Question on 2-part dosing

[lyz77]

Hi, I restarted my 3ft tank 6 months ago and have started 2-part dosing for close to 2 months. I only have 2 SPS and 3 LPS at the moment. For my 2-part, I am using Aquaforest KH buffer, Calcium and Magnesium and have followed the instruction stated in the manual on the mix ratio.

 

1. KH - 80g to 1 liter RO/DI
2. Ca/Mg - 50g/ 20g to 1 liter RO/DI

 

Hope to seek help and advise from the community on your experience with dosing 2 part and advise if I am doing this wrongly.

 

Based on the low load/ coral, is it normal for my dosing to reach 600ml per day each? I have gradually increase my dosing starting from 20ml a day to close to 600ml in order to maintain the level as shown in the following graph. Is this normal or could precipitation be a reason that I need such a high dosage? I have been adjusting the dose gradually after 24-48 hours and during initial dose, my KH can easily drop 1dKH per day if I stop dosing and even with dosing of 300ml each per day, it can hardly reach 7.5dKH. Both Ca and KH are dose equally and controlled by APEX Dosing & Trident.

 

 

Thanks in advance.

[Schwantz]

Highly unlikely low load like yours will have to dose 600ml per day. More likely 200ml

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[Otaku Reefer]

Ur coral load is low so shld not eat so much alk/ca. i also using 2 part, about 20ml/day alk 8ml/Ca.

I would check the following

1. Check ur dosing pump if calibrated properly

2. Check ur measurement, i assume its auto measured by Trident? Probably get a hanna alk checker to verify

3. Are u dosing alk and ca together? they shld be spaced apart 10 mins. If dose together means Alk and Ca precipitated to cal carbonate, means got dose = no dose.

4. i dose based on consumption and not equal parts, the goal is maintain consistency of alk and ca. maybe u try split the dosing to finetune to the correct spot.

5. Lastly, i would switch brand of supplements to check ( but not likely is the issue)

You can watch this video from BRS. Seems to describe ur problem

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[lyz77]

On 6/3/2021 at 12:02 PM, Otaku Reefer said:

Ur coral load is low so shld not eat so much alk/ca. i also using 2 part, about 20ml/day alk 8ml/Ca.

I would check the following

1. Check ur dosing pump if calibrated properly

2. Check ur measurement, i assume its auto measured by Trident? Probably get a hanna alk checker to verify

3. Are u dosing alk and ca together? they shld be spaced apart 10 mins. If dose together means Alk and Ca precipitated to cal carbonate, means got dose = no dose.

4. i dose based on consumption and not equal parts, the goal is maintain consistency of alk and ca. maybe u try split the dosing to finetune to the correct spot.

5. Lastly, i would switch brand of supplements to check ( but not likely is the issue)

You can watch this video from BRS. Seems to describe ur problem
 

 

Thanks for the advise. I stop dosing for a day at 12pm and the KH drop from 8.57 to 6.54. I tried to increase the KH by 0.5dKH and based on the dosing calculator, I should get 7 dKH by dosing 65ml of Aquaforest KH buffer. However, I notice that I can only get to 6.83 by dosing 65ml and when I add another 30ml dose, I can only get 6.89. The test are done 30mins after dose. Does it mean there is an issue with the KH buffer from Aquaforest?

[Mark Liew]

Suggest you do the following :~

1. Re-Calibrate your DOS

2. Re-Calibrate your Trident

3. Set Trident Schedule to 8 tests instead of default 4 tests a day

[lyz77]

28 minutes ago, Mark Liew said:

Suggest you do the following :~

1. Re-Calibrate your DOS

2. Re-Calibrate your Trident

3. Set Trident Schedule to 8 tests instead of default 4 tests a day

I did calibrate it and kind of doubt it is the cause. Anyway, getting adding Hanna test kit just to compare the reading. 

[Mark Liew]

What about the potency of your 2-part dosing as it is self mixed? I use RedSea liquids therefore cannot comment of AF..

[lyz77]

18 hours ago, Mark Liew said:

What about the potency of your 2-part dosing as it is self mixed? I use RedSea liquids therefore cannot comment of AF..

Yes, self mixed based on the recommended ratio. 

 

Can you share your tank size and dosing ratio per day?

[Mark Liew]

2 hours ago, lyz77 said:

Yes, self mixed based on the recommended ratio. 

 

Can you share your tank size and dosing ratio per day?

I have a RedSea Reefer 170..

Trident controlled dosing 5.1ml RedSea Alk a day..

Along with 2ml RedSea Coralline Grow..

[lyz77]

7 hours ago, Mark Liew said:

I have a RedSea Reefer 170..

Trident controlled dosing 5.1ml RedSea Alk a day..

Along with 2ml RedSea Coralline Grow..

Thanks for sharing.

 

At this point, I am still clueless why my tank is taking so much KH. if precipitation take place, i presume CA will drop significantly as well which is not the case. 

[Mark Liew]

3 hours ago, lyz77 said:

Thanks for sharing.

 

At this point, I am still clueless why my tank is taking so much KH. if precipitation take place, i presume CA will drop significantly as well which is not the case. 

Could u share your tank dimension.. i assume is a 90G tank..

https://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html

As per above calculator.. you should require 60ml from 7.5 to 8.0dkh..

Secondly..

As per your graph.. you should not be expecting a straight and steady line.. It will not happen..

and as per your graph.. you should be looking at the average which is 8.49dkh..

[lyz77]

10 hours ago, Mark Liew said:

Could u share your tank dimension.. i assume is a 90G tank..

https://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html

As per above calculator.. you should require 60ml from 7.5 to 8.0dkh..

Secondly..

As per your graph.. you should not be expecting a straight and steady line.. It will not happen..

and as per your graph.. you should be looking at the average which is 8.49dkh..

Thanks Mark. My overall tank volume including sump is around 450 liter which is probably around 118 gallon.

I agree and not aiming to have a straight line. But rather, notice that my dosing is way out of the recommended range. I am using the calculator which you shared but just couldn't seem to get the reading to correlate to the actual value. The most concerning part is the speed of KH drop which again, seem to be abnormal.

Tried to stop dosing for a day follow by only dosing KH at small value but it doesn't seem to gradually increase which is what I am hoping. I am taking the assumption that with minimum coral, assuming the tank will only consume less than 0.5dKH per day, if my dose is aim at 1dKH as per the calculator, i should see a gradual increase day by day and eventually, fine tube the dose to stabilize it. However, not able to achieve any logical approach to tackle this abnormally.

Edited June 9, 2021 by lyz77

[lyz77]

Just to provide some perspective of the abnormally, the diagram belong illustrate continuous drop of KH despite higher dose during light on.

 

[Mark Liew]

As per AF Website..

https://aquaforest.eu/pl/product/kh-buffer/

20 ml of KH Buffer solution has a KH level of 0.5 dKH in 100 liters of water

May i suggest that you prep 100l of RODI water and mix in 20ml of your mixed solution and see if u get the 0.5dkh raise or 40ml for 1dkh raise.. this will test your mixed solution potency..