Dosing help

jdpeters · Oct 11, 2018

so I have been testing daily. I do a once weekly 10 percent water change. My calcium seems to be holding between 390-410. Alk goes down steadily .1 dkh a day. I can’t seem to get over 1275 and tested at 1200 hundred a day. This is after dosing 20 ml of brightwell magnesion 2 days ago.
I think my tanks consumption is rather little it being a softy lps tank. No corraline hardly and it’s 2.5 years old. I bought two little fishies cbalance part a and b. I don’t know how to figure out how much I would need.
Thanks for the constant feedback and guidance guys!

saltyfilmfolks · Oct 11, 2018

Have you used this ?
http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html

Are you auto dosing ?

ndrwater · Oct 11, 2018

Look at the calculator in the Bulk Reef Supply website. It allows for some basic calculation for 2 part dosing

jdpeters · Oct 11, 2018

When I started testing my alk was like 6 dkh super low. I tried brightwell power 2 part but it wasn’t mixing well. I got my alk up to 8.1 but is a loss of .1 day worth daily dosing? Calculator says to dose 2.8 mil of two little fishies. Should I dose about that much daily then and see what it maintains on that much over the course of a week or two?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 13, 2018

0.1 dKH per day is VERY low demand, and you wouldn't be able to accurately detect the less than 1 ppm per day decline in calcium that would be expected to be associated with it.

Somehow it is worth keep alk at your target level, whether by dosing or water change. Whatever works best for you.

jdpeters · Nov 11, 2018

I’ve been keeping a log after dosing 10 ml of brightwell mag and 3ml of two little fishies a and b. My mag went from 1350~ to about 1410 now. Alk is down to about 7.8 and cal is 395. I originally started having problems with my euphylia when I started testing. Saw rapid improvements when I brought my alk from 6 to 8 and it held steady. Now it’s dropped ever so slightly. Is it cause my tank stabilized and is now starting to consume more? I started running a skimmer two weeks ago too. Could this account for the difference in usage? I’m not certain if I need to change my dosage or ride it out for a week or two before I make adjustments.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 11, 2018

A slowly declining alk when it previously was stable is often a sign of increased growth, but could be other things as well (such as higher pH for some reason)

Changing dose now or waiting are both reasonable plans.

jdpeters · Nov 11, 2018

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
A slowly declining alk when it previously was stable is often a sign of increased growth, but could be other things as well (such as higher pH for some reason)

Changing dose now or waiting are both reasonable plans.

Thanks as always Randy