Kalkwasser, magnesium and carbon dosing through ATO

[FishyDP]

I am currently in the process of a 150g mixed reef, with 30g sump build. I will be starting off with softies and LPS which are being transferred from my current 125g system. I would like to get into keeping some SPS. I do not currently use an ATO, but have invested in one for the new build. I would like to automate dosing calcium, alk and mag, and want to do this through my ATO/10g RODI reservoir. My question is: Can I add kalk and magnesium directly to the reservoir? To complicate matters more, I am considering dosing carbon (vodka) through the reservoir as well.. I have had decent success manually dosing vodka in my current system for the last 3-4 months (.5 ml per day). Does anyone have experience/advice dosing any/all these elements through their ATO? Although I am not experienced in keeping SPS corals, I am aware that a calcium reactor will more than likely be necessary down the road as calcium demand goes up..

 

[Jilet]

Please do not mix mag and kalk in same reservoir as the mag will participate and become insoluble. I would just dose kalk in your ato and dose mag as needed separately..

 

[Robert_ellis]

I personally dont dose anything through ato because your evaporation rate changes with temperature. It may be hot one day and you have more evap. and boom, tons of dosed elements for no reason

 

[lou dog420]

Personally I would stay away from carbon dosing, works good in the beginning, but eventually causes nothing but problems.

 

[Montiman]

I have done Kalk through the ATO and it can work though it is not my preference. As others have stated Magnesium will precipitate out of the solution. If you were wanting to combine some form of carbon source with your kalk I would use Vinegar as this is very common.

The main reason I do not like Kalk in a reservoir is this is what has led to every kalk overdose I have ever had. If you bag up a frag for a friend then the water you remove will be replaced with Kalk. If a reactor has a leaky hose connection and leaks a couple gallons on the floor your ATO will also add a couple gallons of kalk to the tank.

Many seem to think the risk is in the ATO failing but this isn't the case. It is simply much easier to overdose when the dosing is linked to the ATO. This is why I prefer to use a Kalk Stirrer with a dedicated peristaltic pump.

If you are wondering how far kalk will get you. On my 120 gallon sps heavy mixed reef I am at about the 2 year mark since my last tank move and have just reached the point where the kalk can not keep up with growth. Kalk is great and can get you pretty far. Even if you have to add 2 part or a calcium reactor. Kalk is the cheapest way to supplement your tank and will save you money in the long run as well as minimizing the pH drop from a calcium reactor or the salinity swing from 2 part.

 

[FishyDP]

I personally dont dose anything through ato because your evaporation rate changes with temperature. It may be hot one day and you have more evap. and boom, tons of dosed elements for no reason

I never considered the fluctuations in evaporation, this is definitely something to consider. Thank you

 

[FishyDP]

I have done Kalk through the ATO and it can work though it is not my preference. As others have stated Magnesium will precipitate out of the solution. If you were wanting to combine some form of carbon source with your kalk I would use Vinegar as this is very common.

The main reason I do not like Kalk in a reservoir is this is what has led to every kalk overdose I have ever had. If you bag up a frag for a friend then the water you remove will be replaced with Kalk. If a reactor has a leaky hose connection and leaks a couple gallons on the floor your ATO will also add a couple gallons of kalk to the tank.

Many seem to think the risk is in the ATO failing but this isn't the case. It is simply much easier to overdose when the dosing is linked to the ATO. This is why I prefer to use a Kalk Stirrer with a dedicated peristaltic pump.

If you are wondering how far kalk will get you. On my 120 gallon sps heavy mixed reef I am at about the 2 year mark since my last tank move and have just reached the point where the kalk can not keep up with growth. Kalk is great and can get you pretty far. Even if you have to add 2 part or a calcium reactor. Kalk is the cheapest way to supplement your tank and will save you money in the long run as well as minimizing the pH drop from a calcium reactor or the salinity swing from 2 part.

Thank you for the detailed reply. This is why I like this forum so much..it looks like dosing out of my ato reservoir is a bit risky, I think I am going to bite the bullet and purchase a 4 part dosing system. Is it necessary to have a kalk stirrer if I manually mix the solution first? You read my mind regarding how long kalk will sustain my tank needs, that was going to be a new thread I was going to post down the road. I figured a calcium reactor was not necessary yet, and your response gives me a good idea of a time frame.

 

[FishyDP]

Personally I would stay away from carbon dosing, works good in the beginning, but eventually causes nothing but problems.

The reason I started carbon dosing was that I was having a major hair algae outbreak early on, maybe 4 months into my first reef tank..I am about 8 months in now. The carbon really cured my algae issues. I do have a gut feeling that carbon is not a long term solution. Now with the new build, and having a dedicated and proper refugium, I am hoping that a very healthy population of macro algae will out compete algae in my display. Could you elaborate on any experience you have had with carbon dosing causing issues? I am curious and on the fence on whether to continue with it or not..

 

[lou dog420]

The reason I started carbon dosing was that I was having a major hair algae outbreak early on, maybe 4 months into my first reef tank..I am about 8 months in now. The carbon really cured my algae issues. I do have a gut feeling that carbon is not a long term solution. Now with the new build, and having a dedicated and proper refugium, I am hoping that a very healthy population of macro algae will out compete algae in my display. Could you elaborate on any experience you have had with carbon dosing causing issues? I am curious and on the fence on whether to continue with it or not..

Well for me it worked great at first. But, I quit about 6 months ago after nitrates bottomed out. Before carbon dosing I never had any issues, and now i have cyano and dino issues, and I have to dose nitrate daily. I dosed vinegar . just seemed to create problems that never existed before I tried it.

 

[Montiman]

Thank you for the detailed reply. This is why I like this forum so much..it looks like dosing out of my ato reservoir is a bit risky, I think I am going to bite the bullet and purchase a 4 part dosing system. Is it necessary to have a kalk stirrer if I manually mix the solution first? You read my mind regarding how long kalk will sustain my tank needs, that was going to be a new thread I was going to post down the road. I figured a calcium reactor was not necessary yet, and your response gives me a good idea of a time frame.

You can dose from a separate container however this can get complicated and take up a lot of space. I like the reactor because the dosing pump draws from the ATO container and then pumps through the reactor into the tank. All I need to do is add water to the top off container (which I would do anyway) and kalk to the reactor. When demand goes up I increase the dose with the dosing pump. I only need to add kalk about every 2-3 weeks.