Alk drop after water change

[svreef]

I say raise (slowly) until your at 8 on the trident. It’s primarily about stability imo, not so much the number. If it’s between 8-8.5 and very stable then you will Be good to go.

Yup, thank you!

 

[svreef]

What are you using for two part dosing and where can I get some? BRS is out of everything. All I have is 500ml of All For Reef left.

Or should I go the baking soda ash way?

 

[Coral reefer]

I buy soda ash in a 5 gal bucket.

 

[JVU]

I use Triton so mostly it is balanced. I do find I need to add more alkalinity sometimes, I think because the Reef Crystals I use is stupidly unbalanced with high Mg and high Ca (and the high Alk doesn’t last nearly as long as the other 2- unbalanced).

I used to use regular Arm & Hammer baking soda for Alkalinity supplement, but I recently had an ICP test with mildly high selenium out of nowhere after I was using the A&H pretty aggressively to correct an imbalance, with no other clear explanation. I tried to figure out if that was a known issue or not, even contacted the company about trace analysis, etc. After spinning my wheels and getting nowhere, I decided to just use an alkalinity supplement made for reef aquaria. I’m using Seachem Reef Carbonate because I specifically wanted an unbalanced source of carbonate, which is handy to have as needed. If you want 2-part, B-Ionic is the easiest and has minor/trace elements that the bulk reagents don’t.

Also since you said “baking soda ash” just keep in mind that soda ash and baking soda are 2 different but similar things. Both raise alk, but have different effects on pH and different potentcy per weight.

I like BRS for their older videos, but their stocking is unreliable and shipping speed is below par. Amazon, saltwateraquarium.com, marine depot, etc- you have lots of options.

 

[Meshmez]

What are you using for two part dosing and where can I get some? BRS is out of everything. All I have is 500ml of All For Reef left.

Or should I go the baking soda ash way?

I do the old school method of buying the 13.5 pound bag of arm and hammer baking soda from costco, and then baking it to make ash.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

 

[ofzakaria]

This is on the Neptune page. I do recognize that "our calibration seawater sample" is still open to interpretation though. For what its worth, I just tested the salinity of an old (previously opened) bottle of calibration solution and it has a salinity of 36ppt.
View attachment 16135

Which is higher than regular sea water.
As I said, wh

What are you using for two part dosing and where can I get some? BRS is out of everything. All I have is 500ml of All For Reef left.

Or should I go the baking soda ash way?

I use B-ionic. Available at most LFS. Well balanced 2 parts.

 

[Wlachnit]

I do the old school method of buying the 13.5 pound bag of arm and hammer baking soda from costco, and then baking it to make ash.

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Me too....I'm old school as well.

 

[svreef]

Slowly raised Alk to 8 manually dosing All For Reef.

 

[NanoCrazed]

For what it's worth, I used to make soda ash but since my pH has been fairly stable above 8, i just dose straight baking soda nightly.

Soda ash will raise pH, so if you don't need to do so, straight baking soda is all ypu need.

 

[svreef]

I'm reading that baking soda raises your PH, but soda ash does not - confused. Never mind, I stand corrected

 

[NanoCrazed]

I'm reading that baking soda raises your PH, but soda ash does not - confused. Never mind, I stand corrected

Just to make it clear as mud, baking soda CAN raise your pH but you will need a lot more of it to make a significant swing. But, it can help buffer for stability

 

[Meshmez]

Soda ash raises PH. Baking soda should leave it the same or lower.

@NanoCrazed are you dosing powder? or baking soda dissolved in water (randys recipe #2)

 

[NanoCrazed]

Soda ash raises PH. Baking soda should leave it the same or lower.

@NanoCrazed are you dosing powder? or baking soda dissolved in water (randys recipe #2)

I throw a tablespoon straight powder into the overflow as i head off to bed..

 

[svreef]

I throw a tablespoon straight powder into the overflow as i head off to bed..

That’s a very tempting approach and a refreshing take from the number chasing and dosing gear.

How did you arrive at that measurement and frequency?

 

[NanoCrazed]

That’s a very tempting approach and a refreshing take from the number chasing and dosing gear.

How did you arrive at that measurement and frequency?

Mostly laziness... i ran of soda ash and my alk was running wonky so being too hot of a day to run my oven i toss in baking soda. And decided to measure to watch the system and realize things looked acceptable.

I started experimenting with how much baking soda would keep my system where i wanted it, but decided rather than shoot for a constant, i would aim for a range within a 24 hour period...which to me is how i imagine the ocean to truly be with movement of water.

Once i put in the trident, it helped confirmed my haphazard, lazy ways may not be so far fetched.

Admittedly, this method breaks down when I go on vacation or travel for work (which i wont have to worry about for awhile). So i might get a DOS just for times i travel or if i get even lazier. I like not having to bake soda ash or mixing solution.

For Ca+, I throw a few cubes of SeaLabs no 28 and call it done. Lmao

What my system looks like. Ignore the wild swing in pH. Knocked my prob out of place.

Not for everyone but works for me...

 

[svreef]

Oh ok, thanks. Makes sense when the trident watches your back.

 

[NanoCrazed]

Oh ok, thanks. Makes sense when the trident watches your back.

I was doing it before the trident. But now with the Trident, it just gives me more confidence

 

[Coral reefer]

I was under the impression that ph and alk stayed very stable in the ocean?

 

[NanoCrazed]

Was my understanding that there is daily fluctuations at least on pH and O2 in the ocean when I read some research papers. pH is like somewhere 8.5 +/- 0.5 or so... i would assume this then also affects alk...