Unequal dosing of alk and cal.

[ChrisIC]

Hello everyone. I'm looking for a bit of advice on dosing. For years my dosing anounts between alk and cal have been different but i know they should technically be dosed equally, it just never works out that way in my tank. I was advised here to start dosing them equally and that they would balance out over time...I'm just scared of having my alkalinity go through the roof because i dose three times less alk than Calcium at the moment. I'm currently using ATI essentials pro. Anyway, I'm not working for the next week so I figured now is a good time to give it a try because I'll be able to monitor it more closely. How should I go about it though, should I start dosing equally immediately or should I increase the alk dosing over a few days to match the Calcium dose? Not sure about it. My alk is currently 8.6, Cal. 454 and Mag. 1400.

 

[Doctorgori]

following … I’ve had this issue before, never recall solving it
…odd how some tanks do this

 

[Gill the 3rd]

I have a similar situation. I dose kalk and supplement with 2 part. I have to dose twice as much calcium as alk for my 2 part solutions to maintain my levels (8.5 dkh alk and 410 ppm cal).

Dose what you need to maintain your desired levels and don't worry about dosing equally. Its not uncommon for this to happen.

 

[Ron Reefman]

I dose Randy recipe for Dow Flake and Soda ash. I've found I need almost double the CA that I do alk. It's been that way in both tanks and has been fine for years! I wouldn't worry at all as long as you are testing levels regularly. I test once a week and my numbers hardly change unless I miss a day of dosing (I dose manually).

 

[Reefer_kano]

We were literally talking about this yesterday lol

ALK and CAL

Hello everyone, I have a 220 Gallon with a 75 Sump reef. I use ESV two part and ESV Mag for my supplements. My understanding of two part is that they are to be used together in roughly the same amounts, however I am dosing 8ml of ALK and 30ml of CAL which is frustrating as you can only buy the...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I’ll copy my post from there to here:


1. Not all two parts are designed for 1:1 dosing. Red Sea does not try, for example.

2. At least one two part that claims to be for 1:1 dosing is improperly designed to do that. Seachem Reef Fusion.

3. Corals and coralline algae deposit calcium carbonate which has a close to fixed alk to calcium ratio (2.8 dKH for each 18-20 ppm calcium). If this process dominates then equal parts dosing works very well when using an appropriate product.

4. Water changes with new salt water not matching the tank in alk or calcium can skew the demand.

5. Some minor processes add or remove alkalinity. Most of these relate to nitrate rising, falling, being dosed, or use of a sulfur denitrator.

6. Top off with tap water can add alk or calcium, or both.

7. The smaller #3 is, the more likely are numbers 4-6 to be significant, and at very low calcification rates, they can dominate with very off ratios of alk to calcium demand.

 

[Reefer_kano]

I’ll copy my post from there to here:


1. Not all two parts are designed for 1:1 dosing. Red Sea does not try, for example.

2. At least one two part that claims to be for 1:1 dosing is improperly designed to do that. Seachem Reef Fusion.

3. Corals and coralline algae deposit calcium carbonate which has a close to fixed alk to calcium ratio (2.8 dKH for each 18-20 ppm calcium). If this process dominates then equal parts dosing works very well when using an appropriate product.

4. Water changes with new salt water not matching the tank in alk or calcium can skew the demand.

5. Some minor processes add or remove alkalinity. Most of these relate to nitrate rising, falling, being dosed, or use of a sulfur denitrator.

6. Top off with tap water can add alk or calcium, or both.

7. The smaller #3 is, the more likely are numbers 4-6 to be significant, and at very low calcification rates, they can dominate with very off ratios of alk to calcium demand.

BTW, yhank you for the explanation, it's quite helpful

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

BTW, yhank you for the explanation, it's quite helpful

You’re welcome.

Happy Reefing!

 

[ChrisIC]

Thanks for all the replies guys. I was worried that if I wasn't dosing equally that some trace elements in the alk solution would be underdosed, or vice versa with the Cal solution