RTN Birdsnest Help

[Craigdillman]

Yea after the last WC I noticed the alk was low might have to start dosing that and calcium cause I think my tank is starting to suck it outa the water

I'm thinking I can get the levels back in the parameters then maybe start kalk hey?

[denny_C]

Originally Posted by Craigdillman

Yea after the last WC I noticed the alk was low might have to start dosing that and calcium cause I think my tank is starting to suck it outa the water

I'm thinking I can get the levels back in the parameters then maybe start kalk hey?

you can do kalk for sure nothing wrong with that product , if your dropping 1 dkh a day then youll need to start dosing to keep it stable , 1 dkh drop isnt horrible and expected but if its dropping like this over a week then brought back up and this repeats then the benefit of dosing isnt quite what it could be and creates instability.

i would for now dose bicarbonate and leave your calcium alone , calculate what your corals are consuming over a week long period and adjust your alk dosing to supply this need.

calcium is another story , small dose arnt going to be horribly noticable or effective on our crappy tests so youll end up chasing a unstable number on small amounts , once alk levels are stable and doseing is figured then look at bringing up your calcium and keeping it there.

once both are brought to ideal range then consumption will be am exact ratio with each other ( 20ppm of CA : 2.8 dkh) now you can dose exactly what you need , thus parameters will stay in line.

this will lower the chances of stn and rtn as well.

with a low alk like yours dropping po4 too fast using phosphate binding medias can result in rtn( or so it goes) as generally po4 is a part of your total alkalinity it is dropped slightly inline with gfo.