Moderate ALK consumption, but no CA consumption.

Ojala · Apr 11, 2021

Hi everyone, I just switched from a calcium reactor to the DOS a couple months ago since it’s easier to control remotely while away at school. I am currently using 2 part B-Ionic.

My current dosing schedule is:
Alk; 25 ml, over a 24 hour window, with a range of 0.20 dKH, a limit of 50%, and a goal of 9.35 dKH.
CA: 10 ml, over a 24 hour window, with a range of 30 ppm, a limit of 50%, and a goal of 450 ppm.
I also have it set up to turn the alk head off if the alk reaches 9.6, and the CA head off it the CA reaches 500.

However, my calcium levels never drop below 500 ppm, so my calcium head never turns on.
I am currently running a 300 gallon system, thats stocked with heavily with softies, LPS, anemones, and gorgonian coral (hardly any SPS at the moment).
I am also not doing any water changes (running the trident system), and only add salt water to my system when my salinity is low (often due to chaning the media in my media reactors or from my protein skimmer). I am currently using Red Sea pro salt mix (black top).
So my question is, is it normal for a tank to have a moderate amount of alk consumption, but practically no calcium consumption?
Best regards,
Austin Ojala

Sidenote: my magnesium levels are low because magnesium is mainly located in the calcium component of the B-Ionic solution. I just ordered B-Ionic magnesium solution so i can dose it separately.

Doctorgori · Apr 11, 2021

similar issue; following

arking_mark · Apr 11, 2021

When Do Calcium and Alkalinity Demand Not Exactly Balance? by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

Ojala · Apr 12, 2021

arking_mark said:
When Do Calcium and Alkalinity Demand Not Exactly Balance? by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

I’m still confused on how my calcium demand is 0, considering how much coral I have in my tank?

arking_mark · Apr 12, 2021

Ojala said:
I’m still confused on how my calcium demand is 0, considering how much coral I have in my tank?

How are you measuring Ca?

What is your pH?

If you are doing Triton system with no water changes, why are you dosing B-Ionic 2-part and not the Triton Core 7? The Triton method is a balanced Alk/Ca dosing which you are also not doing. What are your Triton ICP test results?

arking_mark · Apr 12, 2021

arking_mark said:
How are you measuring Ca?

What is your pH?

If you are doing Triton system with no water changes, why are you dosing B-Ionic 2-part and not the Triton Core 7? The Triton method is a balanced Alk/Ca dosing which you are also not doing. What are your Triton ICP test results?

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Ojala · Apr 12, 2021

arking_mark said:
How are you measuring Ca?

What is your pH?

If you are doing Trident system with no water changes, why are you dosing B-Ionic 2-part and not the Trident Core 7? The Trident method is a balanced Alk/Ca dosing which you are also not doing. What are your Trident ICP test results?

The photo shows that I am testing my parameters via the Neptune trident/pH probes.
The photo also shows that my pH is 7.91.
B-Ionic has everything that the trident core 7 has if I am not mistaken.
I can upload a photo of my last ICP test once I get home for summer break, however, the last test I did was right before I made the switch from the calcium reactor to the trident dos. I do an ICP test every 3 months or so (since I am only home every 3 months or so).
Also you should dose based on demand not a blanket statement. Why would I dose Ca at the same rate as Alk, if my Ca demand is nonexistent.

Glenner’sreef · Apr 12, 2021

My understanding is no matter what, dosing B-Ionic 2 part- which I use should and must be used equally, all of the time. Presently you’re dosing 25 mls daily of alk for a desired dkh of 9 or so. And 10 mls of Calcium with a level of 500 plus. Common sense says lower your amount of calcium you’re dosing and it should level off at some point. But it doesn’t work that way. Plus you have a heavy soft coral population that use little to no calcium. You’re lps are the only stoney based corals and a few sps I believe you said building a calcium carbonate skeleton. It may be that you are either jumping the gun on 2 part or you need to cut way back your dosing for a while. Start at 5 mls every other day “equally “ and test. As you corals grow you will increase that 5 mls to 10 equally and so on. My B-Ionic schedule is set up this way and it looks very much like your desired goals above. Good luck bud.

arking_mark · Apr 12, 2021

Ojala said:
The photo shows that I am testing my parameters via the Neptune trident/pH probes.
The photo also shows that my pH is 7.91.
B-Ionic has everything that the trident core 7 has if I am not mistaken.
I can upload a photo of my last ICP test once I get home for summer break, however, the last test I did was right before I made the switch from the calcium reactor to the trident dos. I do an ICP test every 3 months or so (since I am only home every 3 months or so).

Does your ICP match your Trident measurements?

I'm not familiar with B-ionic or if it matches the Triton dosing. It may.

My bet is that the Trident measurements may be off. Otherwise, your Ca is pretty high and I would do several larger water changes over the next several weeks.

However, if all the tank inhabitants look great...

Don't chase #s, stability is what's critical

Ojala · Apr 12, 2021

arking_mark said:
Does your ICP match your Trident measurements?

I'm not familiar with B-ionic or if it matches the Triton dosing. It may.

My bet is that the Trident measurements may be off. Otherwise, your Ca is pretty high and I would do several larger water changes over the next several weeks.

However, if all the tank inhabitants look great...

Don't chase #s, stability is what's critical

When I still had my calcium reactor, yes, my ICP test was very similar to my trident results.
I’ll see if my family back home can do an ICP test for me, see if my current readings are correct.

arking_mark · Apr 12, 2021

Ojala said:
When I still had my calcium reactor, yes, my ICP test was very similar to my trident results.
I’ll see if my family back home can do an ICP test for me, see if my current readings are correct.

So if you want to get things back in balance...

Most problems can be mitigated with larger water changes and GAC

Ojala · Apr 12, 2021

Glenner’sreef said:
My understanding is no matter what, dosing B-Ionic 2 part- which I use should and must be used equally, all of the time. Presently you’re dosing 25 mls daily of alk for a desired dkh of 9 or so. And 10 mls of Calcium with a level of 500 plus. Common sense says lower your amount of calcium you’re dosing and it should level off at some point. But it doesn’t work that way. Plus you have a heavy soft coral population that use little to no calcium. You’re lps are the only stoney based corals and a few sps I believe you said building a calcium carbonate skeleton. It may be that you are either jumping the gun on 2 part or you need to cut way back your dosing for a while. Start at 5 mls every other day “equally “ and test. As you corals grow you will increase that 5 mls to 10 equally and so on. My B-Ionic schedule is set up this way and it looks very much like your desired goals above. Good luck bud.

It doesn’t say that it needs to be dosed equally on the bottle, it says that it should be dosed based on demand/utilization (which is similar to what I’ve read online).

If I stop dosing alk, my alk drops to below 8 dKH, which is unhealthy for a reef I believe.

what do you suggest? Should I start dosing like 5 ml of Ca and less Alk (like 15ml instead of 25ml)?

Glenner’sreef · Apr 12, 2021

Focus on maintaining your alk at say 9 dkh while dosing equals parts of B-Ionic Calcium and Alkalinity. Do just a bit more research regarding equal dosing measurements and you’ll see that what I’m saying is the answer to your issue.

Glenner’sreef · Apr 12, 2021

If your cal. is 560 that won’t hurt anything. Keep an eye on your alk. Keep it at 9. As your lps and sps grow you will see the cal number begin to drop. Also check your salt parameters. I use Reef Crystals. Cal ppm in my salt is 490. If you’re doing water changes frequently which is a good thing. It’s touch for cal numbers to drop when it’s starting out at 490. Maybe buy a clam. It’ll drop.