Dosing order

[David Nguyen]

Hi All,
If i have to dose kh, ph and calcium. Which order should I take? I was told kh first, ph second and calcium last. I also need to wait 30 minutes between each dose. Any truth to any of that? Please provide your input. Thanks

 

[DLHDesign]

The "30 min in between" part sounds about right, at least - if you dose Alk and Calcium at the same time, they will react and cause precipitation. A lot of times you'll even see suggestions to dose them at opposite times of the day (noon and midnight, say). The key is to make sure that the dosing is done into a high flow area (such as just above your return pump or the like) and that you give enough time for the solution being dosed to be distributed before you dose anything else. So the "30min" is more of a general guideline than it is a specific number. Best bet is to use a wide margin (noon/midnight) or - if you want more frequent doses - to test how long in your system a given volume takes to disperse from it's point of entry.

As to the order... I'm not sure (if you give things enough time between) that it really matters? You'll just want to be sure to measure your levels and dose accordingly. If you change the dose volume on one solution, be sure to check everything - not just the thing you changed.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

There should be no "pH" additive. Any pH additive is an alkalinity additive, despite manufacturers claims otherwise.

The order makes no difference. Just let the first one mix in before adding the second one so that clouds of highly concentrated additive do not mix with each other.

 

[Dtfnemo]

I use read sea products, they suggest to dose mag buffer and cal 10 minutes apart in that order

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I use read sea products, they suggest to dose mag buffer and cal 10 minutes apart in that order

That's not important, unless it is a really huge magnesium boost. For normal dosing, the order truly does not matter.