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Chasing Stable Alk - APEX Alk Test Every Hour For Over 24 Hours


TheClark

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7 hours ago, TheClark said:

I do, but the chaeto all vaporized 😂 

So now its just a very brightly lit empty fuge.

 

Glad I'm not the only one. 

If my corals crashed as often as my chaeto does, I think I'd have left the hobby long ago. It goes through boom/bust cycles in most of my tanks, and I cant figure it out. I've tried dosing iron etc, nothing helps. 

I always just grab some from one of my other tanks and transfer it over to restart the chaeto. So far this has worked but if all my chaeto ever crashes at once I'm gonna be screwwwed.

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Update for anyone interested, or just my online ramblings...

Back to tests every six hours.

Decent results so far, over the last 48 hours 0.13 variation.  Now to hold that for a week/month/year...

 

 

image.png

 

You can see the nightly pre-planned shut offs (small phCRE bumps), and the big corrections that occur when alk goes too high (large phCRE bumps).

 

image.png

 

 

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35 minutes ago, TheClark said:

Seems to be working.  Alk is more stable with a nightly 2 hour CR shut off.  Here is Tues-Friday this week:

Would you mind summarizing the situation, and how you've setup control.

  • Time light turn on & turn off
  • Time you turn CR off & on
  • any additional reactive CR off/on cycles (if Alk > X, turn CR off for Y hrs??   anything like this)
  • CR pH control algorithm (simple turn on/off the gas based on CR pH?  Or anything else)
  • Is anything setup to react to trident Alk, (or Ca) readings?
  • How often, and what times, is the trident taking readings
  • (If it's easier to paste some Apex code snippets, that's fine)

Just trying to compare your results and settings to how my tank is setup.

Thanks

 

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1 hour ago, obrien.david.j said:

Would you mind summarizing the situation, and how you've setup control.

  • Time light turn on & turn off
  • Time you turn CR off & on
  • any additional reactive CR off/on cycles (if Alk > X, turn CR off for Y hrs??   anything like this)
  • CR pH control algorithm (simple turn on/off the gas based on CR pH?  Or anything else)
  • Is anything setup to react to trident Alk, (or Ca) readings?
  • How often, and what times, is the trident taking readings
  • (If it's easier to paste some Apex code snippets, that's fine)

Just trying to compare your results and settings to how my tank is setup.

Thanks

 

 

Good summary questions, hope the answers are helpful.  This is a live experiment, sharing FWIW...

 

  • Time light turn on & turn off (12-9)
  • Time you turn CR off & on (turns off for 2 hours ever night from 1-3)
  • any additional reactive CR off/on cycles (if Alk > X, turn CR off for Y hrs??   anything like this) (automatically turns off if alk is above 8.53)
  • CR pH control algorithm (simple turn on/off the gas based on CR pH?  Or anything else) (Simple based on effluent reactor PH with the guard above)
  • Is anything setup to react to trident Alk, (or Ca) readings? (Yes, the CR solenoid turns off if alk is high, see above)
  • How often, and what times, is the trident taking readings (Every six hours, the minimum allowed)
  • (If it's easier to paste some Apex code snippets, that's fine)
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  • 2 weeks later...

Just thought I would post an update.

After all this chasing stability, my CR and the demand is naturally in balance now.  The CR has not had to be shut off for an entire week and the tank is holding a super tight DKH.

0.11 variance over three days and I suppose 12 tests...  That has to be considered stable alk!

So ultimately this is the goal, to have a very slowly increasing alk with corrections once a week or less.  Right now she is dialed in, and APEX will keep an eye on things if they get outta hand.

 

image.png

 

 

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