How do you guys know the initial dosage to start with?
Real simple.
1. Test all parameters you are dosing for.
2. Manually dose to get to your desired baseline, for example 450ppm CA, 1320ppm Mg and 9dKH.
3. Let the tank run for 5 days with out any dosing. Add NOTHING except top off water and food.
4. Test water again.
5. Take the delta divided by 5 to get the daily uptake for each trace you are going to dose. ie, if after 5 days Ca is now 400ppm from our start of 450ppm, daily uptake is 10ppm. (50/5=10)
6. Use BRS calculator or additive instruction to get amount to dose each day based on daily uptake.
7. Set up your doser to dose through out the day for best stability.
8. Alternate dosing times for Ca, Alk amd Mg to avoid precipitation.
9. Test weekly for Ca, Mg and ALK, biweekly for everything else. Adjust ml dosed up or down a tad to correct.
Uptake is not constant. Coral growth is not linear. There are growth spurts, adding new corals, coral die off, lots of variables. So weekly testing will keep you dialed in.
For example I dose:
Ca 12 times a day on the even hours.
ALK 12 times a day on the odd hours.
Mg twice a day at 12:30 am and 12:30 PM
I dose all other trace 6 times a day on the :20s and :40s (K, Sr, Mo, Mn, B, Br, Fe, I, Koralcolor, Acropower,
Phyto and Zoo at 2am with Skimmers off for 2 hours, twice weekly.
This keeps thing pretty darn stable through out the day.
