Dosing pump and 2 part ? Any pics?

[EXOTICAQUATIX]

Ok so I'm new to dosing 2 part. I just ordered a marine magic triple dosing pump. How do I figure out how much of each calcium And alk solution to dose throughout the day. Do I test my calcium and alk every day or few days and see how many ppm I'm losing? Anything anyone can tell me about this would be greatly appreciated just assume I know nothing. Any pics of how you guys have your dosing pumps and solution containers set up would be awesome.

 

[sceia]

Test your water a few days in a row and calculate the loss over that time (divide by the # of days you tested from) to get the drop per day. Once you know that number, go to an online calculator for that. Bulkreefsupply has one on thier site. Once you know how much to add per day, then you just have to set the dosing pumps to add that per day. Spread the time during the day. Don't add all at once and give 5-10 minutes between dosing alk and calc. If added together, it'll precipitate out. For alk, I only dose that at night....I don't get a drop in alk during the day.

 

[EXOTICAQUATIX]

So for my all should I dose it every few days or day and night?

 

[EXOTICAQUATIX]

Alk** stupid autocorrect

 

[sceia]

So for my all should I dose it every few days or day and night?

To maintain the most stable, both should e dosed everyday.... Ideally (esp if you get into sps), you want less than a .5 change in alk per 24 hours. You already have the triple dosing pump, so I would dose everyday if I were you...

 

[jedimasterben]

Doser should be programmed to dose daily as many times daily as it lets you.

 

[mike007]

You will heed to stop dosing for 3 days after your levels are where you want them and then test and divide the loss by 3 to deternine how much is being consumed each day. Then you will know how much to dose every day to maintain them levels. Brs calculater will help you with the dosing amounts.

 

[redfishbluefish]

I dose everyday, three times a day, using BRS dosing pumps. What I wanted to show you were my Alk and Calc containers. They are cereal containers from Walmart. What I like about them is the opening is large, making re-filling very easy. These have worked out great.

 

[EXOTICAQUATIX]

Awesome redfishbluefish. Thanks guys for all your help. Do these type of pumps have to be primed or anything? I have a full mixed reef with a lot of chalices and Lps but some sps. I want to start keeping more sps. What calc and alk levels do yall run at. And when I'm testing all I have is a hardness test kit. Do I need to get one for alkalinity? Thanks

 

[mike007]

If you are dosing you need to test your calcium, alkalinty, and magnesium.

 

[redfishbluefish]

If you are dosing you need to test your calcium, alkalinty, and magnesium.

+1 I would highly suggest Red Sea Pro testing kit that includes Alk, Calc and Mag.

 

[mpjones]

Love the Red Sea test kits. Switched to them a few months ago and haven't looked back

 

[billwill]

Bulk reef supply for dosing pumps and raw chemicals. Reef calculator on their website has step by step instructions to get started and to keep it going. If you've got a controller of some sort, this is great way to go. If you don't have controller, you'd want a pumping unit with built in timer. Though for the money, you would be better off getting a reef keeper light and BRS dosing pumps.

 

[specvjeff]

I tested my levels every day for a week to get a very good average daily consumption. I already had a pretty good idea because of manually dosing and testing a couple times a week. You definitely want to dose smaller amounts more frequently to help maintain nice steady levels. Good move on getting the dosing pumps! Great to keep the tank parameters nice and steady and that leads to happy corals!

 

[Steveowhits]

I use jedimasterbens technique of breaking up my daily dose over the course of the day. I offset Ca and kh times so I don't make sludge when the components mix. I also use the brs dosers and like them very much.

 

[EXOTICAQUATIX]

Billwill I have a apex but is it necessary since the dosing pump has built in timers and 16 daily on off hypotheticals

 

[EXOTICAQUATIX]

Specvjeff I agree I love stability

 

[EXOTICAQUATIX]

Steveowhits I like That set up

 

[Treefer32]

I actually hated the red sea test pro test kit.. I couldn't tell the colors apart for Po4.. Maybe partially color blind, or the colors are just way too close together.

I was pretty disappointed with the red sea kit. I don't know if any others are easier to read, but, I haven't found a Po4 kit that I could actually read accurately.
I made guesses as to what color things were, but, I don't know how right they were.

 

[Greenstreet.1]

I'm running the brs 1.1 x2 using my apex for control. Using brs two part also was using Red Sea test I was not happy especially with the mag so went with elos could not be happier.