A guide to dosing?

[Letterkenny]

Hello all! My tank is up and running and doing well (LPS and softies). I have never dosed before and have only done water changes with past tanks but seems like I should start doing this to get my LPS to thrive. That said, looking for some advice in getting this going. Any specific brands that I should consider? Was planning on BRS and dosing alk/calc and mag.

My main concern: if I were to stop dosing for 2/3 weeks, would there be long term issues to my corals? My wife and I will go on 2 week dive trips at times and our pet sitter will feed the tank and keep the ATO reservoir topped. However, I do not want to risk over dosing the tank and nuking it. That said, I am leaning towards the Kamoer X1 as it will stay shut off in case on a power outage versus staying on and overdosing the tank. Essentially the 2/3 weeks is a worst case scenario assuming it were to reset at day 1 of a vacation but just wanted to make sure there wasn’t anything else to consider.

 

[Dempsey941]

I would make sure you need to dose before you start. Test your alk, calc, and mag before a water change and compare those results to some freshly made saltwater. Then you can see how much you need to make up over the period between water changes.

BRS’ two part has good reviews, I like using esv-bionic liquid 2 part. Use a reef calculator from brs or marine depot with your desired two part solution and see how much you actually have to dose of each solution.

 

[Nooooooooob1]

Like the first comment said, make sure you need to dose before you start dosing.
I have a 40 gallon with LPS and SPS that requires no extra dosing at all. Things are growing like crazy. All I have to do is regular water changes. I use the reef crystals salt and it has all the nutrients you need in it, at least in my experience.

 

[PatW]

As pointed out above, you may not need to dose.

But if dosing is necessary, you pet sitter can probably handle it.

Have them measure ALK at appropriate intervals. If the ALK is at say 8 dose nothing. If 7.8 dose a tbs alk and a tbs Ca. If 7.6 dose 2 tbs alk and 2 tbs Ca. The main thing is to use a test kit that is straight forward to use. The Hanna ALK checker is good for neophytes. And to have good instructions on how much to dose.

 

[Letterkenny]

As pointed out above, you may not need to dose.

But if dosing is necessary, you pet sitter can probably handle it.

Have them measure ALK at appropriate intervals. If the ALK is at say 8 dose nothing. If 7.8 dose a tbs alk and a tbs Ca. If 7.6 dose 2 tbs alk and 2 tbs Ca. The main thing is to use a test kit that is straight forward to use. The Hanna ALK checker is good for neophytes. And to have good instructions on how much to dose.

If I need to dose, I will definitely go for the automatic approach and get a doser. I have a Red Sea kit for alk right now but will need to get the calc and hanna all test kit to check the parameters more frequently. I use tropic Marin reef salt.

 

[C. Eymann]

If the pet sitter comes over everyday and is competent enough to fill two clear solo cups up to a line you marked and added one to the return side of the sump and the other to the overflow box /overflow side.
Id trust that over a doser.

If you go on dive tips often, I'd recommend getting a calcium reactor, it's the safest way of mineral replacement and its the most economical in the long run.

 

[Letterkenny]

Looks like I need to do some dosing. Just did a water change and my calcium is at ~425 which seems to be in the acceptable range but alkalinity is 6.4 which is too low (8.5 or so is the target, right?). My gut also as to why this is lower is that Tropic Marin Reef Pro has the alk at 8.0 so if I’m burning Alk, I will always be at a deficiency. That said, should I start dosing, dose to correct the imbalance and switch salts with higher alk?