How do you know when you need a doser?

[LesPoissons]

Hey guys,
with 0 additives or water changes, my tank goes from 8.15 to 6.7 alk over 10 days, and mag goes from 1335 to 1290, ca goes from 430 to 415. Now Im trying to avoid water changes bc the tank is a 220g and its a huge process. So without that, should i dose additives by hand or is a dosing pump warrented?

 

[14 foot reef]

Hey guys,
with 0 additives or water changes, my tank goes from 8.15 to 6.7 alk over 10 days, and mag goes from 1335 to 1290, ca goes from 430 to 415. Now Im trying to avoid water changes bc the tank is a 220g and its a huge process. So without that, should i dose additives by hand or is a dosing pump warrented?

Way much more info is needed....How old is tank. Water changes aren't just about the big 3 ... Filtration? how much of a ca mg demand is there ? is your tank full of sps ? do you have any clams ? What test kits are you using ?

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Hey guys,
with 0 additives or water changes, my tank goes from 8.15 to 6.7 alk over 10 days, and mag goes from 1335 to 1290, ca goes from 430 to 415. Now Im trying to avoid water changes bc the tank is a 220g and its a huge process. So without that, should i dose additives by hand or is a dosing pump warrented?

Need photos

 

[Jon Fishman]

Do what I plan on doing, and go auto-water change. Enough demand though, you may end up needing dosing regardless

 

[sde1500]

Can’t imagine why one would need to know filtration, need pictures, or know what’s in the tank for this question. It’s either dose by and or by dosing pump. And it really comes down to preference. I’d rather a pump. Dose smaller amounts multiple times a day to support stability even more over single daily dosing by hand.

 

[nereefpat]

8.15 - 6.7 = 1.45. That's 0.145 per day alk consumption.

You can hand dose that alk every couple of days if you want. Ca could be hand dosed once a week or so at that rate. You can look into a doser if you want.

Kalk is another option.

 

[jasonrusso]

I bought a doser for my small tank because I didn't want to hand dose everyday. That being said, it could be done. As the tank matures and you add more corals/consumption then the dosing amounts will go up. On a big tank like that, it might not be practical to dose. People with big tanks run calcium reactors.

 

[Jet915]

Natural progression would be to start with kalkwasser especially if you have an ato. If the corals continue to grow and alk continues to drop, I switched to brs 2 part. Thisb s what I did, kalk lasted about 6 months before alk consumption was too much. Now Im up to 80 ml of brs alk along with kalkwasser to maintain alk of 8. If u dose 2 part, i would definitely get a doser.

 

[jordan10]

I hand dosed by hand till I found out the right amount to keep it stable. Then I went auto 22ml of alk an Cal ever other day

 

[jordan10]

Way much more info is needed....How old is tank. Water changes aren't just about the big 3 ... Filtration? how much of a ca mg demand is there ? is your tank full of sps ? do you have any clams ? What test kits are you using ?

So do clams use up alot of ur alk? Is why u ask?

 

[AquaRaider44]

You should just start with a doser

 

[LesPoissons]

Okay thanks, I agree, not sure why a ton of info is needed but the tank is 4 years old, it has lps and sps but they are growing from frags so no huge coral pieces. The tests are salifert and sea chem. The alk consumption is as you see it (thanks for doing the math for me, lol, i guess that was a silly question). Akl at .145 a day, ca is at 1.5 a day, mag is 4.5 a day. No clams. Filtration is 100-150# live rock, 2" sand bed, skimmer, refugium, carbon reactor. I used to do water changes of 45 gallons every 2 weeks but my nitrates of no water changes for a month are at 5, phos maintains at 0-0.05 (color chart is infuritating to read), ph is stable at 8.2. I realize that water changes help with replacing the trace elements, but im wondering if I can just dose those as well- bc it takes 9-13 hours to get 45-50 gal of rodi so I have to start the day before, then mix the salt, then do an actual water change, which takes about 4 hours, plus set up and clean up- all the while having water running through lines and heaters and powerheads plugged in and 55g trash cans in my livingroom lol. Unfortunatley I dont have an area I can set up a system for auto-water changes so I do it when it has to be done- but its a lot of work for levels I may be able to maintain with dosing.
Thank you for the information- a lot of this seems quite daunting until you get some help and direction. Ill look into kalkwasser and a dosing pump and see if I can get things to stay more stable.

 

[jasonrusso]

phos maintains at 0-0.05 (color chart is infuritating to read)

Agreed, this is why I bought a Hanna checker for PO4.