-
Day 4 of a new bubble screen at full intensity and growth is going 3D. Going to put splash protection back on because water splashing over the lights. Carbonate hardness has increased from 9DKH to 10 ?? in last 2 weeks without changing Kalk additions. Ph is rock solid at 8.2.
-
Been thinking about my slight increase in KH. This may indicate that my system is not short of co2 to fuel the screen. Maybe respiration of the fish is sorting this for me ( I have quite a heavy fish loading ). Anyhow I have now connected the air pump to my ph controller so that the screen is only bubbling when the pH is above 8.2. This should trigger bubbles when ALK is being consumed by the algae and when my KALK additions are made.
-
Still running the bubble screen and now the screen is producing lots of algae, perhaps the KH test results are now more pertinent to the reason for starting this thread. Good news so far, pH stays around 8.2 to 8.1 day and night, KH steady at 10dkh, calcium 480. Note - got rid of the pH controller powered air supply because it always stays on anyway. Just running rigid airline to the pump intake again.
-
Hey garf i have been thinking should i add air to my screen but im a bit nervous. My alk drops heavily every week. One thing why do you think your glass is staying clean mine has to be cleaned every 3 days.
-
About putting air on the screen, in the long term there are no ill effects, but the short term effects do mean that the screen has to re- cure I believe. Algal growth is great at the minute but it did take 8 weeks or so to get large amounts of 3D stuff. As for the glass cleaning, I think it's because I have a large bacterial loading. When I scrape my glass totally clean, like when the pink calcareous stuff is stuck onto it in patches by the sand, the area that's down to the bare glass does get an slight algae coating, this then seems to fade a couple of days down the line. If I knew how it happened exactly, I would patent it, bottle it, sell it and buy myself a large part of a proper reef !!
-
Everyone has large bacterial loadings.
-
Hopefully my glass will do the same. :-) i might try this if it helps to control my alk levels. mine is always dropping
-
I have to dose Kalk daily.
-
Maybe you can help kerry i have never dosed kalkwasser so have no idea about it i use red sea buffer and calcium. My alk is dropping really fast calcium and mag is perfect if i dose kalkwasser wont that boost calcium and alk. Therefore i only have a few corals so wont my calcium go through the roof. Hope i explained it ok.
-
You can use food grade baking soda to raise the alk, do it slow as the pH will drop a tiny bit. Here is a great calculator that I use. http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html . You can select the product you plan to use but keep the increase small like maybe one unit and drip it in over a few hours time. I use Kalk with vinegar to get the most out of my calcium but you can use it without and there will not be as much calcium in the solution. When my Ca gets to 500-550 I stop using vinegar in my kalk and the Ca starts to come down. I DIY all my dosing agents. Here is some good info I found years back on thereeftank forum.
Alkalinity is less complicated than many think.
About 96% of alkalinity is comprised of carbonate (CO3) and bicarbonate (HCO3) – with about 3% boron and 1% consisting of a various chemicals including silicate, phosphates etc. The carbonate keeps PH from falling while the bicarbonate keeps PH from rising.
A simple way of thinking about these “buffers” is they act as a reservoir for hydrogen (acidic) ions. When carbonic acid (H2CO3) is formed by the interaction of carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H20) the carbonate (CO3) component of alkalinity absorbs the hydrogen ion converting itself into bicarbonate (HCO3). Conversely if a base/alkaline substance is introduced into the system the bicarbonate gives up its hydrogen atom and converts into carbonate. This giving and taking of hydrogen ions is what “buffers” and keeps PH stable in a tank.
Bicarbonate is simply baking soda. Carbonate is washing soda. Washing soda is baking soda that has been kept in an oven approximately 1 hr at 300 degrees to remove any moisture. This process effectively removes the Hydrogen (H+) from the bicarbonate.
You can readily make your own alkalinity additive - many reefers use a combination of baking soda/washing soda (often used in a ration of 6:1) – some reefers will add a minor amt. of boron as well which you can purchase at most grocery stores and is sold as Borate (20 mule team laundry additive).