Dosing for reefe tank?

[Gahamilton]

Not sure what exactly I sound get for dosing my tank right now I am currently using 2 part.
Total water volume is 100g. Was trying to choose between bulk reef supply

Pharma Kalkwasser Starter Package $44.99​

And

2-Part Pharma Calcium & Alkalinity Starter Package $54.99​

Anyone have any preference? Any other suggestions? I don’t have a toon of experience in additive so not really sure what to do.

 

[shanepike]

The purpose of dosing is to correct levels that are too low. What levels are you trying to increase and what are they measuring at currently?

 

[civics14]

Not sure what exactly I sound get for dosing my tank right now I am currently using 2 part.
Total water volume is 100g. Was trying to choose between bulk reef supply

Pharma Kalkwasser Starter Package $44.99​

And

2-Part Pharma Calcium & Alkalinity Starter Package $54.99​

Anyone have any preference? Any other suggestions? I don’t have a toon of experience in additive so not really sure what to do.

It all depends on your demand, both product will replenishing Calcium & Alkalinity. Also, DO NOT dose anything you can't test for.

Kalkwasser is good as a starter. I used this for years when I was keeping a limited amount of SPS and softies. Then as my demand grew, I went to 2 part dosing, and now only utilize a calcium reactor.

I would say Kalkwasser is good for low demand systems, 2 part can be used for all systems, but calcium reactor is more cost efficient in high demand systems.

Something also to consider, Kalkwasser is a good option as a low tech tank. When I first started, I had it in a 1 gallon jug, that I just used a adjustable valve to drip into my tank. Some people even just put the kalk (clear solution) right into their ATO. I use to use Mrs. Wages Limewater for my kalkwasser back when I can get 1lb for $1 from my local Walmart.

For 2 part, you will need to have 2x dosing pump, each for alkalinity and calcium. Each pump programmed to dose individually and preferably at different times.

 

[Gahamilton]

Calcium was 410
Magnesium 1260
Alk was 10.5

I am more concerned with the ph dropping at the night time because it is in my bedroom and it is a small room so I think the co2 makes the ph vary a lot, got ph test strips but I can not tell the difference in 7 and 8.4 that is why I am leaning toward kalkwasser. What do yall think?

Also any recommendations for coral food additives

 

[civics14]

Calcium was 410
Magnesium 1260
Alk was 10.5

I am more concerned with the ph dropping at the night time because it is in my bedroom and it is a small room so I think the co2 makes the ph vary a lot, got ph test strips but I can not tell the difference in 7 and 8.4 that is why I am leaning toward kalkwasser. What do yall think?

Also any recommendations for coral food additives

What's wrong with your tank that you think you need to adjust your PH? Also, ph test strips are highly inaccurate. I haven't checked my PH in over a decade, so unless there is something crazy going on with your system, I would just leave it.

I suggest you take a step back and read up on kalkwasser and 2 part and the impacts to Alk & Calcium. Maintaining steady Alk & Calc levels is way more important than chasing #'s.

 

[shanepike]

Kalk won't help you overcome the drop in pH if it's due to high CO2. All you'll do is flood your system with calcium and not get anywhere near the pH level you're looking for. I struggled with this for months:

Stabilizing pH?

This is what my daily pH cycle looked like a month ago: That anomaly in the middle was when my lights were out for a day. I had a bad channel of LEDs, and I swapped out the whole LED board. Looks like the pH rose a little bit with the improved lighting. Now my daily pH cycle looks like this...

humble.fish

Kalk is definitely great for preventing your pH from dropping too low, but you have to fix the CO2 problem first.

 

[Gahamilton]

Kalk won't help you overcome the drop in pH if it's due to high CO2. All you'll do is flood your system with calcium and not get anywhere near the pH level you're looking for. I struggled with this for months:

Stabilizing pH?

This is what my daily pH cycle looked like a month ago: That anomaly in the middle was when my lights were out for a day. I had a bad channel of LEDs, and I swapped out the whole LED board. Looks like the pH rose a little bit with the improved lighting. Now my daily pH cycle looks like this...

humble.fish

Kalk is definitely great for preventing your pH from dropping too low, but you have to fix the CO2 problem first.

I noticed that after I went on vacation for a week the corals look much more happy and that got me thinking about the co2 causing drops in ph. It is a small room, not more than 300 square feet. (Had to put it in my room because of drunken college roommate) So being in that room for 8 hours at night probably causes big drops in ph due to co2. Was hoping someone would say that kalkwasser would help stabilize out the ph durn the night . Does not seem like that is to be. I might try what you were talking about and runing an air form outside.

 

[shanepike]

I got a CO2 meter and was blown away by how high the CO2 got in my little room — even when I had a window open. That's why it took me so long to figure out that it was the issue. Times when I was confident I was getting enough air exchange to keep it down, I totally wasn't.

 

[Gahamilton]

Thanks for the info, I am going to try to figure out a way to do what you did and get some outside air into the tank. Thanks for the help!

 

[shanepike]

This is a great thread of someone else going through this. There are lots of suggestions for different ways of getting outside air in that are different than the window fan I ended up using.

Help me elevate my pH

So I’ve been pondering adding in Kalkwasser to my system for a while now due to having an issue with low ph quite a lot. Recently my tanks been dropping below 7.8 every night, right now it’s at 7.68 😕 I’m thinking this is due to us keeping the windows shut tight during the summer with our 90°+...

humble.fish

 

[msporleder]

Before doing anything get one of these to measure the CO2 in your house and around the tank at various times of the day: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B7QG8D8R

 

[msporleder]

I got a CO2 meter and was blown away by how high the CO2 got in my little room — even when I had a window open. That's why it took me so long to figure out that it was the issue. Times when I was confident I was getting enough air exchange to keep it down, I totally wasn't.

One thing that helped my indoor air generally was to set my AC to run the fan 20 minutes/hour no matter what. Every "smart" thermostat can do this.

 

[project1004]

I noticed that after I went on vacation for a week the corals look much more happy and that got me thinking about the co2 causing drops in ph. It is a small room, not more than 300 square feet. (Had to put it in my room because of drunken college roommate) So being in that room for 8 hours at night probably causes big drops in ph due to co2. Was hoping someone would say that kalkwasser would help stabilize out the ph durn the night . Does not seem like that is to be. I might try what you were talking about and runing an air form outside.

Your tank definitely will raise the pH naturally when you are not near by for a while. But the main reason your tank was looking much more happy is likely because you are not messing with the tank. Such as putting your hands in and out often and also making changes.

You shouldn’t chase pH until you have other things all settled. First thing you should focus and master are the (Parameters:alk/calc/mag) than, (nutrients:nitrate/phosphate), than (Supplementation: like bacteria supplements and dosing micros) “or” you can play around with the pH.

The most importantly thing is allowing your corals to adapt to your system by running it smoothly as you possibly can for as long as you can and knowing that your tank is settled. May awesome tank runs low pH. Do water changes regularly and I would try kalk first but at lower strength first.

 

[Cephas]

I’m new so forgive me if I’m posting incorrectly. I agree with a lot of comments that I’ve read. Don’t case numbers. Stability is key. I tried a CO2 scrubber that was attached to my skimmer inlet to stabilize my pH. It worked kind of but I wasn’t happy having to change the absorbing material for the improvement. The juice wasn’t worth the squeeze. I ran 5/16 tubing outside my office window with more consistent results.
Depending on your nutrient levels PO4 NO3 a refugium or algae scrubber/reactor can also buffer pH when your lights are off. Run the opposite schedule. I’m going to apply that strategy to try and tweak the dips slightly. The outdoor method isn’t perfect but my pH doesn’t drop into the mid 7 range anymore. Typically 8.1 to 8.3 ish. I dose All for Reef to maintain dKH at 8.5 that’s all. Reefer 625 - 130gal. Sorry for the blue. I don’t have a filter yet.

 

[Gahamilton]

Thanks for all the reply’s, I am going to keep a eye on water parameters and make sure they they are stable, going to do a small drip of kalkwasser because a lot of individuals are recommending it. Most of the corals have been in the system for 6 month and show growth especially the lps corals. I really do think that it is a cause of low ph due to co2 buildup because of how small the room is and how much time I spend in it. I am going to add an air stone at which the air will be coming from that attic that has good ventilation. We will see if over a month or 2 anything noticeable happens. It can not hurt to try