate in a low flow zone may cause it to precipitate out. Thus it falls out of suspension in the water collum and doesn't effect dkh as it should. Switch to sodium bicarbonate instead and see how it effects dkh. Should be more stable.

See if you can get your hands on a lux meter or par meter to see if your par is too high. In the mean time reduce your light intensity. Most likely the kessil or adjust your photo period down some. Try max of 8 hours total photo period blues and 6 hours total with everything on.

 

[Bj’s Reef]

Please don’t take this the wrong way. Please get a better Doser. We all have too much invested in our hobby. Usually the cheapest link causes the greatest heartache. Trust me I learned this the hard way. I use a Ghl Doser on my tank. If you keep your eyes open you can find a good deal on a nice used Doser on this forum. I could be wrong however I think you need to take a closer look.

 

[hhholds]

I never gave it any thought but maybe that is why I have been having trouble with skimmer pump and return pump stopping on me lately. I just assumed it was because it had been about a year since they had been cleaned. Reduced dose schedule to 12 hours to eliminate the overlap. dosing Alk in the evening (7p-6am) and Ca during the day (7a-6p).

 

[Flippers4pups]

I never gave it any thought but maybe that is why I have been having trouble with skimmer pump and return pump stopping on me lately. I just assumed it was because it had been about a year since they had been cleaned. Reduced dose schedule to 12 hours to eliminate the overlap. dosing Alk in the evening (7p-6am) and Ca during the day (7a-6p).

That's fine, but get that light intensity down for awhile. Your corals are stressed and need less light until they recover!

 

[Bj’s Reef]

I think you will be on the right track. However I’m not to sure I would split the dosing up like that. If you can dose the additives about an hour apart and you should be fine. After you make these changes check and record your results daily. I’m thinking that you will start to see a nice level line. On your apex graph. When you do this for a month or so , you should start seeing coralline algae growing. Don’t give up, you will get it right. Then after everything is stable the sps will be just fine.

 

[rkpetersen]

I think the most confusing part for me is that if my corals are not growing and/or dieing and coralline is not really growing...where is the Alk/Ca going....something is using it....right? IMO I am dosing quite a bit and not seeing any benefit. I dosed a gallon of soda ash from Oct 20 to Nov 05....

Abiotic precipitation. Calcium carbonate is precipitating on the walls and floor of your sump, your return pump and pipes, the sand, and the rocks. Pretty much in that order. It's ridiculously common and can be almost invisible. Hard to fight it. I would suggest carefully decreasing your dosing. Also separate the timing and location of your calcium and alk output tubes. Your alk may drop slowly, but just let it for now. It needs to find a stable level, wherever that is.

I'd also suggest decreasing the amount of white in your lights, as others have. I'd do so with the Kessils and also switch out for Blue + and Actinic T5s.

 

[Bj’s Reef]

Just remember nothing good happens fast in this hobby. Make your changes slow, and one at a time. Don’t try a bunch of changes all at once. If you do you will never know what worked or if you make to many changes you could cause more harm than good. Take a step and learn from it. Only then will you learn how to be successful in this hobby. It’s going to work out for you don’t give up.

 

[rkpetersen]

Also, be wary of the Hanna alk meter. Unfortunately, recent batches have been inconsistent. I have personally looked at 4 recent reagent batches side by side and have seen a range of up to 0.6 dKH between them on the same samples. At least one other forum member has reported a difference between one batch and his next of 1 dKH. Hanna was reportedly not interested in pursuing it further.

However, if you apply a correction factor and stay in the same approximate alk range, you should be ok, you don't have to throw out any reagent. Just check each batch against the next, compare to another test kit if you have to.

 

[hhholds]

Lack of coraline growing may very well have to do with light intensity and spectrum. Most coraline species like more blue spectrums. Even blue dominant systems may not have much coraline growth if it's very high par.

Dosing sodium carbonate in a low flow zone may cause it to precipitate out. Thus it falls out of suspension in the water collum and doesn't effect dkh as it should. Switch to sodium bicarbonate instead and see how it effects dkh. Should be more stable.

See if you can get your hands on a lux meter or par meter to see if your par is too high. In the mean time reduce your light intensity. Most likely the kessil or adjust your photo period down some. Try max of 8 hours total photo period blues and 6 hours total with everything on.

My Ph drops below 7.8 if I don't dose the soda ash. If I switch to bicarb I think I would have Ph issues....???

I have the kessils on a schedule that has them at 85% color and 50% intensity by 3pm. I need to tweek it probably because of new daylight t5 bulbs I just added a few days ago. Currently Actinic bulbs are on from 7am to 9pm and daylight bulbs come on 9am-6pm and Kessils are 8am-8pm

Thanks for

 

[Flippers4pups]

My Ph drops below 7.8 if I don't dose the soda ash. If I switch to bicarb I think I would have Ph issues....???

I have the kessils on a schedule that has them at 85% color and 50% intensity by 3pm. I need to tweek it probably because of new daylight t5 bulbs I just added a few days ago. Currently Actinic bulbs are on from 7am to 9pm and daylight bulbs come on 9am-6pm and Kessils are 8am-8pm

Thanks for

If your dosing kalkwasser in your ATO top off and running a reverse lighting schedule over your refugium, dosing small amounts of sodium bicarbonate won't have any impact on your PH. it may drop a little at the time of dosing, but it's temporary.

If your overall water pramameters are in check, PH isn't something to worry about. I never check my PH and never chase it.

I personally use calcium hydroxide (kalkwasser) in my ATO top off and run a reverse light schedule over my refugium. I dose sodium bicarbonate made into solution maybe once or twice a month. Maybe 6oz or 8oz at a time. Very little to maintain 10.5 dkh.

I don't use a calcium reactor, just kalk and occasionally baking soda. That's it and I have a lot of plating and growth happening.

 

[hhholds]

If your dosing kalkwasser in your ATO top off and running a reverse lighting schedule over your refugium, dosing small amounts of sodium bicarbonate won't have any impact on your PH. it may drop a little at the time of dosing, but it's temporary.

If your overall water pramameters are in check, PH isn't something to worry about. I never check my PH and never chase it.

I personally use calcium hydroxide (kalkwasser) in my ATO top off and run a reverse light schedule over my refugium. I dose sodium bicarbonate made into solution maybe once or twice a month. Maybe 6oz or 8oz at a time. Very little to maintain 10.5 dkh.

I don't use a calcium reactor, just kalk and occasionally baking soda. That's it and I have a lot of plating and growth happening.

I will definitely give it a shot...gonna try a change in light intensity and duration first as well as change my dosing schedule. Reduced daylight tubes to 5hr duration and reduced kessils to max of 40% color 30% intensity (same 12hr schedule). Changed dosing schedule to dose alk on the odd hours and Ca on the even hours.

 

[hhholds]

If your dosing kalkwasser in your ATO top off and running a reverse lighting schedule over your refugium, dosing small amounts of sodium bicarbonate won't have any impact on your PH. it may drop a little at the time of dosing, but it's temporary.

If your overall water pramameters are in check, PH isn't something to worry about. I never check my PH and never chase it.

I personally use calcium hydroxide (kalkwasser) in my ATO top off and run a reverse light schedule over my refugium. I dose sodium bicarbonate made into solution maybe once or twice a month. Maybe 6oz or 8oz at a time. Very little to maintain 10.5 dkh.

I don't use a calcium reactor, just kalk and occasionally baking soda. That's it and I have a lot of plating and growth happening.

That monti is the same color mine was a few days ago...

 

[Flippers4pups]

I will definitely give it a shot...gonna try a change in light intensity and duration first as well as change my dosing schedule. Reduced daylight tubes to 5hr duration and reduced kessils to max of 40% color 30% intensity (same 12hr schedule). Changed dosing schedule to dose alk on the odd hours and Ca on the even hours.

Good luck! Keep us posted.

 

[hhholds]

Will do and thanks for the pointers!