4 part doser - seeking stable ph

[hwk7072]

I can't seem to get my PH above about 7.8 even when parameters are:

 

Alk: 9-10

Calc: 420-460

Mag: 1300-1500

 

Should these parameters give me a PH ~8.2? They don't.

 

I dose kalk in my ATO, 1 tsp/gal, but I still can't get it beyond 7.9. If I dose kalk manually, say 50ml of a solution (2 tsps in 2 qts), I get a .2 bump, from 7.8 to 8.0. So that's nice, but it's erratic.

 

I just got a 4 part doser for alk/calc/mag. Should I also dose kalk in addition to the 2-part? Anyone do that? I know it's a lot of trial and error, but I would rather learn from your trials and errors than mine.

 

Thanks

[jestep]

Ignore PH. It's a long distance measurement at best and is affected by just about everything including external factors like running your AC or having a bunch of guests over in your house.

 

As long as your alk and ca are stable and your PH isn't something crazy acidic, like <7, don't worry about it.

[gus6464]

Kalk does the same thing as 2-part. Pick one method and stick with it. Also you Mg range is pretty broad and 1500 Mg is kind of high. Trying to stabilize a tank by pH is useless. Stabilize the tank by alk. 9-10 is a little high for my tastes but everyone is different. Alk, Ca, and Mg all work together.

[hwk7072]

Ignore PH. It's a long distance measurement at best and is affected by just about everything including external factors like running your AC or having a bunch of guests over in your house.

 

As long as your alk and ca are stable and your PH isn't something crazy acidic, like <7, don't worry about it.

 

Great to know. I'll relax now.

[VW_TDI_02]

Kalk does the same thing as 2-part. Pick one method and stick with it. Also you Mg range is pretty broad and 1500 Mg is kind of high. Trying to stabilize a tank by pH is useless. Stabilize the tank by alk. 9-10 is a little high for my tastes but everyone is different. Alk, Ca, and Mg all work together.

This. The big thing that I always hear is to not chase pH. Kalk and 2-part are similar in that they provide the same function but at different levels. Kalk works to maintain your alk and Ca but eventually it just isn't going to be able to keep up and you'll have to dump a ton of kalk (making your pH skyrocket) and it just doesn't work well. For smaller tanks with fewer corals it is great because it can compensate for the use of alk and Ca. Tanks that outpace kalk typically use two part. Two part obviously doses the same thing so you don't want to do both. Theoretically you can but it's just making things unnecessarily complicated for no reason. Pick one as gus stated and stick to it. If your tank is consuming more than you can provide with kalk then switch to two part.

 

For magnesium, it again depends on the tank. I keep my Mg around 1360 which is a bit on the high end I believe. I don't have many corals at all so I simply dose epsom salts in my fresh salt water during water changes and that's enough to maintain the tank for the week since it doesn't really drop. For tanks with a lot of corals you may have to dose mg between water changes.

 

For dosing, I think the first thing you need to do is stop all dosing and just test. Test daily for Mg, Ca, and alk and see what you get. In theory, you should get a lower and lower reading each day but depending on the test kit, you may not be able to see it. That's why I recommend checking daily over the course of multiple days. Eventually you should be able to figure out how much your Ca, Mg, and alk are dropping each day and then from there you can start dosing accordingly. Once you've got your dosing regiment then you should be good to go. Test periodically just to make sure everything is still right. As your corals grow and you add more corals, you're going to have to adjust your doses.

[hwk7072]

VW_TDI_0

 

For dosing, I think the first thing you need to do is stop all dosing and just test. Test daily for Mg, Ca, and alk and see what you get. In theory, you should get a lower and lower reading each day but depending on the test kit, you may not be able to see it. That's why I recommend checking daily over the course of multiple days.

 

Thanks for the thorough response and suggestions.

 

As most of us work for a living, in part so we can hide our aquatic purchases from our wives on paypal, what do you think of accuracy of the Hanna checkers? Looks like they don't have a Mg checker, which is the biggest pita. Not a huge pita, but would certainly be easier with a dip-and-check.

Regarding kalkwasser, does it ever completely dissolve? From my experience, it does not. I've seen that the slurry on the bottom is potentially toxic, but in an ATO, the pump sits on the bottom where the slurry is. If I mix up a batch for manual, should I pour in only the clear liquid at the top, or shake it up prior to dosing?

[VW_TDI_02]

VW_TDI_0

 

Thanks for the thorough response and suggestions.

 

As most of us work for a living, in part so we can hide our aquatic purchases from our wives on paypal, what do you think of accuracy of the Hanna checkers? Looks like they don't have a Mg checker, which is the biggest pita. Not a huge pita, but would certainly be easier with a dip-and-check.

Regarding kalkwasser, does it ever completely dissolve? From my experience, it does not. I've seen that the slurry on the bottom is potentially toxic, but in an ATO, the pump sits on the bottom where the slurry is. If I mix up a batch for manual, should I pour in only the clear liquid at the top, or shake it up prior to dosing?

It depends on how much kalkwasser you add. I believe 1 gallon of water can only dissolve around 2 tsp of kalkwasser. I only have 4 tsp in a five gallon bucket so mine dissolves completely. If you're dissolving the full amount, you are going to get that slurry at the bottom. The stuff you want is the clear liquid in the middle. That's your fully saturated area. You do not want to shake it up!!! The easiest way I can think of is get an air line tube (or larger depending on the container) and siphon out the middle clear liquid. That's the good stuff you want to dose.