Dosing & levels?

[Awibrandy]

Tested Magnesium, and the 11.5oz that I dosed bumped it up to 1305 so I dosed 6.5oz of mag solution to see if that will get it at 1330.
I will check the levels of the alk & cal next week Tuesday, and mag on Wednesday. I will not do a water change until I have all the levels documented. By then I should have a much better idea of how much to dose from there.

Just one thing: With my tank being a bow front I know it does not actually hold 155 gallons of water. Then there is the fact that I do not know exactly how many lbs of lr is in it. Also with the sump I no idea exactly how much water is in it. So it is a bit of a problem with "the total water volume" for the calculators. I did guesstamate 144 gal, but something tells me that is way off.

 

[Awibrandy]

Here are the results of not dosing for a week.

Initial test after water change were:
Magnesium 1335 ppm
Alkalinity 8.4 dkh
Calcium 420 ppm

Seven days later before water change:
Magnesium 1260 ppm
Alkalinity 6.8 dkh
Calcium 420 ppm

Meaning levels fell over a weeks span by;
Magnesium 75 ppm divided by 6 days because I dosed a day after the water change tells me that the magnesium should be dosed for 12.5 ppm per day.
Alkalinity 1.6 dkh divided by 7 days would be .23.
Calcium stayed the same at 420

After water change:
Magnesium 1305 ppm
Alkalinity 7.0 dkh
Calcium 420 ppm

Using BRS calculator I would need to dose:
Magnesium 11.4oz to bump it up to 1350 ppm from 1305 ppm
Alkalinity 5oz to bump it up to 8.5 dkh from 7.0 dkh
Calcium 14.5 oz to bump it up to 450 ppm from 420 ppm

So what would I need to dose on a daily basis to keep the levels where I would like them to be? Should I dose as per BRS' calculator to bring the levels up to where I'd like them at, and then continue to dose on a daily basis to keep them there?

 

[jgraz]

IMO and what I did is get levels to your optimum by dosing the recommend amounts. Either do this on same day or do it over two days. What size tank do you have? I may have missed that somewhere. What is you stocking levels. Heavy SPS, LPS? Day after your dosing to get to optimum levels start daily dosing. Start low. For me that was .5ml. Since I'm dosing a nano. You can start higher. I do equal amounts of calcium and alkalinity. I don't dose mag for now but will later.
I don't have the link and I'll try to find it, but have you read any of Randy Holmes Farley's articles on reefkeeping.com. Very informative specifically the one on dosing 2 part. That might just answer a lot for you. I'll see if I can find the link.

 

[Awibrandy]

IMO and what I did is get levels to your optimum by dosing the recommend amounts. Either do this on same day or do it over two days. What size tank do you have? I may have missed that somewhere. What is you stocking levels. Heavy SPS, LPS? Day after your dosing to get to optimum levels start daily dosing. Start low. For me that was .5ml. Since I'm dosing a nano. You can start higher. I do equal amounts of calcium and alkalinity. I don't dose mag for now but will later.
I don't have the link and I'll try to find it, but have you read any of Randy Holmes Farley's articles on reefkeeping.com. Very informative specifically the one on dosing 2 part. That might just answer a lot for you. I'll see if I can find the link.

Thanks for your post really appreciate it. What I am having trouble is the math part of the equations.
Yes, I've read them & Malev's as well! Great info in all of their write ups.

My tank is a 155 gallon Bow Front which cause a part of the problem since I know it does not really hold 155 gallons of water, but don't remember exactly what it actually holds. I seem to remember it's something like 151 gallons.:scratchch
Few sps & lps..
I just went ahead, and dosed 40ml straight across just to see where that puts the levels at.

 

[mbg75]

First get your numbers back to where u want them, then dose daily to keep them there. Might take a couple days of testing to dial it in..

Divide your dosage amount by 7 to dose daily.

11.4 divided by 7 is 1.62 per day.
5 divided by 7 is .71 a day

Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk

 

[jgraz]

After you get your numbers to around where you want them start daily. I would go with 1ml each for 3-4 days then test and adjust each up or down from there. Move in .25-.5ml increments. 3-4 day later test then adjust. after 2 or 3 round you should have it dialed in. Then just continue. At that point just test every few weeks to make sure all is well.

Oh yeah, make sure you dont try to lock yourself into a exact number. give yourself a range so you don't drive yourself crazy changing things everytime.

 

[irvp13]

This is very helpful guys, I'm going to move from Kalk in top off to 3 part dosing soon and this has cleared some questions out of the way.

 

[Awibrandy]

This is very helpful guys, I'm going to move from Kalk in top off to 3 part dosing soon and this has cleared some questions out of the way.

Glad my thread has helped! That is really what I wanted out of this one!!

Thanks mbg75 & jgraz!!!

After my 40ml dosing across the board the levels were as follow:

Magnesium 1320 ppm
Alkalinity 8.8 dkh
Calcium 415 ppm

I find the above quite curious. The cal actually dropped 5ppms.

Anyway, I upped the mag & cal dose to 60ml each, and the alk I did 20ml just to see what happens next. At first I started not to dose the alk, but thought that as I bumped the mag the alk would probably drop which I did not want. So we will see what happens tomorrow when I test again.

 

[Awibrandy]

Got another issue with pars in my 155 gal bow front, what a surprise.lol

PH is low 7.7 tested with H&M digital meter, api kit, and the ACjr probe.

I know "dose kalk". But how? Don't want to use the ATO since it sometimes pours to much water in to my sump, and I have not been able to figure out why.

Is there another way to dose kalk? I have an un-open jar of Mrs. Wages Pickling Lime sitting in my cabinet for the past 5 years.

 

[rambler67]

You can drip kalk with a gallon jug and a air line with a valve to control how fast it drips.

 

[fishman1069]

Awi, You can try a kalk stirrer like this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YABfHvMdrsA&feature=plcp&context=C4837a2fVDvjVQa1PpcFMKuG29yqrjlicXOAQpw-XmtC6E4H6mFTA%3D

 

[Awibrandy]

You can drip kalk with a gallon jug and a air line with a valve to control how fast it drips.

That sounds good! I thought I remembered someone dosing kalk with this method, but wasn't sure. Is there any danger of the the kalk powder settling at the bottom of the bottle?

Awi, You can try a kalk stirrer like this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YABfHvMdrsA&feature=plcp&context=C4837a2fVDvjVQa1PpcFMKuG29yqrjlicXOAQpw-XmtC6E4H6mFTA%3D

Thanks fishman! My problem with that is that my "Reef Fanatic" ATO seems to be sending to much water in to my sump at times. I say 1/2 a gallon or so more then it suppose to. I have no idea why it is doing this. Guess I'll figure it out at some point.

 

[rambler67]

you make the hole so the air line is tight so you can keep the line off the bottom.
here is a quick reference for you. http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/skip/agu/kalkdripper.htm

could the float be sticking on the ato? I have the reef fanatic ato and it works great.

 

[NewfiDog]

How is your ATO hooked up, is it possible your getting a siphon. I started putting the kalk in my top off, and its made things much easier. I mix it outside of the top off water, let it settle then add the clear so i dont have to clean anything later. Seems to be working.

 

[rambler67]

How is your ATO hooked up, is it possible your getting a siphon..

good point had that same problem when i first set my ato.

 

[Awibrandy]

Thanks for the link Rambler!!

With my ATO I honestly have not been able to figure out what is going on with it as late. The line is above the water line, so a back siphon cannot be a problem. I'm thinking I probably need to either clean or replace the float switches.

 

[rambler67]

I would try cleaning them first a nice vinegar soak might do the trick.

 

[Awibrandy]

I would try cleaning them first a nice vinegar soak might do the trick.

Just did the vinegar soak, and rinse in ro/di. Here is the problem. The switch valves are fine, it is that once the ato starts to send water into the sump it keeps going for a few seconds after the float switch has already gone up.

Does that make sense? Perhaps I should use a smaller pump in my ato. I am currently running a MJ 1200.

 

[rambler67]

Mine runs for like 5 to 10you seconds after the sensor stops.

 

[Awibrandy]

Mine runs for like 5 to 10you seconds after the sensor stops.

OK, so that part is normal. So I still have to get to the bottom of why it dumps a gallon or two every now & again into the sump.
I don't see how a couple of seconds would amount to 1 or 2 gallons. Thought of the size of the pump, and I don't think that is it either.

In the mean time I will just go get the materials to dose the kalk through the jug method.