Where is the flaw in my thinking?

[ripped tide]

Do you have a gas heater? Or use the fireplace? I've always been under the impression that a flame burns up oxygen, therefore more co2 in the air.

 

[rdnelson]

Nope. All electric house and never use the fireplace. But surprisingly, some people think there is a lot of hot air in my home. Haven't figured that one out yet.

 

[ripped tide]

How many people are living there?

Edit: Or, a better question would be: is the room frequently occupied?

 

[rdnelson]

Me, my wife, 3 daughters, a dog and a cat. But for the most part the room is not occupied except in the evening and that is usually just me. I would say that being a newer home it would be pretty air tight but I pay the electric bill!!!!!

 

[rdnelson]

While it isn't a lot, there are house plants that should consume at least some of the CO2.

 

[ripped tide]

Where is the mg and calcium and what kits?

 

[rdnelson]

With Elos mag was always at 1450 to 1500 since changing to RSCP. With Red Sea mag is off the chart high. Cal is about 450 with both just after a water change and yesterday was at 400 after 2 weeks without a water change. ( yes I was lazy last weekend).

 

[snowmansnow]

DISCLAIMER...

I haven't read ALL posts above, so forgive redundancy...

1st If you are adding top off water at the same rate of evaporation your alk shouldn't be affected.. as a previous post stated.

If you are getting swings in ALK...

are they = swings each day.. ?
I mean.. do you dose up to say.... 9.5 each day with ALK and notice that it has fallen to ... maybe 7.5 in the morning? so you have to dose again?

if so... you may have the same problem I had not long ago... My Mg was way low... Ca was fine, but the Mg caused the big 3 to be imbalanced and as a result my ALK wouldn't stay consistent...

Once I managed to get the MG up over 1300 I saw MUCH smaller swings in ALK over 24 hr periods..

the other possibility is, if you have a lot of SPS corals in there... maybe they are just using up Ca and Alk faster than you are dosing?

Again, forgive if this has already been said.. (typed)

 

[rdnelson]

SnowManSnow;819577 wrote: DISCLAIMER...

I haven't read ALL posts above, so forgive redundancy...

1st If you are adding top off water at the same rate of evaporation your alk shouldn't be affected.. as a previous post stated.

If you are getting swings in ALK...

are they = swings each day.. ?
I mean.. do you dose up to say.... 9.5 each day with ALK and notice that it has fallen to ... maybe 7.5 in the morning? so you have to dose again?

if so... you may have the same problem I had not long ago... My Mg was way low... Ca was fine, but the Mg caused the big 3 to be imbalanced and as a result my ALK wouldn't stay consistent...

Once I managed to get the MG up over 1300 I saw MUCH smaller swings in ALK over 24 hr periods..

the other possibility is, if you have a lot of SPS corals in there... maybe they are just using up Ca and Alk faster than you are dosing?

Again, forgive if this has already been said.. (typed)

It is a drop over time not drastic swings. Mag is in acceptable ranges per Elos test. Moderate load of SPS but for a 125 it is not high.

 

[kilralpine]

I've also experienced low alk with my RSCP mix, not sure the exact reason; I started doing kalk in my ATO (done the right way with an apex) and it has since gone up a slight amount and I like the changes. I don't use a lot of kalk but even in smaller amounts its seemed to help alleviate this low alkalinity issue.

 

[dr_ fish]

mysterybox;819136 wrote: Disagree.....reality is usually not as balanced and is very different from that article way back then, albeit, Randy is the King.....

I dose Alk (Soda Ash) & Calcium Chloride 6 times a day, but they have always been depleted at different rates though out the years. The first few years I was dosing way more Alk, and now in the last couple of years, I am dosing 60% to 40% Calcium to Alk......

When I have time I will look up the reasoning behind it again. It still stands true today and even Randy himself posts the same suggestions of equal parts.

Here, read this