Ranger's Tank Journal

[SkiFletch]

I'd slowly dose to reach the desired alk. Your tank volume is very small so dosing even moderate amounts of the concentrate Randy reccomends should do wonders for you . I only dose 1/2oz per day of the additive and my alk stays pretty high that way. I speak dKH, not meq actually but if memory serves you want an alk of around 3.3-3.6meq. I know in dKH its 9-12

 

[Ranger]

I'd slowly dose to reach the desired alk. Your tank volume is very small so dosing even moderate amounts of the concentrate Randy reccomends should do wonders for you . I only dose 1/2oz per day of the additive and my alk stays pretty high that way. I speak dKH, not meq actually but if memory serves you want an alk of around 3.3-3.6meq. I know in dKH its 9-12

OK, I actually preferred dKH myself. But I was meq sounded more technical and correct, lol. Still... what do you consider a moderate amount....?

 

[Ranger]

I think we crossed our wires somewhere... my dKH is 13.9. And this supplement is supposed to make my alk go up!? Its late and im tired so maybe im confused...

 

[SkiFletch]

Are you still at 350ppm calcium? Remember, in that article by Randy, the baking soda solution is used to dose alk, and the prestone driveway heat or other calcium road salt is used to dose calc. Calc should be 400+ in a reef tank, even as high as 450ppm if you want.

 

[Ranger]

Just restested calc and yeah its at 350. So I shouldn't be dosing the alk at all? Lol. Any ideas why my chemisty is off in the firstplace? Maybe we could strike at the source? Or am I going to have to constantly be dosing all these things?

 

[SkiFletch]

Probably from use of calcerous organisms in your tank and initial precipitate reactions from setup. Its common for chemistry to go a little crazy off the start. You'll have to dose periodically to keep things perfect, luckily your tank is small and you won't have to dose that much. Probably the biggest danger in dosing is raising alk too fast, so make sure you don't do that. When alk is high and calc is low, its pretty easy though

 

[Ranger]

Just called HD. They don't prestone driveway heat or anything really. The guy i talked to said the only thing they had that might work would be a rock salt they get form a company, Morton Salt. I checked out the website and It seems like its just salt. lol. Gonna call Lowe's now.

EDIT: As i mentioned before. Isn't my Alk currently too high? So im only dosing the calcium atm?

EDIT2: Both lowes and HD mentioned that their salts were used for watersoftening. Is that what I'm looking for?

 

[SkiFletch]

Yeah, your alk is a bit too high but you can't do anything other than wait to bring it down. You COULD add small quantities of acid to the tank, but that gets TRICKY and I absoloutely DO NOT reccomend trying that, cause you are likely to do more harm than good. The only thing wrong with an alk that high is that it can sometimes be chemically unstable under the wrong conditions and crash quickly, but again, just keep an eye on it and leave it be cause theres little you can do.

Dont use plain rock salt, thats not what you need at all. If you can't find anything localy, lemme know, and I'll ship you a little bit to get you started if you'd be kind enough to cover postage. I've got a 55lb bag in the basement that I couldn't burn through in 10 years if I tried . And those of us in Buffalo keep this stuff on hand anyways cause of all the stinkin snow . There's pallets of it in HD floor to cieling when you walk in the one by my house this time of year

 

[Ranger]

Well, I can either get it from you or order from the manufacturer. The guy in HD was really knowledgable and knew what I was talking about and what I wanted it for. He said I wouldn't be able to find it around here and reccommended I just order it. So, I'll see what I can do with that. If I run into problems I'd love a skifletch sample . I'd gladly cover postage.

 

[Ranger]

Hmm, I can't find out were to order it. I can't even find it on the prestone site, lol. How much does it cost? I'd front you the money if you could get me some .

 

[SkiFletch]

pm sent