Best time to dose

[Moneymaks24]

I just got a doser and some more sps need to keep my alk in check, currently it drops to 5 dkh from 8 dkh

Ph 8.5 during peak day hours
Ph8.1 at night

Calcium 480

I have BRS 2 park alk and calcium.


Should I be dosing at night slowly through 8 hours both alk and calcium?

Thanks in advance

 

[lnevo]

You could dose calcium during day and alk at night. I dose both over the full 24 hours. Depends if you want to try and level your ph swing or just dose. The more frequent you dose the more stable the parameter will be. You do want some time between the alk and calcium dose so they dont precipitate.

Or, I could repeat your advice to me when I was in the same situation...just do more WC lol

 

[Moneymaks24]

I was just repeating advice I was mis informed on. I realize now its hard to keep Alk from swinging without dosing. Wasn't trying to give u bad advise. Thanks for the help as always

As far as PH swings I would prefer to keep it as steady as possible. Should I first try to keep my Maximum Ph at 8.1-8.3 and then start dosing to keep it steady. Or I can keep it steady at the current 8.5?

 

[jackson6745]

Not sure if it's the best way, but I break up my doses 8 times spread 24/7. My alk and cal is always consistent. Alk and cal dose 10 mins from each other so no precipitation. My PH swings from 8-8.3 as a byproduct of maintaining proper alkalinity, and good oxygen exchange in the room.

 

[lnevo]

One thing to keep in mind the BRS 2-part uses soda ash which will raise ph. In your case i wouldn't want to raise much when its at 8.5...so for you i would dose at night. Another option is to use baking soda instead which may lower ph slightly. Either way once your dosing small amounts throughout the day, the effect on ph will be negligible.

And as far as, your past previous advise, just busting chops. Always happy to help

 

[piranhapat]

I use both parts by BRS and always had a low PH. Soda Ash is suppose to raise your Ph. It never raised my Ph above 8.1. Using it over year now. I don't get much fresh air so Ph was never an issue using soda Ash. I dose 8x two parts 10 mins apart using Alk to Cal. through out 24hrs. Using about 90ml a day. Key to two parts make sure it drips in sump where a lot of water movement. Better to add a little throught out the 24hrs to have more consistent stable water parameter.

 

[Moneymaks24]

What's a cheap small dosing container? Any old Tupperware will do?

 

[lnevo]

I use smartwater bottles

 

[Moneymaks24]

Nice! Also instructions reccomd to use small amounts of additives incase device malfunctions and over doses

So to not harm inhabitants how much do I put in for a 34 gallon? Or is there a way to set up the Apex to prevent an overdose?

 

[Jzhou]

Are you manually dosing or are you using dosing pumps? Do you have a refugeium?

If your overall goal is to keep your water parameters steady, i would recommend breaking out your dosing to smaller amounts a few times a day if you are manually dosing. This way the sways in water chemistry would be a lot smaller when you are balancing out your system. Like the others have said before you would need to space out the part one and part 2 by 10 to 15 minutes.

If you're goal was to maintain a more steady ph, ph would naturally drop at night since any algae in your tank would go in reverse and begin producing carbon dioxide while using oxygen when the lights are off. If you have a refugium, a lot or people run their refugium time clocks in the reverse of their display tanks. This way the refugium will be using up the CO2 and produce more oxygen while the display tank is in the dark.

 

[Moneymaks24]

Thanx jz I have a doser, havnt set it up yet, waiting for my airline brackets to arrive