Inconsistent dosing requirements

[returnofsid]

Until I get my Calcium Reactor back online, which I've just been too lazy to accomplish, I've been dosing weekly, with Ca, Ak and Mg (Randy's Recipe #1.)

My approximate water volume is 240 gallons.

I've been a little lax in testing/dosing, so am trying to correct that, by finding a "daily dosage" amount. Well, in the last week, I've been trying to figure out a "daily" dosing amount, by testing every couple of days, at the same time of day (noon.) I am dosing Ca and Alk several hours apart, to avoid precipitation issues. I'm running into some inconsistencies and can't figure out why. Here's what's happened in the past 5 days.

On 4-21, I tested, using Salifert and dosed.


Prior to dosing, my test results were:

Alk 2.17 meq/l. Dosed 16.7 ounces, to get to my target of 3.2
Ca 400. Dosed 20.7 ounces, to get to my target of 425
Mg 1180. Dosed 62.1 ounces!! to get to my target of 1275

On 4-22, I tested again, with the following results:

Alk 3.3, so didn't dose.
Ca 400, so again dosed 20.7 ounces.
Mg 1350, so didn't dose.

Today, 4-26, I just tested again, with the following results:

Alk 2.29, so will dose 14.7 ounces
Ca 425, will not dose.
Mg 1275, will not dose.


#1. I guess my question is, why, on 4-21 AND 4-22, did I have to dose 20.7 ounces of Ca, each day, but 4 days later, today, no Ca dosing is needed?

#2. Since, from 4-21, to today, my Alk has dropped from 3.2 to 2.29, requiring a dose of 14.7 ounces, would I divide that 14.7 by 5, to get a daily dosing of 2.94 ounces daily?

#3. My Alk and Ca dosing requirements have never been the same. My Alk has always seemed to drop at a quicker rate than my Ca. Is this normal?

Any suggestions or advice would be great!!

 

[roblou]

IME, Alk does seem to drop quicker than Ca. For my 2 tanks, once I got them on a regular dosing schedule, I dose the same amount of Alk and Ca daily. For my 45g I dose 75ml of each daily. For my 90g I dose 50ml of each daily (90g is much newer with less livestock). In both cases, if I forget to dose 1 day, it is very evident in the Alk reading, but hardly noticable in the Ca reading, which is why I agree with your assessment about Alk vs Ca.

Your Ca readings on 4/21 and 4/22 do not seem accurate, as 20+ ounces of Ca supplement surely should have had an effect! I'd venture to guess that your low Mg level on 4/21 is contributing to a bad reading on the Ca number...

Yes, taking 14.7 divided by 5 to get 2.94 would seem to be your daily amount to dose for Alk.

All in all, I think after you get another weeks worth of test results you'll probably have a good idea of both Alk & Ca supplement requirements. I'd be inclined to just throw out your readings for 4/21 & 4/22 all together, since those were the days you were dosing large amounts to bring your parameters back in check.

HTH,

Rob

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

I have never understood why, but if I use the calcium portion of a 2-part to try and increase my calcium levels, say... more than 20ppm or so... it takes a couple days for that increase to show up with my test kits. If I use TurboCalcium dissolved in saltwater to attempt that same increase, test kits will pick it up in a few hours. (Salifert test kits.)

I've never really put any thought into the "why" of this... but just mentally made the rule of use the 2-part stuff to maintain and use TurboCalcium to elevate.

When I saw your calcium readings, this was the first thing that came to mind. In my opinion, you were just seeing a time lag on the testing results and not necessarily a usage/demand for that day.

 

[returnofsid]

Well, when I test, before and a couple hours after, my calcium has risen.

I plan to continue what I'm doing, for the next couple of days, to get a 7 day average. From there, I'll figure out a daily dosing. Then, I'll dose my daily amount, and test once a week. If adjustments are needed, I'll increase or decrease from there.

What I need to do is get off my lazy butt and hook the calcium reactor back up...lol.

 

[krisfal]

What I need to do is get off my lazy butt and hook the calcium reactor back up...lol.

Me too, but I am still running scared from your mishap

 

[mcoomer]

Until I get my Calcium Reactor back online, which I've just been too lazy to accomplish...

Any suggestions or advice would be great!!

Don't be lazy! Ahhhhh...another satisfied customer.

 

[returnofsid]

Me too, but I am still running scared from your mishap

That's kinda my excuse too. However, I've come up with a couple of 'fail safes,' with Kevin's help. I'm going to put a couple lil' valves, inline, coming off of the Co2 line. That way, even if the needle valve is open too far, the inline valves will only allow so much Co2 through. I'm also going to do away with the bubble counter on the regulator, and only use the bubble counter on the Calcium Reactor, itself.

 

[lvsuckerfish]

yeah after my mishap in vegas with my reactor I tossed the cheap bubble counter and spent the money on a good brand and it made a difference thats forsure. if you dose all in the same day I would advise against that as I never dosed ca alk on the same day nor with mag for 3 part wise being I didn't know if the competition would take hold for doseing all at the same time with out haveing proper time to mix in the water column. i dosed atlease 24 hours apart from each other (note this is to get the params in check) once all was good for a week then I dosed ca and alk with in hours apart of each other and mag on the following day. I broght each up slowly until I got where I wanted them to be. being if I had to add raise ca from 320 to 500 then I would add enough to bring up with in a week doseing 3 times same for alk and also mag but would always start off with a fresh saltwater change wait a day then test. and start raising everything. not sure if this is what you did but hope it helps.

 

[Katchupoy]

In my case... on a 75g tank 70/30 sps ratio... Im doing 40ml calc and 20ml alk... still adjusting the doser from time to time, havent reach the sweet spot yet... and does the testing weekly... Daily testing for me does not work... too much up and down depends on the time of the test.

I also dose 12pm calcium and 10pm alk schedule on my ghetto aqualifter doser.

Also, the calculator at BRS does not work for some reason on my tank... the results are way off... so i start slowly then increase weekly...

 

[reefrat]

interesting topic,,you are using Calcium reactor and dosing in the same time.
how is really work out for you,?,i am tagging along here.

 

[lvsuckerfish]

No reefrat he is too lazy to hook up his reactor