Great conversation, as usual!! I think that Mr Dorrat speaks with absolutes about anecdotal information making him sound like he is an expert chemist when in reality he is guessing like the rest of us 😂. The reality is that people run great systems with Kalk and Soda ash.
No, I am not a chemist, I don't need to be, I am a coral farmer. Also, I am not guessing.. I have worked with corals for many years in a commercial farm and have experienced more than most. I do have evidence, plenty of it. I have consulted on more than 2000 ICPs tests and see the problems on a weekly basis, the Fauna Lab has the biggest body of ICP data with more than 200,000 tests. We also have plenty of cited , peer reviewed research that is used to confirm our conclusions, we spend a lot of time on this. Yes you can run a great system on soda ash (and kalk) but I am trying to make people aware there are side effects that do eventually catch up with you. Kalk is a great example.. with a calcium reactor it works fine as long as it is used in moderation, dose it alongside soda ash and expect trouble later on. Still think we are guessing?
@@fragfarmltd It is clear that you have a lot of experience and access to a tremendous amount of quality information and I think that what you shared is valuable. I think the part we don't understand is the mechanism by which "old tank syndrome" or tank failure happens from using Kalkwasser or Soda ash. You would need to be a chemist to explain such a process, and we simply don't have that information. When you look at aquarists like Reef Bum who is exceptional Acropora keeper and who uses Kalkwasser, or for that Matter Adam from Frag Garag as well it clear that the theoretical understanding we have of the topic isn't a rule and therefore at best a theory. Does that make sence?
@@davbenav No, sorry, I don't accept this. Just because I chose not to pursue an academic path into chemistry does not mean that you can not learn the subject, this is a ludicrous notion. I am educated to an advanced level in chemistry, I chose not to get a degree in this subject because I could not see the point. Most of the people I have worked with in my career, the real experts, often do not have the academic qualifications in their field. You are also making the assumption that a qualification in chemistry somehow gives a full understanding of what is going on in a reef tank, this is simply not true.. in fact its nonsense, there are a few reefers with high qualifications in chemistry who are masquerading as reefing experts.. those who actually work in farms see right through them because they can only give you theories from text books for how the chemistry works in a test tube in a laboratory, reef tanks quite often don't work the way you expect because of the interactions of the plethora of compounds in the water. When it comes to explanations of 'old tank syndrome' we have decades of experience where we have seen the conditions where it happens and we have the ICPs to reinforce our understanding, this is not just a theoretical explanation. If you listen to what I am saying in the podcast we have extremely good evidence that explains how old tank syndrome comes about and how the dosing of high pH solutions can eventually lead to the old tank syndrome outcome. Claude (Fauna Marin) and I both have personal experience of this in our own farms.
@@fragfarmltd Can you show us evidence of your theory on old tank syndrome? Are we supposed to just take your word on it? If you have good evidence then lets see it in writing, clearly and supported by peer reviewed data, otherwise these are just anecdotal evidence.
@fragfarmltd Experience is valuable, but making up science is not. The issue is that both you here, and Claude (very) often present opinions and observations as established facts or scientific discoveries when they’re largely assumptions based on your own observations, biased or not. For example, in this video, you reference corals as being "immune" and offer mechanisms that seem like pure conjecture. The conjecture is fine, but offering it as settled fact is not. I’m open to following advice based on experience and an honest "we’re not sure, but this seems beneficial." But don’t blow smoke up peoples behinds and create unsupported scientific explanations that suggest it’s some kind of magic a trained chemist or biologist wouldn’t understand. Worse, don't use that crap as the foundation to peddle products and content monetization.
Adam - I love your podcast and it is my favorite source of reefing information. I think it would be safe to say that a large portion of the episodes / advice on your channel is specifically discussing systems that are growing corals to sell. Generally, this seems like the best advice for everyone to follow as these are the people making money off growing corals. But I do wonder how much of the advice would change if it was aimed at the hobbyist trying to keep a nice Display Tank in their house. Possibly it’s an episode idea: comparing and contrasting advice for the home DT vs advice for the coral growing business.
Joe Yaiullo not only doses kalk, he doses slurry. Long Island Aquarium has the most incredible exhibit anywhere, it rivals nature. Can't argue his success using kalk.
It's definitely a good question. I personally think the growth happens towards the second half of the photoperiod, but I will dig for more information or find a guest who knows for sure.
@@fraggarage5922probably the same way that plants do. They absorb the nutrients and sunlight during the day and it’s when the plant can “rest” they can actually use the products of photosynthesis to produce new growth. I think coral are like a hybrid between plants and animals considering their relationship with the Dino’s inside them. Same thing with skincare. I use all my products before I go to bed but our bodies heal and fix issues when we are actually resting. I’d love to hear the science behind it though so good luck finding a guest! 😝. Keep up the awesome work
Loved every single BTR episode. But this one was a complete waste of time lol Get Dong on. He has the best explanations about what Kh. We assume KH swing is bad because It jumps when ur tank is doing bad because corals stop consuming KH. So when you test when your tank doing bad of course the KH would be high.
Fascinating content, have we got it wrong all these years, re alk stability and dosing, or is this an incremental step forward in our understanding. Well done thanks guys.
Im still waiting for an explaination to the problem that Fauna Marins Alk dosing instructions are configured to carbonate, not bicarbonate. This leads folk into thinking they are dosing a lot more Alk than they actually are, which is not good in quite a few ways.
I’ve been doing the bolus method for 20 years I dump my bicarbonate in the morning before I leave for the day it is between 1 and 3 dkh per day I guess the old way is the new way
It seems like Adam was pressured into this due to his connection with Fauna Marin, and honestly, Doug Dorrat’s comments are baffling. The idea that pests like flatworms or white bugs are actually symbionts is just mind-blowing in all the wrong ways. If someone’s going to make such bold claims, why not back them up with solid evidence? Where are the videos or pictures of the farm? I think we all know why they’re missing.
FM doesn't dictate anything anything I do on the podcast.. Claude said "I have no rules". Take or leave what you wish from this convo. I think Doug's point about pests is that if the coral has everything it needs for optimal health, these things can co-exist, as they do in nature.. That said, the ocean has a much better diversity of natural pest control vs our tanks. 'Symbiotic' would definitely not be the right term, I agree.
@@fraggarage5922I don’t agree with the tone and assumptions of the OP. That said, I think it would be good to disclose at the beginning of the episode whether Doug and FM/Claude have any financial affiliation/relationship whatsoever (assuming you know, or if you don’t know, tell us that and Doug can share if he would like). I think either answer to that question is something that a rational viewer would want to know and would take into consideration when watching the episode.
@@timjohnson3913 Dear Tim Why he should if there is no We do not pay anything to Adam or to Doug the only thing i do is that i take time with them to support and help. Adam as also Doug have to buy their products at the distributor as any other costumer also. We have only 2 sponsorships with. ReefBum and Neythrop which are also officially claimed there. We show and provide a methode , everybody is free to use or not or try to understand what we work out and discuss about new knowledge. We provide this knowledge for free based on our nearby 40 years of work, as a marketleader in europe and the company doing the most ICP Tests worldwide with a over 200k Tests Database and professonial Ai data analysis.
So the £65 ICP MS tests on the market actually use OES for the majority of the results? The £35 extra is just for a select few minor trace element results in a greater resolution. Interesting! Had never seen this mentioned before!
HI! I have not seen the Video, but out ICP-MS test has all the "ICP-Parameters" measured by ICP-MS. Parameters that can only be measured by Ion chromatography or can be better measured by Ion Chromatography (compared to ICP techniques) are measured on the Ion Chromatography machines. Only the "RO water check" is measured on the OES machine. Could you please point out the timestamp of the video? Best regards, Christoph
But what is the ideal (or better)nitrate reducing method then other than water changes ? (for those who need additional help and water changes are not enough) because Algae reactor or refugium are bad because of toxins and carbon dosing of any other similar method reduces pH and adding Kalk to combat that isn't ideal, then what is the better way to approach maintain low level of nitrate, phosphate and also keep other parameters in healthy range ?
I have more than 30 tanks running refugiums and never had any issue. On very special tanks I am running full Triton method and I have all kind of sps, but some montiporas are more than 70cm ...and these tanks are more than 7 years old... so this story about algea toxins is bullshit. Other is bacteria, which is even worse....
Perhaps keep the refugium, but grow a fast growing soft coral there instead of algae? Alternatively, more coral mass and especially fast growing corals in the display tank will soak up nitrate.
Very confusing. He never gets to the solution. Seems we just need to lower the level of H+ in the water versus inside the coral making it easy to eject the H+ from the coral. How do we do that simply?
I would be curious if there are more reports of kalk working...until it doesn't.. I believe I am experiencing this in my main system, so I may make some changes and of course update/discuss on the podcast.
@@fraggarage5922 isn't there a world where you can combine both??lol I have been dosing kalk at night and Bolus in the morning. Everything is looking wonderful.
@SahinurUK Thanks, buddy! For the record. I have tested the bolus method stans alone and sure the Alk in the morning didn't shoot up after the big dose, but my PH over all tanked. I was running 8.4 ph constantly before, and with Bolus, it was going down to 7.7 PH!!!!! My growth and color was not good while I was doing Bolus on its own. I stopped it and went back to Kalkwasser and everything rebounded. Now here is where I thought of utilizing the bolus method in conjuction with Kalk: I dose Kalk at night as my man source of Alkalinity and Calcium since the beginning of time, I also started incorporating dosing trace elements ( moonshine) during the day. So what I did is I backed out a little on Kalkwasser dosage at night so instead of pegging the PH at 8.4 at night I brought it down to 8.29 PH. Now I can compensate in the morning with a bolus dose for the difference of the Alkalinity i needed to stay at my target value. When PH=8.29 my KH fluctuates between 8dkh and 8.4dkh. When dosing Bolus in the morning, that adds another 0.5DKH . So I keep the dkh at around 8.5dkh and 8.9dkh while maintaining a PH of 8.29 at night and up to 8.4 during the day ( natural PH rise of photosynthesis) The only reason I did all this so I can do this technically a 3 part with trace elements so I can ditch the moonshiners method. Win win in my book. Hope this was helpful.
There’s always one. If I do what he said we would be moving backwards. I get substantial amount of growth and coloration because of my stable alkalinity. We have moved so much forward this kind of “ideology” would move us backward. Look, I don’t know where you’re getting your info, but what you’re saying about alkalinity, pH, and polyp extension is way off. Reefing isn’t about random opinions-it’s about proven, consistent care practices that keep our corals healthy. If you actually want to understand how to manage these things, there’s plenty of solid information out there. But don’t spread misconceptions that can mess up someone else’s tank.
How did you come up with the conclusion that your coral growth is in anyway related to stable alkalinity. What scale are you using for stability is it weekly daily hourly by the second fractions of a second. Your scale is surely different than the animals in your system stability in your eyes may not be so stable at a smaller scale same way at a larger scale If you dose once a day the rest of the day is much more stable than dosing every hour or so causing a fluctuation each time
@@weaver3481 I understand the question about what scale of stability we’re using, but when we talk about stable alkalinity in reef aquariums, we’re referring to maintaining levels within a narrow range to avoid large fluctuations that corals, particularly SPS corals like Acropora, are sensitive to. This has been proven over time by many experienced hobbyists, myself included, who’ve seen the direct correlation between stable alkalinity and improved coral growth and health. The idea that dosing once a day might seem “more stable” because it’s less frequent doesn’t hold up if you think about the fluctuations that occur between doses. A large, single dose causes a significant spike in alkalinity, followed by a gradual decline until the next dose. That’s actually a bigger fluctuation than dosing more frequently in smaller amounts, which keeps alkalinity more stable throughout the day. From my experience, and from what many in the reefing community have found, frequent, smaller doses smooth out those peaks and valleys. This mimics the natural, stable conditions of a reef much better than a single large dose. Corals don’t just respond to what happens over the course of a day or week, they respond to the environment on much shorter timescales, and even small swings in alkalinity can stress them out, leading to slower growth, tissue recession, or worse. Ultimately, stability isn’t just about minimizing overall change over a long period but reducing short-term fluctuations. And this has been a key factor in the success many hobbyists and I have seen with thriving, vibrant reefs.
It doesn’t “spike” like you would assume it does go up initially but plateau at a much lower reading than the amount you actually add and stays at that level for many hours while everything is photosynthesising . It is very odd how it works but having a completely flat stable alk reading throughout that entire critical time is a much more “stable “ than fluctuating every hour or so .
@@o_9211 pH plus is sodium hydroxide and precipitates like a champ. Hence their new H2P nonsense! Essentially an admition of this bundled with the completely incorrect statement of controlling pH and Alk independently, which is simply not possible. Give Bolus a shot, I'm 8 months in now and it's been phenomenal
Great conversation, as usual!!
I think that Mr Dorrat speaks with absolutes about anecdotal information making him sound like he is an expert chemist when in reality he is guessing like the rest of us 😂. The reality is that people run great systems with Kalk and Soda ash.
No, I am not a chemist, I don't need to be, I am a coral farmer. Also, I am not guessing.. I have worked with corals for many years in a commercial farm and have experienced more than most. I do have evidence, plenty of it. I have consulted on more than 2000 ICPs tests and see the problems on a weekly basis, the Fauna Lab has the biggest body of ICP data with more than 200,000 tests. We also have plenty of cited , peer reviewed research that is used to confirm our conclusions, we spend a lot of time on this. Yes you can run a great system on soda ash (and kalk) but I am trying to make people aware there are side effects that do eventually catch up with you. Kalk is a great example.. with a calcium reactor it works fine as long as it is used in moderation, dose it alongside soda ash and expect trouble later on. Still think we are guessing?
@@fragfarmltd It is clear that you have a lot of experience and access to a tremendous amount of quality information and I think that what you shared is valuable. I think the part we don't understand is the mechanism by which "old tank syndrome" or tank failure happens from using Kalkwasser or Soda ash. You would need to be a chemist to explain such a process, and we simply don't have that information. When you look at aquarists like Reef Bum who is exceptional Acropora keeper and who uses Kalkwasser, or for that Matter Adam from Frag Garag as well it clear that the theoretical understanding we have of the topic isn't a rule and therefore at best a theory. Does that make sence?
@@davbenav No, sorry, I don't accept this. Just because I chose not to pursue an academic path into chemistry does not mean that you can not learn the subject, this is a ludicrous notion. I am educated to an advanced level in chemistry, I chose not to get a degree in this subject because I could not see the point. Most of the people I have worked with in my career, the real experts, often do not have the academic qualifications in their field. You are also making the assumption that a qualification in chemistry somehow gives a full understanding of what is going on in a reef tank, this is simply not true.. in fact its nonsense, there are a few reefers with high qualifications in chemistry who are masquerading as reefing experts.. those who actually work in farms see right through them because they can only give you theories from text books for how the chemistry works in a test tube in a laboratory, reef tanks quite often don't work the way you expect because of the interactions of the plethora of compounds in the water. When it comes to explanations of 'old tank syndrome' we have decades of experience where we have seen the conditions where it happens and we have the ICPs to reinforce our understanding, this is not just a theoretical explanation. If you listen to what I am saying in the podcast we have extremely good evidence that explains how old tank syndrome comes about and how the dosing of high pH solutions can eventually lead to the old tank syndrome outcome. Claude (Fauna Marin) and I both have personal experience of this in our own farms.
@@fragfarmltd Can you show us evidence of your theory on old tank syndrome? Are we supposed to just take your word on it? If you have good evidence then lets see it in writing, clearly and supported by peer reviewed data, otherwise these are just anecdotal evidence.
@fragfarmltd Experience is valuable, but making up science is not. The issue is that both you here, and Claude (very) often present opinions and observations as established facts or scientific discoveries when they’re largely assumptions based on your own observations, biased or not.
For example, in this video, you reference corals as being "immune" and offer mechanisms that seem like pure conjecture. The conjecture is fine, but offering it as settled fact is not.
I’m open to following advice based on experience and an honest "we’re not sure, but this seems beneficial." But don’t blow smoke up peoples behinds and create unsupported scientific explanations that suggest it’s some kind of magic a trained chemist or biologist wouldn’t understand. Worse, don't use that crap as the foundation to peddle products and content monetization.
Adam - I love your podcast and it is my favorite source of reefing information. I think it would be safe to say that a large portion of the episodes / advice on your channel is specifically discussing systems that are growing corals to sell. Generally, this seems like the best advice for everyone to follow as these are the people making money off growing corals. But I do wonder how much of the advice would change if it was aimed at the hobbyist trying to keep a nice Display Tank in their house. Possibly it’s an episode idea: comparing and contrasting advice for the home DT vs advice for the coral growing business.
Yeah, that’s totally valid! This is why I plan to do more tank/hobbyist feature series videos.. definitely open to suggestions.. cheers
Joe Yaiullo not only doses kalk, he doses slurry. Long Island Aquarium has the most incredible exhibit anywhere, it rivals nature. Can't argue his success using kalk.
New drop!! Behind the reef is my favorite reefing podcast that helps me get through my work day lol.
Sometimes a fan on top of the tank makes the water evaporate too fast. The Auto top off is adding too much fresh water and the salinity goes down.
If corals do their deposition at night, why is my alk consumption three times higher during the day?
It's definitely a good question. I personally think the growth happens towards the second half of the photoperiod, but I will dig for more information or find a guest who knows for sure.
@@fraggarage5922probably the same way that plants do. They absorb the nutrients and sunlight during the day and it’s when the plant can “rest” they can actually use the products of photosynthesis to produce new growth.
I think coral are like a hybrid between plants and animals considering their relationship with the Dino’s inside them.
Same thing with skincare. I use all my products before I go to bed but our bodies heal and fix issues when we are actually resting.
I’d love to hear the science behind it though so good luck finding a guest! 😝.
Keep up the awesome work
Loved every single BTR episode. But this one was a complete waste of time lol Get Dong on. He has the best explanations about what Kh. We assume KH swing is bad because It jumps when ur tank is doing bad because corals stop consuming KH. So when you test when your tank doing bad of course the KH would be high.
@@hoandinh8891 that’s fair! I’d definitely like to get Dong on at some point! Next episode is Golden State Corals and then probably Golden Basket :)
Finally a new drop !! Lol. You should be doing these twice a week. Nice work Adam!
hahah I'll try to stick to twice a month at the very least!
Fascinating content, have we got it wrong all these years, re alk stability and dosing, or is this an incremental step forward in our understanding.
Well done thanks guys.
I could listen to Doug all day. Great episode!!!
Im still waiting for an explaination to the problem that Fauna Marins Alk dosing instructions are configured to carbonate, not bicarbonate. This leads folk into thinking they are dosing a lot more Alk than they actually are, which is not good in quite a few ways.
Is that why when I make their Alk they say 100ml will raise my dkh by 1.0 but in reality it’s like 0.6.
@@lintonjhyes, there are a few issues with Fauna marin
Happy Friday!
I’ve been doing the bolus method for 20 years
I dump my bicarbonate in the morning before I leave for the day it is between 1 and 3 dkh per day I guess the old way is the new way
Exactly. It's a new 'old' method. The difference is our understanding of how the minor and trace elements are used with the Bolus dose.
It seems like Adam was pressured into this due to his connection with Fauna Marin, and honestly, Doug Dorrat’s comments are baffling. The idea that pests like flatworms or white bugs are actually symbionts is just mind-blowing in all the wrong ways.
If someone’s going to make such bold claims, why not back them up with solid evidence? Where are the videos or pictures of the farm? I think we all know why they’re missing.
FM doesn't dictate anything anything I do on the podcast.. Claude said "I have no rules". Take or leave what you wish from this convo.
I think Doug's point about pests is that if the coral has everything it needs for optimal health, these things can co-exist, as they do in nature.. That said, the ocean has a much better diversity of natural pest control vs our tanks. 'Symbiotic' would definitely not be the right term, I agree.
@@fraggarage5922I don’t agree with the tone and assumptions of the OP. That said, I think it would be good to disclose at the beginning of the episode whether Doug and FM/Claude have any financial affiliation/relationship whatsoever (assuming you know, or if you don’t know, tell us that and Doug can share if he would like). I think either answer to that question is something that a rational viewer would want to know and would take into consideration when watching the episode.
@@timjohnson3913 Dear Tim Why he should if there is no We do not pay anything to Adam or to Doug the only thing i do is that i take time with them to support and help. Adam as also Doug have to buy their products at the distributor as any other costumer also. We have only 2 sponsorships with. ReefBum and Neythrop which are also officially claimed there. We show and provide a methode , everybody is free to use or not or try to understand what we work out and discuss about new knowledge. We provide this knowledge for free based on our nearby 40 years of work, as a marketleader in europe and the company doing the most ICP Tests worldwide with a over 200k Tests Database and professonial Ai data analysis.
Take what you want and discard the rest
Just like with BRS
Stunning corals in the background video, just wondering who’s they are, frag farm?
@@davidturner3461 thanks! Those are mine.. didn’t have any time to get anything from Doug..
So the £65 ICP MS tests on the market actually use OES for the majority of the results? The £35 extra is just for a select few minor trace element results in a greater resolution. Interesting! Had never seen this mentioned before!
HI! I have not seen the Video, but out ICP-MS test has all the "ICP-Parameters" measured by ICP-MS. Parameters that can only be measured by Ion chromatography or can be better measured by Ion Chromatography (compared to ICP techniques) are measured on the Ion Chromatography machines. Only the "RO water check" is measured on the OES machine. Could you please point out the timestamp of the video? Best regards, Christoph
@@Oceamo1:27:00
@@Oceamothanks for sharing that Christoph, my point was that there is a misconception that the entire test is achieved with MS.
I've ran cheato for 15 years. I find it the most reliable way to export nutrients and raise ph at night.
Yes, so did I. Then I started to understand more about the side effects. If you regularly water change then you are going to be diluting the nasties.
Is there a video link on the method use of dosing? Bolus method thanks.
www.faunamarin.de/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/BOLUS_EN_How-To-Use_24_05_24__.pdf
we also did a stream on it: ruclips.net/user/liveTIFv53tOAnM?si=de2zNXUw-fojDtGq
But what is the ideal (or better)nitrate reducing method then other than water changes ? (for those who need additional help and water changes are not enough)
because Algae reactor or refugium are bad because of toxins and carbon dosing of any other similar method reduces pH and adding Kalk to combat that isn't ideal, then what is the better way to approach maintain low level of nitrate, phosphate and also keep other parameters in healthy range ?
I have more than 30 tanks running refugiums and never had any issue. On very special tanks I am running full Triton method and I have all kind of sps, but some montiporas are more than 70cm ...and these tanks are more than 7 years old... so this story about algea toxins is bullshit. Other is bacteria, which is even worse....
Perhaps keep the refugium, but grow a fast growing soft coral there instead of algae? Alternatively, more coral mass and especially fast growing corals in the display tank will soak up nitrate.
Very confusing. He never gets to the solution. Seems we just need to lower the level of H+ in the water versus inside the coral making it easy to eject the H+ from the coral. How do we do that simply?
So this cannot be done with afr?
Well dang it, kalk is the only way I can keep my pH above 8!!!
your tank is addicted!
I would be curious if there are more reports of kalk working...until it doesn't.. I believe I am experiencing this in my main system, so I may make some changes and of course update/discuss on the podcast.
@@fraggarage5922 isn't there a world where you can combine both??lol
I have been dosing kalk at night and Bolus in the morning. Everything is looking wonderful.
@@YazannreefYour corals look great.
@SahinurUK Thanks, buddy!
For the record. I have tested the bolus method stans alone and sure the Alk in the morning didn't shoot up after the big dose, but my PH over all tanked. I was running 8.4 ph constantly before, and with Bolus, it was going down to 7.7 PH!!!!! My growth and color was not good while I was doing Bolus on its own.
I stopped it and went back to Kalkwasser and everything rebounded.
Now here is where I thought of utilizing the bolus method in conjuction with Kalk:
I dose Kalk at night as my man source of Alkalinity and Calcium since the beginning of time, I also started incorporating dosing trace elements ( moonshine) during the day. So what I did is I backed out a little on Kalkwasser dosage at night so instead of pegging the PH at 8.4 at night I brought it down to 8.29 PH. Now I can compensate in the morning with a bolus dose for the difference of the Alkalinity i needed to stay at my target value.
When PH=8.29 my KH fluctuates between 8dkh and 8.4dkh.
When dosing Bolus in the morning, that adds another 0.5DKH .
So I keep the dkh at around 8.5dkh and 8.9dkh while maintaining a PH of 8.29 at night and up to 8.4 during the day ( natural PH rise of photosynthesis)
The only reason I did all this so I can do this technically a 3 part with trace elements so I can ditch the moonshiners method.
Win win in my book.
Hope this was helpful.
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
There’s always one. If I do what he said we would be moving backwards. I get substantial amount of growth and coloration because of my stable alkalinity. We have moved so much forward this kind of “ideology” would move us backward.
Look, I don’t know where you’re getting your info, but what you’re saying about alkalinity, pH, and polyp extension is way off. Reefing isn’t about random opinions-it’s about proven, consistent care practices that keep our corals healthy. If you actually want to understand how to manage these things, there’s plenty of solid information out there. But don’t spread misconceptions that can mess up someone else’s tank.
How did you come up with the conclusion that your coral growth is in anyway related to stable alkalinity. What scale are you using for stability is it weekly daily hourly by the second fractions of a second. Your scale is surely different than the animals in your system stability in your eyes may not be so stable at a smaller scale same way at a larger scale If you dose once a day the rest of the day is much more stable than dosing every hour or so causing a fluctuation each time
@@weaver3481 I understand the question about what scale of stability we’re using, but when we talk about stable alkalinity in reef aquariums, we’re referring to maintaining levels within a narrow range to avoid large fluctuations that corals, particularly SPS corals like Acropora, are sensitive to. This has been proven over time by many experienced hobbyists, myself included, who’ve seen the direct correlation between stable alkalinity and improved coral growth and health.
The idea that dosing once a day might seem “more stable” because it’s less frequent doesn’t hold up if you think about the fluctuations that occur between doses. A large, single dose causes a significant spike in alkalinity, followed by a gradual decline until the next dose. That’s actually a bigger fluctuation than dosing more frequently in smaller amounts, which keeps alkalinity more stable throughout the day.
From my experience, and from what many in the reefing community have found, frequent, smaller doses smooth out those peaks and valleys. This mimics the natural, stable conditions of a reef much better than a single large dose. Corals don’t just respond to what happens over the course of a day or week, they respond to the environment on much shorter timescales, and even small swings in alkalinity can stress them out, leading to slower growth, tissue recession, or worse.
Ultimately, stability isn’t just about minimizing overall change over a long period but reducing short-term fluctuations. And this has been a key factor in the success many hobbyists and I have seen with thriving, vibrant reefs.
It doesn’t “spike” like you would assume it does go up initially but plateau at a much lower reading than the amount you actually add and stays at that level for many hours while everything is photosynthesising . It is very odd how it works but having a completely flat stable alk reading throughout that entire critical time is a much more “stable “ than fluctuating every hour or so .
By far the worst episode so far - and this has nothing to do with Adam. Misleading or half truths. Insulting to science and intellectuals alike.
Doug is simply chock full of more crap than a chicken farm. but is it his fault that he wants to be just like Claude?
Great episode. Would be nice to hear how bolus compares to DDs Phplus system
@@o_9211 pH plus is sodium hydroxide and precipitates like a champ. Hence their new H2P nonsense! Essentially an admition of this bundled with the completely incorrect statement of controlling pH and Alk independently, which is simply not possible.
Give Bolus a shot, I'm 8 months in now and it's been phenomenal