Water chemistry questions, Ca-DKH-Mg in a new reef tank

[Cramsmith]

I tried my best to search for an answer so forgive me if this is redundant.

 

Setup:

 

BC14

Nanocustoms LED

Refugium in chamber 2 , with chaeto, small bag of carbon-gfo, and chemipure elite, we swap out floss every 2-3 days.

 

Corals:

3 zoa frags (fire and ice, dragon eye, and eagle eye)

Birds nest with two 1 in fingers

Acan

Blastomusa

Aussie war coral

Hairy mushroom

 

Fish: Fire fish, tank raised oscellaris, and a jaw fish

 

Note: all corals were added over the last 2 months.

 

Water chems done today.

Temp: 79

Salinity: 1.024

pH 8.1-8.2 (Nutrafin test kit)

API Test kit results:

Nitrate 0

Phosphate 0

Ca2+ 420 ppm

DKH 6 ppm

Mg ~1400 (Salifert test kit)

 

So last week at the LFS, my calcium and DKH were low so they sold me Thrive Calcium and Alk to dose, he recommended 6 ml Ca, 3 ml Alk (7/13) t

 

Today I just added 3 ml Alkalinity solution.

 

So is it normal in this set up that the alkalinity would decrease before the Calcium?

 

I assume that once the alkalinity is back up to (8-12 dkh) I will dose both Alk and Ca equally to maintain the normal range of each?

 

How soon after dosing can you test the water parameters?

 

Prior to dosing I was changing ~ 1-1.5 gallons of water a week, so will weekly water changes affect the alkalinity dosing?

 

Any comments will be appreciated.

[seabass]

API Test kit results... Phosphate 0

Just a note, API's phosphate kit is a high range kit. It goes up in 0.25ppm increments and the target level is around 0.03ppm; so you can see that it does you no good.

 

So last week at the LFS, my calcium and DKH were low so they sold me Thrive Calcium and Alk to dose, he recommended 6 ml Ca, 3 ml Alk

You could start there, but you really need to calculate the consumption rate of each and dose accordingly.

 

So is it normal in this set up that the alkalinity would decrease before the Calcium?

Each system is different, normal is hard to define. However, it's not that unusual for a system (especially one that's running phosphate reducing media) to consume more alkalinity than calcium. And alkalinity tends to be less stable than calcium.

 

I assume that once the alkalinity is back up to (8-12 dkh) I will dose both Alk and Ca equally to maintain the normal range of each?

Don't assume that. You have to test to determine your consumption rates, and dose based on that. I usually try to target the levels of a freshly mixed batch of saltwater. If your saltwater has low levels of an element, switch brands.

 

How soon after dosing can you test the water parameters?

Usually you can test an hour after dosing.

 

Prior to dosing I was changing ~ 1-1.5 gallons of water a week, so will weekly water changes affect the alkalinity dosing?

If off, water changes will affect levels, so that could change how much of a certain element you need to dose. By maintaining your levels the same as your saltwater mix, water changes will not affect the levels (or how much you need to dose).

[Cramsmith]

Thank you SeaBass, will look into all you said. So what Phosphate kit do you use.

 

Can you all point me to articles or post to better educate myself, other than going with what the lfs guy tells me.

[seabass]

So what Phosphate kit do you use.

I use a Hanna Phosphorus Checker because it's digital (no color charts to compare). However, you could use another brand as long as it's a low range kit. Some people like Salifert or Red Sea.

 

Can you all point me to articles or post to better educate myself, other than going with what the lfs guy tells me.

For dosing here are a couple:

• http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php

 

Some LFS employees are fairly knowledgeable. However, you can't assume that they all are. You can find most of the answers to your questions on this site; and if you can't, just start a thread and ask. Is there anything in particular that you are wanting to know more about?

[Cramsmith]

You could start there, but you really need to calculate the consumption rate of each and dose accordingly

Okay, this sound easy enough. Can you elaborate.

 

I assume you track your Ca/Alk/Mg levels before and after dosing, again keeping track of how much you dosed and track daily? and monitor decreases? Then you know how much and how often do dose?

 

I guess you calculate how much you dosed based on concentration of the solution and the volume you added, or do you all just track the volume added?

 

Can you recommend software for a windows laptop?

[seabass]

Okay, this sound easy enough. Can you elaborate.

Watch the YouTube clip above. It explains it fairly well.

 

I assume you track your Ca/Alk/Mg levels before and after dosing, again keeping track of how much you dosed and track daily? and monitor decreases? Then you know how much and how often do dose?

I would test the levels, wait two days (without water changes or dosing, and maintaining the specific gravity) then retest. This should give you a pretty good idea of the consumption for two days. Divide the consumption by 2 to get daily consumption.

 

Most of the products will tell you just how much of the product is required to raise the levels a specific amount. While you can test after dosing to confirm that it raised the levels properly, this usually isn't required more than once.

 

When you first start dosing, you need to test often. Eventually you will see that the consumption rate doesn't vary much. Then weekly testing will catch any adjustment that may be needed (as the consumption rate will change over time).

 

Can you recommend software for a windows laptop?

For the BRS additives, you can use this calculator (which is referenced in the video): http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/reef-calculator

[Cramsmith]

thanks the BRS videos were very helpful.