Dosing my tank

[Sexytang]

At the one year mark I decided to get my alk check at my lfs. Turns out it was super super low. My corals hadn’t really acted up but you could tell they could have been a lot better. Well with the red sea test kit it was 4.4 he checked it 3x. So he recommended b ionic 2 parts to me. Told me to dose 2.5ml daily so I did for 4 days which in those 4 days my octospawn and hammer coral closed up a lot. I don’t have my own test kits yet so I stopped dosing. Well today I check again and it was 4.8-5 a different person told me maybe dose 1ml daily in my 36
What do your guys think should I dose 1ml daily I’d like to get my alk and etc up but don’t really want to crash my tank or kill my corals.

 

[Sexytang]

Any help

 

[P-Dub]

At the one year mark I decided to get my alk check at my lfs. Turns out it was super super low. My corals hadn’t really acted up but you could tell they could have been a lot better. Well with the red sea test kit it was 4.4 he checked it 3x. So he recommended b ionic 2 parts to me. Told me to dose 2.5ml daily so I did for 4 days which in those 4 days my octospawn and hammer coral closed up a lot. I don’t have my own test kits yet so I stopped dosing. Well today I check again and it was 4.8-5 a different person told me maybe dose 1ml daily in my 36
What do your guys think should I dose 1ml daily I’d like to get my alk and etc up but don’t really want to crash my tank or kill my corals.

What is your total, actual tank volume in gal or lt? That is what you need to base your dosing schedule on. Slow and steady rise as your corals have been adapting to the low Kh for a long time assuming you have had them for a year or around then. Keep that in mind. Give them time. Do a water change now and 10% weekly is advisable. Dose a little when you do your water change as well.

 

[Sexytang]

What is your total, actual tank volume in gal or lt? That is what you need to base your dosing schedule on. Slow and steady rise as your corals have been adapting to the low Kh for a long time assuming you have had them for a year or around then. Keep that in mind. Give them time. Do a water change now and 10% weekly is advisable. Dose a little when you do your water change as well.

Prolly around it’s 36g tank I use hob filter full of rocks etc I did a wc today corals cheered up a lot with that. Do you think 1ml daily would be good or still to much

 

[Sexytang]

Prolly around it’s 36g tank I use hob filter full of rocks etc I did a wc today corals cheered up a lot with that. Do you think 1ml daily would be good or still to much

 

[Sexytang]

Anyone

 

[Sexytang]

I dosed 1ml will see if corals are mad in the am.

 

[Dempsey941]

Quick Qs
Do you make your own saltwater at home or do you buy it from your LFS?
And What salt brand?

 

[P-Dub]

I think 1 ml is fine. Die you test your water change water?

 

[Sexytang]

I get my water from petstore and I forget what brand they use. I’m gonna stop dosing for now corals are ticked again this morning I really don’t know what to do. They said at the store with there salt should be running a 8. Something

 

[Magellan]

Your WC water has different parameters than your tank (sounds like a significant amount!) as stated above, your corals have adapted to the very low alk environment. Do small water changes to slowly bring things back in line, you don’t want to change your alk very quickly! Maybe hold off on dosing for now, or at least only dose very small amounts.

 

[jordan9095]

Steps for success when implementing dosing:

1. Test each day for a week/ two weeks or every other day. This is to establish a baseline. You need to understand how much your tank uses. Focus on Alk before CA.
2. Use a calculator or instructions on the bottle to determine how much you would need to replace the daily usage (http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html) based on tank volume, etc.
3. If you are below your desired target (say Alk is 5-6 with goal of 9-10), use an alk buffer to slowly get yourself to the right number. It is generally not recommended to raise your Alk or CA with two part. They are designed to maintain levels.
4. Start dosing to maintain the desired level.
5. Test each day for a week/ two weeks every other day to see if dosing volume is correct & aligns with usage.
6. Once Alk is dialed in, set CA to the same amount and do more testing. CA should be easier and fall in line when using the same amount of Alk.
7. Always keep testing.
8. Keep testing some more...

 

[Sexytang]

Do you think my corals will act up for a bit unroll the get used to me dosing should I keep dosing 1ml even tho corals are acting funny and maybe they will adjust

 

[Sexytang]

Is kalkwasser good to go with. I don’t have a auto top off I do that myself but I can do the drip method

Steps for success when implementing dosing:

1. Test each day for a week/ two weeks or every other day. This is to establish a baseline. You need to understand how much your tank uses. Focus on Alk before CA.
2. Use a calculator or instructions on the bottle to determine how much you would need to replace the daily usage (http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html) based on tank volume, etc.
3. If you are below your desired target (say Alk is 5-6 with goal of 9-10), use an alk buffer to slowly get yourself to the right number. It is generally not recommended to raise your Alk or CA with two part. They are designed to maintain levels.
4. Start dosing to maintain the desired level.
5. Test each day for a week/ two weeks every other day to see if dosing volume is correct & aligns with usage.
6. Once Alk is dialed in, set CA to the same amount and do more testing. CA should be easier and fall in line when using the same amount of Alk.
7. Always keep testing.
8. Keep testing some more...

 

[P-Dub]

Is kalkwasser good to go with. I don’t have a auto top off I do that myself but I can do the drip method

In a word, yes but you are adding Calcium at the same time with kalk. I would just concentrate on upping your alk till at the levels desired and then start kalk. Still haven't seen the testing number of your WC water...

 

[Sexytang]

Don’t have a test on my wc water will have to get one next time i go to get water

In a word, yes but you are adding Calcium at the same time with kalk. I would just concentrate on upping your alk till at the levels desired and then start kalk. Still haven't seen the testing number of your WC water...

 

[nereefpat]

You need to buy your own alk test kit. An API costs about 6 bucks. Baking soda costs almost nothing.