I have been dealing with high nitrates and PO4 for about a year. Got my ATS installed and it has fixed those problems. I currently have a fish only tank with live rock, since most all my corals died off. If want to add SPS and LPS corals soon, and was wondering what I can and cant dose with an ATS. I have heard that Kalk and ATS do not work well together. What additives should I use to keep calcium and alkalinity up without killing off the ATS?
The algae will get at least a good portion of its co2 for photosynthesis from the bicarbonates in the water. So you'll need to keep a good eye on your alkalinity levels. Dosing kalkwasser is not recommended as far as dripping it straight into a macroalgae refugium, or in our case, upstream of a lit algae scrubber because it limits availability of CO2. Dosing it into the sump, after an algae scrubber, & just near the return pump is probably ok. I'm experimenting with this at the moment. Apparently some people find the scrubber removes potassium from the water. I have not experienced this myself, but you can get a test kit to check on it. If you do this keep a solution of clean tank water as a calibration fluid to check the consistency of the potassium test kit over time. I use the Salifert test kit & found the result changed over time. Some people dose iron supplement as well as its a limiting nutrient for algae. The food you feed the fish will add iron also.
This is a good tip, but instead of tank water, wouldn't a solution of just potassium be better? Something that is just RODI and potassium, tank water might have something that would affect the stability of the solution over time. I take it that this was the reference sample you are referring to? Could have been sample drift too if it was tank water or even freshly mixed saltwater. Bacterial colony growth over time, algae growth if it was exposed to light (in suspension, etc)...in a very small sample, I think that is a possibility. Would like to know more about this topic.
Yeh, a potassium sample would be great. I used nsw as a calibration fluid. Very good source so i have no doubt the test kit changed.
