Soda ash vs bicarbonate for alk dosing

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by Elias@caco3reef.com

of course dosing only for Alk will cause fluctuation in the rest of the tank's chemistry.
Not so much if you are only bringing the levels of Alk to par then start dosing all chemicals as to a recipe you will stick with and only adjust all levels accordingly to usage.

Since my mag (1380) and ca (440) remains within the desired value in between water changes, I was thinking of not touching them. Or should both Ca and Alk be dosed at the same time?

[Proteus]

no if you dose ca and alk when only alk is low both ca and alk will rise

i tried a product that contained ca mg str. it was terrible as only one would need to be brought up

bring your alk up and keep it up you may then see a steady decline in all three elements once kept in range and stable

[mrhasan]

So, for now, dosing alk should be fine. I will keep monitoring the big three and see how it changes.

Thanks everyone