What would you do? Again with the x@#^*! Dosing

[Cal_stir]

reefers best has 420ca and 11dkh alk so i doubt a 10% WC is causing your problem, i am dosing 60ml/d ca and 80ml/d alk using Randys 2 part instructions in a 90 gal lps reef and my params are very steady ca 430 alk 9dkh, could your test kits be screwing with you? what kind are they?how are you mixing your chems? i've used BRS chems with no probs, i always follow Randys 2 part recipe when mixing and bake the baking soda if not using soda ash for alk(baking the baking soda turns it into soda ash)which has a higher ph.

[spawn]

No it's not the WC. Alk is tested on hanna. Ca & MG are on elos. Mix chems as directed. BRS recipe 1 for the higher ph.

[phi delt reefer]

are you dosing into an area of high flow?

how much time do you leave between dosing calcium and alkalinity? You cant dose both at once.

[spawn]

Originally Posted by phi delt reefer

are you dosing into an area of high flow?

how much time do you leave between dosing calcium and alkalinity? You cant dose both at once.

Yes its into high flow, it goes though two sump chambers, then though a pump before hitting the DT. Dosing is done using the first two heads of a four head profilux. So I would guess between 15-30 mins between doses. As I've said before the paras were stable until august & @ that point I was dosing almost 4ml per gallon, which caused precip & the salinity to rise weekly while not maintaining CA levels. I can't figure it out unless the ca & mg tests are both pos. Or the ca supp. Is weak?

[spawn]

Thx tips. Read the above q & a as you are asking q's and appear not to be getting the answers.

[shrimpchips]

On the profilux, are you dosing once a day or a total of that volume throughout the day?

Also, how full is your tank of coral? When my nano was full of SPS, it would drop 20 ppm Ca and 1 dKh Alk a day without dosing - likely your dosing regime just isn't cutting it.

Also, Alk of 7 dkH is fine. I keep my alk at 7 - 8 dkh (Fauna Marin supplements on a Profilux doser). I think I'm at about 256 ml (16 x 16ml) of alk a day, and 272 ml (16 x 17 ml) for Ca a day in a 100g + 30g sump (~115g total). Mg I'm using like crazy, but that's a different story.

My SG stays at 1.026, and I do a single 5g water change every week (or two).

If you're not already, I'd break up your doses to be more frequent and dose more in total. Try to test every day for a week to dial it in. Your Mg looks fine, and your SG isn't much of an issue.

To bring everything up, you may want to dose heavily for 2 weeks, then taper it off to a maintenance level. Slowly trying to raise your Ca will take weeks. Alk you probably want to do slower to avoid Alk burn, but Ca you can move a lot faster to bring it up to the 400 - 440 ppm range.

[spawn]

Originally Posted by shrimpchips

On the profilux, are you dosing once a day or a total of that volume throughout the day?

Also, how full is your tank of coral? When my nano was full of SPS, it would drop 20 ppm Ca and 1 dKh Alk a day without dosing - likely your dosing regime just isn't cutting it.

Also, Alk of 7 dkH is fine. I keep my alk at 7 - 8 dkh (Fauna Marin supplements on a Profilux doser). I think I'm at about 256 ml (16 x 16ml) of alk a day, and 272 ml (16 x 17 ml) for Ca a day in a 100g + 30g sump (~115g total). Mg I'm using like crazy, but that's a different story.

My SG stays at 1.026, and I do a single 5g water change every week (or two).

If you're not already, I'd break up your doses to be more frequent and dose more in total. Try to test every day for a week to dial it in. Your Mg looks fine, and your SG isn't much of an issue.

To bring everything up, you may want to dose heavily for 2 weeks, then taper it off to a maintenance level. Slowly trying to raise your Ca will take weeks. Alk you probably want to do slower to avoid Alk burn, but Ca you can move a lot faster to bring it up to the 400 - 440 ppm range.

My Dosing is done @ 23 x 4ml doses for CA & 22 x 4ml Doses of alk currently. When I punched the numbers into the brs calculator after testing today I would need to add almost 17 ounces of BRS Ca recipe 1 to top up the CA. to 390 again That's a retarded amount to be used in 4 days, that would equal a loss of almost 126 ml per day, if I added that to the current amount I would be adding 219 ml per gal per day.Which is 4ml per gal How can that be, as there were small signs of precip when I was dosing that amount previously & not maintaining CA levels? Which would cause the salinity to go up like it was before. The maintenance dose is what I am struggling to find. It has this much coral
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...t=76372&page=2

[Cal_stir]

the brs recipe is basically the same as Randys, personnally i've had bad experiences with hanna checkers, but i have used elos and feel it is a good test kit, i use salifert and red sea now.
are u dosing all at once or using dosing pumps, dosing all at once can cause precip and dosing diff chems at the same time can cause probs to

[tang daddy]

I would have to agree aswell that a 10% WC would not effect the CA that much in a 55g tank, perhaps your sps is sucking your systems dose down. You should dose some more calcium to your system to maintain the proper levels. I currently run a 75g sps system and I am dosing 1 teaspoon of calcium powder every 2-3 days diluted in 1 liter of rodi. I dunno what that equates to with your current 2 part but it's alot of calcium.