Please read need help "ph & alk"

[Anonymous]

To start I had a 55 gallon reef never put
anything in water except combisan and had no problems until I got the 90 tranfered over
from 55 checked my ph last week 7.8 and alk
was 1.1 so LFS sold me kent supperbuffer dkh
brought ph up to 8.6 and alk up to 3.6, my
calcuim was also low so I used kent calcium
until my ESV doser come in now that my calcium is at 400 now that all the test are
up how should I use the doser will it send
my readings up do I use it everyday or what.

I used the dkh only twice like directed.

David

 

[Anonymous]

dmm,

give it a couple of days to settle down and recheck ca++ and alkalinity. Chemical reactions like to be in balance. Ca++ and CO3 is no different. If one gets alot higer than the other, it will precipitate. So, if you drive your alkalinity way up by adding too much buffer, you will precipitate CaCO3, and your Ca++ will go down, and vice versa. If you find that both Ca++ and alkalinity are acceptable, begin using your doser for kalk. If one or the other is out of whak, use the doser in combination with either liquid Ca or buffer until corrected (using only half of the recommended amount). Good Luck.

 

[Anonymous]

dmm32:

<<To start I had a 55 gallon reef never put
anything in water except combisan and had no problems >>

Let me undersand this. You had a 55 gallon reef tank, and you never added anything except Combisan? Did you have any hard corals? Or coralline algae?

<<from 55 checked my ph last week 7.8 and alk
was 1.1>>

That makes sense if you never added any calcium or carbonate.

Yes, you do need to add some type of calcium and carbonate.

You got an ESV doser, but what do you plan to dose with it? B-ionic?

I've used lots of B-ionic, but not with a doser. My undersanding of the ESV doser is that it's a once a day type, based on the description at their web site. I certainly added it manually once a day.


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Randy Holmes-Farley


[This message has been edited by Randy Holmes-Farley (edited 30 December 1999).]

 

[Anonymous]

I checked ph today its at 8.4 alk is 3.2
the ESV doser is going to be used with
kent Tech CB if I can ever figure out how
much buffer and calcuim I should dose each
day or if I should use it everyday.
It seem's like a nice unit it has two bowls that fill to the level you set and
with a timer it comes on and off.

David

 

[Anonymous]

dmm:

I've never used it, but Kent Tech CB seems like a fine product to dose that way.

If it were me, I'd dose every day. I'd start with some minimal dose, and ramp it up until the pH was typically 8.2 to 8.4.

After about a week or two, measure the calcium and alkalinity, and see how its going.

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Randy Holmes-Farley