Dkh/alkalinity

b_shady

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#1
What number do you prefer your DKH/Alkalinity and why? 8-12. Figured this would be fun to see what people say.:aqua::viking:
 
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#5
What number do you prefer your DKH/Alkalinity and why? 8-12. Figured this would be fun to see what people say.:aqua::viking:
We try to copy the ocean water parameter. Normally we keep them around 8-10 (Zeovit will be around 7.5) but I try to keep 8-8.5 since in this range I saw my corals always happy/healthy. The more low/high Alk you will get the risk of white stick (SPS).
 

Wes

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#6
calcification rates have been proven to increase with slightly higher than NSW levels of dKh (not with Ca, though). I keep mine at 10 unless I'm doing vodka or notice "burnt tips" and then I keep it 7-8.
 

Wes

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#8
IMO in any tank with a reasonable demand for ca/alk you should test alk weekly if not more often. How does vodka dosing increase alk? After adding ethanol (C2H5OH), is there a bacterial process that turns in into CO3 or does the hydroxide group just act in a similar way to Ca(OH)2? I can't imagine that a couple mLs of OH would really skew alk all that much, but there's plenty I :dontknow: about vodka dosing... I would also imagine that a higher bacterial load would increase CO2, and if you're using kalk that would certainly increase the efficiency of RXN OH + CO2--> HCO3, leading to higher alkalinity...


Vodka dosing will increase the ALK in your water. You should check your water weekly.
 

b_shady

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#9
Very nice guys keep the answers coming. I forgot to add my input i prefer to keep my alkalinity at 9-10. Maybe i should start vodka dosing like Reef Planet said. Which is the best? Grey goose, or Smirnoff, or Absolute? Lol i Hope people really dont try to dose their tank with vodka.
 

JOSE CASAS

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#14
Tony thats a new one vodka dosing will increase your Alk really? Link me up to this info as I have never heard of this. Oh and I keep mine at 9 but I would have to say 8-10 and I think the number is not as important as keeping it stable.
 

Wes

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#15
I've done vodka dosing on several tanks. My problem was always that I would forget a dose or two and not want to jump right back to full dosage. I don't have any great pics from when I was dosing on this computer. Somewhere I have a great series of my skimmer lid getting blown off the top. I also like to use vodka in a new tank, before I have any stock in there to help skip the nuisance algae blooms. For that it works wonders.

How long didi you dose vodka in your tank? Any pictures.
 
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#16
Yes, I noticed when I was dosed the Vodka, my Alk is increased it as well as one of my friend that got the same problem (all his chalice look terrible). All of my Chalice also are not healthy when I was dosing Vodka. Now we stop to use Vodka but we are dosing Brightwell stuffs (Brightwell Aquatics MicroBacter7, Brightwell Aquatics CoralAmino, Brightwell Aquatics KoralColor). all of my corals seem healthy and color up that including my chalice. Thanks to Mario (Mchava and Loc). All this stuffs are selling at Marine Depot.
http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_searchItem.aspx?SearchText=brightwell&parsed=1
 
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#17
Yes, I noticed when I was dosed the Vodka, my Alk is increased it as well as one of my friend that got the same problem (all his chalice look terrible). All of my Chalice also are not healthy when I was dosing Vodka. Now we stop to use Vodka but we are dosing Brightwell stuffs (Brightwell Aquatics MicroBacter7, Brightwell Aquatics CoralAmino, Brightwell Aquatics KoralColor). all of my corals seem healthy and color up that including my chalice. Thanks to Mario (Mchava and Loc). All this stuffs are selling at Marine Depot.
http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_searchItem.aspx?SearchText=brightwell&parsed=1
Why no Brightwell Biofuel? Thats their carbon source, you can use vodka instead. Are you going to do the brightwell zeolith stones also?

Im dosing brightwells aminos also its much cheaper than zeovit amino, I like it.

Whats your Phosphates at with your Hanna meter?
 

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#18
Correlation does not mean causation... Just because your (and your friend's) alk went up, it may not have been a direct cause of the carbon dosing. ie If you have mainly LPS and the bacteria is out-competing them for a food source(maybe dissolved organics?), you don't have as much growth and not as much alk uptake. Alk would be noticed much sooner than Ca since it's in such a lower quantity. anyway, that's just BS conjecture, but this hobby is VERY interdependent and it's very very difficult to say (especially without an identifiable chemical rxn/process) that A caused B. I for one have not seen an alk increase directly from dosing vodka, but I test very often and adjust dosing dynamically, so I can't say that empirically.
 
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