Dosing 6 Gallon Tank

[Mendozau89]

Hi Reef2Reef.

I have 65 gallon display tank that’s doing great and will eventually need to frag some coral to control growth.
I’ve set up a 6 gallon 96 piece frag tank and was wondering if it was too much to add a 2 head Red Sea dosing pump to keep alk and cal on check?
Assuming I have about 25 to 50 frags is this a good idea, necessary, or is it too much and will weekly water changes keep it stable?
Anything helps.
Also, I just manually poured 5 ml of alk into the tank as it tested 5.7 and the water completely white now, but tank is still empty so not too worried, please let me know if I should be.
Thank you.

 

[Lavey29]

I wouldn't think a 6g frag tank would need anything expect weekly water changes and if it did a simple hand dose in between water changes maybe. Did you add alk and cal close together resulting in white cloud in water?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

There’s nothing wrong with a dosing pump in any size tank, as long as it can dose lower than the daily evaporation. You can dilute the additives, if necessary, to get good dosing.

 

[Mendozau89]

I wouldn't think a 6g frag tank would need anything expect weekly water changes and if it did a simple hand dose in between water changes maybe. Did you add alk and cal close together resulting in white cloud in water?

Understood.
I’d say I was asking primarily because since it’s only a 6 gallon tank I thought maybe once it had a few frags alk and cal would deplete quickly due to small size. But if weekly water changes should
do it Il try that out first.
As for when I dosed the alk and the cal today, yes, I dosed about 2ml of cal and 5 or 10 ml of alk a couple minutes after.
The white debris seems to be settling Il probably have to manually brush it off pump and what not.

 

[Lavey29]

Understood.
I’d say I was asking primarily because since it’s only a 6 gallon tank I thought maybe once it had a few frags alk and cal would deplete quickly due to small size. But if weekly water changes should
do it Il try that out first.
As for when I dosed the alk and the cal today, yes, I dosed about 2ml of cal and 5 or 10 ml of alk a couple minutes after.
The white debris seems to be settling Il probably have to manually brush it off pump and what not.

May depend also on the types of frags. Softs don't consume alk so just LPS and primarily SPS. Coupled with how long you expect to leave the frags in there? Now if it is extended and the frags start looking like mini colonies then maybe a 2 head doser may be beneficial. I use the red sea 2 head doser and it works great. You can't dose alk and calcium close together or you get precipitation. At least 30 minutes apart but hour is better.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I would not make assumptions about the alk and calcium consumption, but just measure it.

 

[bossman818]

Weekly Water changes only is all that’s needed.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Weekly Water changes only is all that’s needed.

Frag tanks can have pretty high alk demand if packed with corals.

 

[bossman818]

Yeah I agree. I just don’t think you can fit enough coral in a 6 gallon where dosing is required. I have a 5 gallon full of coral and I don’t dose. Weekly water changes and tank thrives.

 

[Cali Reef Life]

I do bi weekly water changes 10% water change in a 10 gallon about 20ish frags in there. About 10 of mine are sps.Biggest issue is salinity. Also have a large rock in there for biological needs. If your trying to keep them log term dosing pump could be worth it just depends on demand. Mine our there just for qt.