Dosing Question

hig789 · Nov 22, 2015

Alright. It's time for me to start daily dosing. My water changes aren't keeping up anymore, since my all my SPS are taking off. Using Fusion 1 & 2.

I've been testing for the past 5 days and daily I've had to dose 2ml of part 1 and 1.6ml of part 2. I was under the impression that it should be equal parts of each. My Alk would go from 8.6 to 8.2ish and Ca would go from 440 to 430.

That sound fairly normal?

Thanks for any advice and help in advance.

Pete polyp · Nov 22, 2015

It should be equal portions.

hig789 · Nov 22, 2015

I just looked and I was wrong. That 10ml dose was after a big water change. I updated the OP. guess the variance could be the +\- in the test kit.

JMLewis · Nov 22, 2015

Always add equal parts, keeps the tank in balance.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 22, 2015

I don't think in 5 days you can really tell what the effects on calcium will be, given the uncertainty of calcium kits.

The primary reason some folks might dose an imbalance between calcium and alkalinity parts is that water changes frequently are not matching tank water, and so the two part "needs" to correct for this over time, and it is fine to do so, if you want.

FWIW, this "need" to make a lot of corrections only seems to afflict those who can make them. Folks using only limewater and/or CaCO3/CO2 rteactors cannot dose such imbalances, and seem to do just fine.

FWIW, I would dose equal parts unless calcium actually got too low (less than 400 ppm) or too high (over 500 ppm).There's no evidence that calcium values matter between 400 and 500 ppm.