Water balancing steps

mpderksen · May 29, 2020

I'll give as much relevant information as possible, and then have some very specific questions at the end.

Tank is 150 gallons, with about a 25 gallon fuge that grows Cheato like the national debt, plus a Bashsea sump. I figure 150g total in my calculations.
Salt mix, currently Reef Crystals (but going to change to Tropic Marin when this box is empty)
Dosing BRS pharma pouch 2-part with BRS dosers.
Apex with DOS for Auto Water change, running at 6liters/day, which I figure is about 1%/day.

Parameter targets are pretty basic, SG 1.026, Alk 9.0, Ca 440

I'm currently running my Alk pump on the hour, 1, 2, 3, etc. and Ca pump on the half 1:30, 2:30, 3:30, 24 hours/day.

Current issues: 2-part is raising my SG. I'm using about twice as much Alk as Ca, based on the time of my pumps. My New Salt Water barrel mixes to Alk 7.0 @ 1.026.

Question: Should I raise the Alk in my AWC barrel to 9.0? What SG should I mix it to in order to counter-act the effects of my 2-part dosing?

Thanks,

Michael

Big G · Jun 10, 2020

BranchingHammer · Jun 10, 2020

What is your current salinity? You could buffer the auto water change water but that would be the same as dosing it into your tank eventually. Depending on how much water you consume through water changes and how much you are willing to dose, one option may involve less maintenance. I would mix your auto water change water to slightly below 1.026. How far below depends on how quickly your salinity is rising from two part dosing. Hope this helps

mpderksen · Jun 10, 2020

Actually, I found a more challenging cause. My Apex DOS was not pumping accurately on 1 side. Tech support has been great, but it was never a dosing issue after all. I'm using Soda Ash and Calcium. That shouldn't be causing my drift.
I have, however, raised my water change barrel to Alk 9.0 to match my tank. I was doing about a 1%/day AWC, of 1.5gal/day. While I wait for the pump repair, we go back to buckets for a while....

Michael