Dosing Alk, how do you do it? - Coral issues

[LoJack]

you need soda ash, not baking soda. There is a recipe to turn regular old baking soda into a useable form of Soda Ash by superheating it on a cookie sheet in your oven … not sure on the recipe but a quick google search can give you that answer.

Your best bit is a 2 part system which is for calcium and alkalinity. A doser is the easiest way, but some people add chemicals by hand daily to keep up with the uptake of their corals.

I dose calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium through peristaltic pumps 4 times throughout each 24 hour day to maintain my levels.

If I were you I'd also start with doing more frequent water changes to help with stability. If you are dosing nothing right now, and going a month between water changes, your water is stripped to the bone, and then the corals go through shock with the influx of new water. Smaller changes more frequently helps keep things more stable.

[CanuckReefer]

Yah I defiantly don't dose every day but I check my levels every week and add what is necessary at that point. So during the month I might add Ca twice and Mg maybe once to bump it up. I always used baked baking soda, but that's basically to keep my ph up I thought.

I defiantly need a dosing pump no doubt. Just didn't want to spend $300 on one.

Sometimes I'll check my alk if the corals are receding and it will be 5-6. So I'll make up a BS solution and add it slowly. This happens all the time. So my alk can swing between 5-8 sometimes.

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by CanuckReefer

Yah I defiantly don't dose every day but I check my levels every week and add what is necessary at that point. So during the month I might add Ca twice and Mg maybe once to bump it up. I always used baked baking soda, but that's basically to keep my ph up I thought.

I defiantly need a dosing pump do doubt. Just didn't want to spend $300 on one.

Baking soda or soda ash can be used. One increases the ph while the other decreases. And I believe baking soda is a bit tougher to dissolve that ash but I can be wrong.

[jason604]

Originally Posted by CanuckReefer

Yah I defiantly don't dose every day but I check my levels every week and add what is necessary at that point. So during the month I might add Ca twice and Mg maybe once to bump it up. I always used baked baking soda, but that's basically to keep my ph up I thought.

I defiantly need a dosing pump no doubt. Just didn't want to spend $300 on one.

Sometimes I'll check my alk if the corals are receding and it will be 5-6. So I'll make up a BS solution and add it slowly. This happens all the time. So my alk can swing between 5-8 sometimes.

The marine magic doser is 169$ shipping included