Seachem reef adv. calcium drip....alkalinity?

[Shoreliner11]

Hi everyone,

I finally got a drip system setup for my nano. It will eventually be an auto top off system once I get my float valve installed. I was planning on using kalk and dripping at night, but on a whim I decide to try out the Seachem reef adv. calcium. I liked the fact that it dissolved almost instantly in water and didn't have the high pH issue. Anyhow, so I have a tub of 2.5 gallons or so for topoff and calcium, what would you suggest I do for alkalinity? Up until now I was using a 2 part system called Calkmax. I don't imagine I can add baking soda to the seachem calc. drip as it will precip correct? I'd like this to be as automated as possible, what would all of you suggest? Thanks everyone

Aaron

 

[plack]

Either a calcium reactor or yet another dosing pump for baking soda in water wich could be tricky to juggle your water levels and keeping it balanced.

 

[Shoreliner11]

Yeah, I'm thinking I'll just have to use the topoff for plain RO and dose calcium using the reef advantage calcium and baking soda for alkalinity. I was just hoping I wouldn't be at the point again where I try not going away for even a day because I don't want to miss dosing . Well, it is what it is.

 

[surf_buddy]

Yeah, I'm thinking I'll just have to use the topoff for plain RO and dose calcium using the reef advantage calcium and baking soda for alkalinity. I was just hoping I wouldn't be at the point again where I try not going away for even a day because I don't want to miss dosing . Well, it is what it is.

I did this for almost two years... and it got very old, but once I got a CA reactor established it's been so much easier. I wish I had done it sooner.

 

[Shoreliner11]

The problem is I only have a 10gal with a 10gal sump. That and I'm on a budget. I haven't looked into nano sized calcium reactors but last time I looked (a couple years ago) there weren't many out there and their prices were a bit too high. Maybe I'll do some searching. Thanks

 

[Boomer]

I would work out a kalk drip for that tank or just stay with two-part. You can always reduce the amount of kalk in the drip to adjust for Alk and pH. It will depend on your Ca++ and Alk demand. It would have to be by your own tiral and error. There is no real set formula other than this which is not a drip thing but may aid you.


Reef Chemistry Calcualtor
http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chem_calc3.html


Taking that SeaChem and adding it on its own and adding BS on its own is a 2-part. One could drip one in the tank and the other in the sump as Plack was suggesting.

 

[Shoreliner11]

Thanks for the reply. A quick question regarding baking soda. If I were to only dose (not drip) baking soda in a smaller tank such as mine which has about 20 gallons total volume, would it be advantageous to add baking soda that has not been baked. I noticed that non baked baking soda will have a slight lower effect on pH due to excess CO2, but baked baking soda can cause extreme increases in pH, is this correct? I'm thinking I'm going to drip the seachem reef advantage calcium and dose the baking soda either at night or in the morning. I'll have the drip setup on an auto-topoff. I would like to dose the baking soda at most once a day if possible, which for a tank of my size could be difficult on pH I would think if it had high daily uses of calcium.
Anyhow, I haven't used this product before but it says it's pH is fairly low (8.3-8.6) so I should be able to dose throughout the day or as topoff is needed. Anyone have any experience using this product in this or any fashion? Thanks

 

[Boomer]

Shore, I would suggest instead to use BS and BBS at a ratio of 5:1 by vol. This will help negate their issues. It is fine to mix them together or use a SeaChem buffer for you other two part component if you want.

I would not drip the Ca++ but the buffer, as the tank is going to have a higher demand for pH/ buffer/Alk vs Ca++. pH and Alk are more important for tank stability that Ca++. So, I would add the Ca++ at one time or at two different times.

 

[Shoreliner11]

Thanks boomer for the response. That definitely helps. I know I can figure this out from trial and error, but how much baking soda mix would you recommend start with diluting in say...a gallon of ro? I know I'll have to fine tune this, I was just wondering if you had an idea? Thanks

Aaron

 

[Shoreliner11]

Oh, and I also was wondering if you'd recommend dripping this at night only? or do you think the pH is low enough to add it as topoff is needed? Thanks again

Aaron

 

[Boomer]

Just look at what your night pH is vs the day pH. If the night pH is .2 or more units drip at night. Day pH means, actually, just before lights out and night pH is just before lights on.

 

[Shoreliner11]

Just look at what your night pH is vs the day pH. If the night pH is .2 or more units drip at night. Day pH means, actually, just before lights out and night pH is just before lights on.

Well I finally got my auto-topoff setup. I tried adding 10g of baking soda (5 parts bs to 1 part bbs)to 2.5 gallons of ro , which from what I could tell had a pH of around 8.6 (possibly higher, salifert only goes to 8.6) and a DkH of over 16. This much water will usually last me around 5 days to a week for topoff in my 10gal (about 18 total gallons). Checking pH of day vs night, I can't seem to see any difference. Both seem to be around 8.3-8.4. I imagine this is because I light my refugium 24/7. Anyhow, I was able to with a small amount of dosing raise and keep my alkalinity around 10 DkH. Which is great, though one night I dosed too fast because I was heading to bed and I think I spiked pH momentarily (and or alkalinity) some of my corals faded a bit from that. Hopefully this will be rectified when I can drip for hours on end at night now. Do you think this sounds like a reasonable dosing for my size of tank? Thanks

 

[Boomer]

It sounds like it but dosing rates is really just trial and error as you are seeing. That dKH of 16 and pH was to high for sure and lowering it seems to have solved the issue.