Dosing questions...

Daniel@R2R · Dec 14, 2013

Ok. I am apparently clueless about dosing. I thought you shouldn't dose as long as your water changes kept up with Alk, ca, and mg...but now I've recently seen some threads where guys who have very small frags are saying they're dosing...am I wrong in my understanding? Should I be dosing regardless of whether or not my wc schedule keeps up with my params?? How do you decide to start dosing, and how do you determine the dose??

mike007 · Dec 14, 2013

Depends on your test results. If your alk, ca,and mag levels are in range with water changes there is no need to dose. If one of these is low then you need to dose for that particular element. Remember that ca and alk need to be maintained in a balanced stated. I have so many corals i am having a hard time maintaining these levels.As we speak i am trying to dial in a new doser.

redfishbluefish · Dec 15, 2013

I’m not sure how water changes could keep up with Calc, Alk and Mag, unless you were running a FOWLR or a tank with one or two frags of SPS/LPS. I have a mixed reef 90 gallon tank (no where near heavy with SPS/LPS, (and no clam)) and I’m dosing 55 to 60 mls per day of Alk and Calc.

You need to test. And the best test kit, in my book, is the Red Sea Pro kit that comes with all three tests. This will tell you where you stand.

This is my opinion, so take it with a grain of salt; to start dosing, I’d do the ml equivalent of 1/3 the DT gallons you have. I think this is a good starting point, and once you begin testing, you can adjust from there. As an example, if you have a 60 gallon DT, a starting dosing level of each Alk and Calc should be 20 mls each.

Once you figure the dose it takes to keep your tank at the recommended levels of Alk and Calc, then you can cut your testing down to every week or two.

NC2WA · Dec 15, 2013

Dont put anything in your tank that you are NOT testing for..

Get a good test kit like Elos or Salifert and test for Ca, Alk, and Mg.

until you know what the levels are do not add anything to the tank..

glb · Dec 15, 2013

The easiest way to figure it out is to test after a water change and then after 3-4 days, or a week if you like, test again. Take the difference, divide it by the number of days and you'll see how much you're losing daily. After your next water change, test again. If the numbers are good, you're probably fine without dosing. If they're low, then use the formulas given on the bottles of ca, mg and alk to figure out how much to use. I dose daily in small amounts because I have several lps in my nano and water changes aren't enough. You have to adjust here and there, but eventually you'll figure it out. Good luck!

JMSKI333 · Dec 15, 2013

Everyone pretty much covered it, but i just wanted to try and word it a little differently. Here is as simple as I can put it. If your calc, mag and alk all stay constant (in a healthy range) with just water changes then you don't need to change anything at this time.

Continue testing and if you find that your weekly water changes can't keep up with your tank's demand, then you will either need to start using kalk in your top off (reccomended to start) or you will need to use a 2-part solution. You start very slow with your dosing increasing as needed and you test religiously until you see stability (in a healthy range) in your params again.

glb · Dec 15, 2013

JMSKI333 said:
Everyone pretty much covered it, but i just wanted to try and word it a little differently. Here is as simple as I can put it. If your calc, mag and alk all stay constant (in a healthy range) with just water changes then you don't need to change anything at this time.

Continue testing and if you find that your weekly water changes can't keep up with your tank's demand, then you will either need to start using kalk in your top off (reccomended to start) or you will need to use a 2-part solution. You start very slow with your dosing increasing as needed and you test religiously until you see stability (in a healthy range) in your params again.

Agree.

beaslbob · Dec 16, 2013

mdbannister said:
Ok. I am apparently clueless about dosing. I thought you shouldn't dose as long as your water changes kept up with Alk, ca, and mg...but now I've recently seen some threads where guys who have very small frags are saying they're dosing...am I wrong in my understanding? Should I be dosing regardless of whether or not my wc schedule keeps up with my params?? How do you decide to start dosing, and how do you determine the dose??

Psssst

Wanna hear a drity little secret?

Now don't tell anyone.

Water changes will limit but not prevent build ups and depletions of anything.

Which is the reason water changes can result in high nitrates and low calcium.

What is happening in the tank is more important. algae to get nitrates to 0 for instance.

I highly recommend the diy two part method.

and as usual this is just my .02

FlyinBryan · Dec 16, 2013

I do regular water changes to help reduce phos and nitrates. I run Kalk in ATO for stability of alk/calc. I test mag once per week and adjust accordingly based on BRS reef calculator, works great! 2 part dosing has never worked for me.