Dosing
Printed From: Utah Reefs
Category: Specialized Discussion
Forum Name: Reef Chemistry
Forum Description: A place to discuss reef chemistry.
URL: http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=65117
Printed Date: October 19 2025 at 10:37am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.03 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Dosing
Posted By: jaschall
Subject: Dosing
Date Posted: June 23 2013 at 1:00pm
|
Just wondering how many of you use baked baking soda for Alk. I use the Randy Holmes recipe which is 2 1/4 cups baking soda. My main question I have is if you do use it how many ml. do you dose a week. What size is your tank, and if its an sps, mixed, or softy coral tank only. I have a 125 gallon tank which is a mixed reef. As of now I've been dosing around 1200 ml a week. Setup was November 2012 Thanks A few more thoughts, how long has your tank been setup? And if you can post an recent full tank shot.  ------------- 125 gallon reef |
Replies:
Posted By: ReefdUp
Date Posted: June 23 2013 at 1:25pm
|
I'm doing about the same...about 1400ml/wk (currently adjusting as it's getting too low) on a 150g half LPS/SPS setup back in October. ------------- www.reefdup.com Diving since 2009, reefkeeping since 2007, & fishkeeping since 1987 200g, 75g, & 15g Systems PADI Advanced Open Water |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: June 24 2013 at 4:10am
|
I use a mixture of baking soda and washing soda on all my tanks over the years, but you probably already knew that. I can't discuss Alk without also including Ca. In addition to ~4 gal/wk top-off with full strength Kalkwasser, I was using almost 2 liters of each full strength homemade solution every week on my ~120 gal coral farm pictured here.    Comparing dosage by tank can be difficult, not only because of the coral population but also because of some other variables in uptake of Alk and Ca: 1) Water flow - increased water flow creates a greater need because coral build a denser skeleton 2) Lighting - the closer the light spectrum approximates the full spectrum of sunlight, the greater the uptake 3) Sand bed - the greater the available aragonite sand particle surface area, the less need for supplemental Alk and Ca 4) Kalkwasser - also reduces the amount of Alk and Ca supplements needed 5) Coralline and Halimeda Algae, Snails, Urchins, Shrimp, Feather Duster worms, Amphipods and many other often overlooked Alk and Ca using organisms Mahalo, Mark  ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member 
|
Posted By: Fatman
Date Posted: June 24 2013 at 4:16am
Mark, just wondering what is the scientific basis for these two statements? Not doubting them, just want to look into them further. Fat ------------- February 4: Winter Banquet at the Living Planet Aquarium Tickets: http://utahreefs.com/store/index.php?route=product/category&path=36 |
Mark Peterson wrote:Posted By: ReefdUp
Date Posted: June 24 2013 at 4:19am
|
To further complicate this, strontium can replace calcium in stony skeletons to some extent. I haven't read up on this much lately in recent years, but there were some experiments going on if calcium dropped too low if strontium would fully replace it. ------------- www.reefdup.com Diving since 2009, reefkeeping since 2007, & fishkeeping since 1987 200g, 75g, & 15g Systems PADI Advanced Open Water |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: June 24 2013 at 5:15am
There may be some scientific study somewhere and it may have been Dana Riddle, but these statements are based on my personal observations. I know... that's crazy.------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
|
Posted By: bur01014
Date Posted: June 24 2013 at 8:09am
|
Anything that effects coral growth - lighting and flow - will effect uptake of alk/ca Am I missing something?? |
Posted By: Shane H
Date Posted: June 24 2013 at 8:20am
| Don't discount other consumers of calcium - clams and coralline algae come immediately to mind. |
Posted By: Shane H
Date Posted: June 24 2013 at 8:21am
| Sorry - just read Mark's post ... (see item # 5) |
Posted By: jaschall
Date Posted: June 24 2013 at 6:19pm
|
To me it just seemed like I was using way more then last time I had my tank set up. I had it running for over 2 years and used some what less. I'm also dosing 55 to 60 teaspoons of kents turbo calcium a week which to me seems like alot. I need to find something that doesn't cost me as much. I'm having a hard time keeping my calcium up to 400. Anyone want to fill me in on some less expensive alternatives that come with good results. ------------- 125 gallon reef |
Posted By: jaschall
Date Posted: June 24 2013 at 7:03pm
|
Here are my current test results Calcium 420 (dosed 1hour befor test 6 teaspoons of kent turbo) Alk 8.7 (was 7 then dosed 100ml baked baking soda) Mag 1110 (dosed 100ml of kents liquid mag. To bring levels to 1350 I need to dose a total of 1557.5 ml Does this seem right to any of you) Temp 77º Salinty 1.026 Iodide .06 to .1 hard to tell. Seems more like .1 Ph 8.4 Ammonia 0 Nitite 0 Nitrate 0 Its looking like I'm needing to add more dosing for my alk and calcium and test my mag more often. My last water change was 23 days ago ------------- 125 gallon reef |
Posted By: jaschall
Date Posted: June 26 2013 at 9:15pm
|
Monday after posting I filled my ato with 5 gallons ro/water and 600 ml. of alk. Thought I would bump it up an other 100 ml. Being that 500 mls just wasn't keeping up. I spent a few hours that night testing, cleaning glass and pumps ect. Well when I was leaving for work the next day I noticed my tank was all cloudy. This was at 5:30 in the morning and I didn't have time to really do anything about it. Went to work all day and stressed about it, and to make things worse I didn't get home from work tell 8:30 . When I got home everything was covered in white and the water had cleared up pretty goood. This really sucks, just a year ago I came home from vacation to an empty tank. Things are looking better today. I have a feeling the worst could still come. ------------- 125 gallon reef |
Posted By: jaschall
Date Posted: June 26 2013 at 9:43pm
|
I forgot to add what exactly happend, my ato float valve stuck and pumped my ato reservoir dry. Its was still pumping air when I walked by that morning. I gave it a little shake and it turned off. I'm thinking I'm goi g to add a second o e as a backup. The thing that really sucks I was planning on cleaning it that night but it was getting late, just mt luck. I have a few photo's my duaghter sent me at lunch that day I will post up. When I got home that night my alk was unreadable and ph was at 8.2 I test alk today which I'm not to sure how accurate it is which was 6.5 . I'm still needing to test ph and calcium. ------------- 125 gallon reef |
Posted By: jaschall
Date Posted: June 26 2013 at 9:52pm
   ------------- 125 gallon reef |