Dosing Noob ?'s

[SaltyCrabs]

Okay so I have finally cycled my tank. I added 2 clowns and well I know it is still early for corals being the tank has been up for about 1.5 months. But anyways i went ahead and bought a couple easy frags as test pieces. I was checking my water perimeters and it seems to me everything is kind of low.

Corals

(3) small mushrooms
A couple pieces of GSP
(2) frags of zoas approx. (5) polyps each

Tank 150G
Sump 30G


Water perimeters as follows:

Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - 0
Nitrates - 5
Phosphate - 0.5
Calcium - 320
Alkalinity - 6.4
Magnesium - 1200
PH - 8.0
Water temp 80
Salinity 1.025

From the research I have done it seems like my calcium needs to come up at least (420ppm) 100ppm, I would like to bring my ALK up to at least 8.0 but I feel like I should get it up to about 10. Mag seems like the general consensus should be 1350 to 1450.

So do I buy a dosing pump? Or just manually dose for now?

Also what do you recommend for dosing and why?

It seems like certain stuff being dosed effects other water chemistry (PH, calcium, etc).

If you have any insight or articles that could put me in the right direction that explain what does what, and how dosing effects different elements in the water i would appreciate it.

 

[Jekyl]

What salt mix and tests are you using? Those numbers seem low and the coral won't be consuming that much.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Wc will replenish numbers. The coral you got are soft corals. Alk and cal and mag are mostly taken up by stony base sps and lps corals.
D

 

[SaltyCrabs]

What salt mix and tests are you using? Those numbers seem low and the coral won't be consuming that much.

Reef Crystals
Salifert test kits

 

[Jekyl]

Reef Crystals
Salifert test kits

I would double check the numbers. IO mixes to 400, 11, and 1350. You don't have anything in your tank to reduce those numbers.

 

[SaltyCrabs]

Wc will replenish numbers. The coral you got are soft corals. Alk and cal and mag are mostly taken up by stony base sps and lps corals.
D

I understand that, but I will eventually be going down that road, not so much sps but more lps. I more or less want to practice with dosing now and get the hang of things before I start dropping more money on more expensive corals. I also want to stay away from water changes as much as possible. I get they will need to be done but I would like to get away from them down the road to a couple a year if I can.

 

[Jekyl]

What are you using to check salinity? If using a refractometer are you calibrating it before use?

 

[Jekyl]

I have only softies and LPS in my tank. The only thing I have to dose is some baking soda in my top off water for alkalinity

 

[SaltyCrabs]

I would double check the numbers. IO mixes to 400, 11, and 1350. You don't have anything in your tank to reduce those numbers.

I double checked the numbers and came up with the same results. The only thing I can think of is when I cycled the tank with ammonia the nitrogen cycle diminished those perimeters

 

[SaltyCrabs]

What are you using to check salinity? If using a refractometer are you calibrating it before use?

refractometer and yes calibrating/verifying before checking salinity

 

[Jekyl]

Do you have calibration liquid or just using Rodi? Before dosing you just want to be absolutely sure of your current numbers. Otherwise you could cause more harm than good

 

[SaltyCrabs]

Do you have calibration liquid or just using Rodi? Before dosing you just want to be absolutely sure of your current numbers. Otherwise you could cause more harm than good

I am using Rodi

 

[SaltyCrabs]

I have only softies and LPS in my tank. The only thing I have to dose is some baking soda in my top off water for alkalinity

From my understanding baking soda lowers the PH so that being said. My PH is already at the lower end at 8.0 really dont want it to go lower then that.

 

[Jekyl]

I am using Rodi

I would either find Randy's recipe for calibration liquid or order some.

 

[arking_mark]

A couple of thoughts:
1. IO Reef Crystals is an elevated parameters salt.
2. For a recently cycled tank with no hard corals, nothing should be depleted unless you are seeing explosive corraline algae growth.
3. I would suspect your tank measurements or as mentioned, low salinity will equal low parameters.

The 12 Commandments of Reef Keeping

Nothing good happens fast in a reef tank Triple-check before you believe any observations or make any changes to your tank Only make one change at a time in your reef tank Use the right tool for the right job Only dose what you can test for Don't chase #s, chase stability. When altering the...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Gtinnel]

The problem with starting dosing is that if you have nothing consuming the alk/cal you will quickly get your parameters up to appropriate levels and then you shouldn't add anymore. For that reason if I were you I would start by dosing by hand. As for what to dose I recommend using baked baking soda for alk and buying the bulk calcium chloride from BRS for calcium.
@Jekyl keeps mentioning your salinity because if you are using Reef Crystals mixed to 1.025 your parameters would normally be higher without much of anything using the alk/cal. To check your refractometer you are much better off checking it against a calibration solution and not rodi water. As mentioned it is incredibly easy and cheap to make a calibration solution with tap water and Mortons salt if you have a way to weigh the salt and water (I use kitchen scales).

Many people who use baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) bake it in the oven which changes it so sodium carbonate which will raise your pH.

 

[SaltyCrabs]

I would either find Randy's recipe for calibration liquid or order some.

So on some further investigation my salinity is more like 1.0245. Would that make a difference in my levels that I am seeing?

 

[Gtinnel]

So on some further investigation my salinity is more like 1.0245. Would that make a difference in my levels that I am seeing?

It would make them slightly lower but not by much. If I were you I would mix up a little batch of new salt water to 1.026, like you would for a water change and then test the cal/alk/mag on that water to see if you get readings close to what that salt should mix up to.

 

[SaltyCrabs]

It would make them slightly lower but not by much. If I were you I would mix up a little batch of new salt water to 1.026, like you would for a water change and then test the cal/alk/mag on that water to see if you get readings close to what that salt should mix up to.

Yeah I am going to do that but I just remembered today when I originally started this tank I had a 200 gallon box of some old reef crystals that I used and I also had a bag that was just regular instant ocean salt that iI used as well. So I think that is also why I am getting lower readings.

 

[Gtinnel]

I don't know right off what the regular IO mixes up to but I do know it's lower the Reef Crystals which would explain lower readings to some extent, but I doubt it would completely account for what your tanks parameters are.

I'd still test new saltwater, or have your tank water tested by another hobbiest/lfs if possible to help verify your test results.