Stabilizing parameters

[Prosperent]

Hi guys, i'm trying to get my tank stable at my target water parameters and need some advice. I'm shooting for Calcium around 440, Alkalinity around 11, and magnesium around 1350.

I have been testing and making adjustments over the past 4 days (and ran 3 tests with the following results)

jan 23: calcium 450 alk: 9.2 magnesium: 1360
jan 25: calcium 465 alk: 8.2 magnesium: 1360 (figured I needed to bump the alk, which would drop the calcium slightly)

On the night of the 25th I did my weekly 7 gallon water change. Total tank volume is about 180 gallons and i'm keeping a few sps, and some zoas/softies. Fairly new tank around 4 months old.

jan 26: calcium 400 alk: 11.2 magnesium: 1360

Pretty happy with that, and dosed a bit more (20ml of calcium tonight to raise that number slightly).

I'm using B-Ionic two part for the calcium and alkalinity, and B-ionic for the magnesium

Any tips to finish getting this thing dialed in? My water change threw things a bit, so i'm thinking I should probably dose my salt water that I use for my water changes to match my target params as well. Is that what others are doing?

Finally, I have 3 dosing pumps, and i'm trying to figure out how much I need to dose of each component daily. SHould I just hit my targets, then wait a few days, check the values again and divide the difference by the number of days? That should give me a rough idea of the daily consumption. Test that maybe bi weekly, or monthly, then adjust accordingly?

On a side note, i'm running my system skimmerless (if that even matters in this instance)

 

[sethsolomon]

Alk of 11 is pretty high. I would recommend in the 8-9 ballpark.

 

[DyM]

It truely is trial and error. I was testing every day for more than a month, than every 2-3 days for the following month. Be patient, you may wat to research Randy's 2 part, will save you a lot of cash. I also agree you may want to lower your target alk. 9 would be better, most SpS tanks target 8-8.5.... Obviously there are always exceptions.

 

[Prosperent]

I appreciate the tips guys. I had a feeling this was mostly going to be trial and error.

I'll retest the alkalinity once the calcium comes back up and try to get that number down into the 7-9 range.

 

[jagermeister]

If you want to go sps, then I'd shoot for calcium and alkalinity in the range of 400-450 and 7-9 respectively.

You got the right procedure. Test each day to determine alkalinity and calcium consumption and then replace them with your dosing. Be sure to test at the same time each day. If you haven't already found it, the following link is extremely helpful.

http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html

Once you get your dosing regiment down, you'll be able to test less frequently. I only test when something doesn't look 'right' in the tank.

Definitely check into Randy's two part, as DyM suggested. If you go the dosing route it will save you tons of money and the materials to make it are readily available this time of year.

Running your system skimmerless isn't going to matter for this instance.

hth

 

[Prosperent]

Thanks, i'll have to mix up some two part the next go around. I used B-Ionic back in the day with my last tank, so I had already purchased that before I read about Randy's.