ATI Essentials+ and ionic balance

[meermann]

Hi guys and @ATI North America,
since last March I've been using ATI Essentials+ as Calcium supplement. It works good so far, and I'm very satisfied how does it affect coral growth and PH in my tank.
However, I thought it keeps ionic balance (and one of main goals was to avoid water changes). There are few examples of good SPS tanks development during around a year without water changes (using ATI Essentials). So I decided to decrease weekly maintenance of my system and enjoy thriving growth and coloration. So since July I did only a few 10% changes, 2 or 3, using TM Pro Reef salt. Nothing could be wrong

Meanwhile I was keeping doing ICP tests and the results disappointed me a bit

July


August


September


October


January


February



I recalculated the Sulphur values using value for Sodium = 11700ppm, because salinity can differ.
And the results are

July: 896
August: 819
September: 787
October: 839
January: 764
February: 755

I suppose the ideal value for Sulphur would be 900ppm, if Sodium concentration is 11700ppm. However mine is 15% lower.

Any idea why it could happened?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Hi guys and @ATI North America,
since last March I've been using ATI Essentials+ as Calcium supplement. It works good so far, and I'm very satisfied how does it affect coral growth and PH in my tank.
However, I thought it keeps ionic balance (and one of main goals was to avoid water changes). There are few examples of good SPS tanks development during around a year without water changes (using ATI Essentials). So I decided to decrease weekly maintenance of my system and enjoy thriving growth and coloration. So since July I did only a few 10% changes, 2 or 3, using TM Pro Reef salt. Nothing could be wrong

Meanwhile I was keeping doing ICP tests and the results disappointed me a bit

July


August


September


October


January


February



I recalculated the Sulphur values using value for Sodium = 11700ppm, because salinity can differ.
And the results are

July: 896
August: 819
September: 787
October: 839
January: 764
February: 755

I suppose the ideal value for Sulphur would be 900ppm, if Sodium concentration is 11700ppm. However mine is 15% lower.

Any idea why it could happened?

Can you post the chloride to sulfate ratio over time? That’s the best gauge of the ionic balance issue.

 

[meermann]

I use a simple Fauna Marin ICP test and it doesn't check Chloride. Because of this I used Sodium as a reference.
My tank is ~50G and I dose up to 50ml/day of ATI Essentials+, I believe daily dosing contains 10g of dry Sodium Bicarbonate, or 2kg of pure Sodium Bicarbonate was added since July.
So maybe Sulphur is OK in my tank and I could have elevated Sodium level?
Then I have to perform more detailed ICP test

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The issue with sodium is that it plays off against calcium, magnesium, and potassium. Many folks elevate those above natural levels, so at fixed salinity, it would be low.

Can you post the last whole icp?

 

[meermann]

 

[meermann]

The issue with sodium is that it plays off against calcium, magnesium, and potassium. Many folks elevate those above natural levels, so at fixed salinity, it would be low.

Can you post the last whole icp?

I just realized, Ca and Mg levels probably too low in my tank (considering fixed salinity at 10700ppm of Na)? K level looks a bit elevated.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I think most things are fine, but boosting calcium is a fine plan. I think there’s a slight chloride to sulfate imbalance to excess chloride, but that’s not likely a big deal. It’s either from the salt mix or from calcium chloride dosing.

 

[meermann]

I think most things are fine, but boosting calcium is a fine plan. I think there’s a slight chloride to sulfate imbalance to excess chloride, but that’s not likely a big deal. It’s either from the salt mix or from calcium chloride dosing.

But in terms of increasing sulfate balance, what's the most appropriate salt for this? Perhaps MgSO4 or should I first add Na2SO4 and then a bit of CaCl2, MgCl2 and lower salinity a bit?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

But in terms of increasing sulfate balance, what's the most appropriate salt for this? Perhaps MgSO4 or should I first add Na2SO4 and then a bit of CaCl2, MgCl2 and lower salinity a bit?

How are you supplementing calcium and alkalinity?

 

[meermann]

How are you supplementing calcium and alkalinity?

Right now I use TM All For Reef, around a month. But before I used ATI Essentials+ and I was satisfied with the product... except ionic balance. Perhaps I'll switch to ATI Essentials+ again in a week. ATI Essentials+ is completely inorganic, I like how it affects on PH.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Right now I use TM All For Reef, around a month. But before I used ATI Essentials+ and I was satisfied with the product... except ionic balance. Perhaps I'll switch to ATI Essentials+ again in a week. ATI Essentials+ is completely inorganic, I like how it affects on PH.

I would not do anything about the balance unless you need to supplement magnesium, in which case I’d use Epsom salt.