03-17-2018, 11:24 PM
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#1 (permalink)
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Dallas, TX
Posts: 481
iTrader Positive Rating: 100% | Water management advice needed I switched to RO water a while back, and while I had ammonia issues initially (I guess because the chlorine is stripped from the chloramine, leaving the ammonia.) So I'm using Amquel in my RO storage tank and that seems to be fine.
I'm fertilizing with PPS Pro but haven't been reconstituting my water because it's not always clear how much water I change at a time. When I check with dip strips, I have a pretty high GH because of the magnesium sulfate in the PPS. But I'm also concerned that I'm not dosing any Calcium. So far, everything has been ok, but plants and shrimp need it. I can't add it to my PPS though because it reacts with potassium sulfate and precipitates out the calcium in a insoluble form. I assume I can dose it separately in the tank?
Meanwhile, KH is near zero. I'm dosing CO2 1hr before lights on to 1hr before lights off, no controller. I used controllers in the past, but they would dose at night which seemed wrong. When I was using tap water, my ph was always over 7. Now it's closer to 6 which is generally where I'd like it, and things seem happy and stable, but I don't know how much risk I'm taking by doing this. If I do dose, how much can I add without driving the ph up?
I like the liquid dosing format of PPS better than when I dry dosed EI, so I'd like to stick with that. Can I make a mix of calcium chloride and baking soda (or do they need to be separate) and dose that daily too?
Any advice? |
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