Making the leap to Dosing My Aquarium. Yikes!

[R33fDaddy]

Start testing parameters first. After you get familiar with them, THEN you can start dosing.

You are putting the cart before the horse. How much are you going to dose if you don’t the demand/consumption of your aquarium?

I was going to try to maintain the levels that I posted above (parameters I'll be shooting for). The plan was to test after a water change then test again right before my next water change in order to determine how much I need to dose to maintain those parameters that I'll be shooting for. Is this the correct way to do it?

The attached picture is what I got from Redsea.

 

[Uncle99]

I dose hourly....
MG
Alk
CA
Nopox
Iodide
Stronium
Trace Elements
Neophos

I use two Jebao DP-4 dosers to deliver.

Running 5 years.

 

[dedragon]

What do you do for Nutirent export that allows you not to do water changes?

There are many ways to accomplish this but it takes a lot of time to establish a balance in the tank needed for this to happen properly. Nice refugium, protein skimmer, etc can help lower organics and nutrients in the water and keep it more stable over time. Some people use bio balls or pellets, there are different ways to help, but an established tank (2+ years) will usually have a more balanced parameters as far as nutrients are concerned

 

[Uncle99]

I was going to try to maintain the levels that I posted above (parameters I'll be shooting for). The plan was to test after a water change then test again right before my next water change in order to determine how much I need to dose to maintain those parameters that I'll be shooting for. Is this the correct way to do it?

The attached picture is what I got from Redsea.

Yup, I like those, and ok with MG 1400-1440

 

[dvgyfresh]

What do you do for Nutirent export that allows you not to do water changes?

I have a big refugium with multiple macros , they eat nutrients like crazy phosphate is at .05 and nitrate is 10-20 pretty consistently. I also have a skimmer , I’ve turned off for now but it’s usually on. I have to sell macro almost weekly

 

[R33fDaddy]

I dose hourly....
MG
Alk
CA
Nopox
Iodide
Stronium
Trace Elements
Neophos

I use two Jebao DP-4 dosers to deliver.

Running 5 years.

Wow your tank looks awesome! I think Trace Colors has most of those things, I know it has Iodine. I was thinking about dosing Nopox but I decided to go with an Algae Scrubber so hopefully that starts bring my Nitrates down soon. How is the Jabao working for you? Do you have to re calibrate it often?

I also haven't heard of Neophos. Why do you dose that?

 

[dvgyfresh]

In my sump I have a wet dry filter with bioballs
On the left , and a refugium on the right

 

[Uncle99]

Wow your tank looks awesome! I think Trace Colors has most of those things, I know it has Iodine. I was thinking about dosing Nopox but I decided to go with an Algae Scrubber so hopefully that starts bring my Nitrates down soon. How is the Jabao working for you? Do you have to re calibrate it often?

I also haven't heard of Neophos. Why do you dose that?

I have never calibrated it since starting 4 years ago.
Neophos is the trade name for an additive that boosts phosphates. My phosphates run a bit low (0.02)ppm as I have a lot of corals mopping that up and I want to maintain (0.08)ppm, so I dose 1ml every 4 hours in 180g to keep that right on point.

 

[Uncle99]

I did discontinue the RS A,B,C,D after 6 months.
In my system, could not see any difference.
Best increase in coral colour and growth for me was when I increased nitrate to 10ppm and phosphate to 0.08-.1ppm.
I seen better extension in a week and colour became more vibrant in a month.

 

[dvgyfresh]

I have never calibrated it since starting 4 years ago.
Neophos is the trade name for an additive that boosts phosphates. My phosphates run a bit low (0.02)ppm as I have a lot of corals mopping that up and I want to maintain (0.08)ppm, so I dose 1ml every 4 hours in 180g to keep that right on point.

I had to use neonitro for a couple weeks until the bacteria established to convert to nitrate / got Dino’s due to tank move lol may have to use neophos next phosphate creeping down

 

[Dkmoo]

Imo you 1 doser should be enough. Esp in the beginning. Even for a heavily stocked tank, at 54 gallon, the daily consumption in terms of ml should only necessitate auto dose for Alk and CA only, probably around 10 to 20 ml depending on your daily consumption

Mg, once your Alk/ca stabilizes the abiotic precipation, should also have very slow biotic consumption - something tho coral absorption of mg varies, on avg it roughly gets to about 1 ppm per 10 ppm of CA. The trace color for ABCD is also based on a 1ml per 10 ml of foundation A (calcium) dosage rate. So, all this means that 5 of your planned dose will be probably about 1 to 2 ml per day. The issue here is that jebao's rotors and silicon tubes don't have the best peristalic seal so they often form bubbles. Its less of an issue if you dose 10+ mls a day bc at that rate the bubbles can be pushed out quickly. However for slower rates like 1 to 2 ml a day, the bubbles will accumulate to air pockets and you end up getting inconsistent empty pumps on random says. For these reasons it would be better to just dose these manually weekly.

 

[dedragon]

i dont think r33fdaddy has a doser yet. although i will say jebao anything works but are definitely not the most quality product. That said i do use 2 jebao wavemakers but i have to clean them more often than other pumps

 

[R33fDaddy]

i dont think r33fdaddy has a doser yet. although i will say jebao anything works but are definitely not the most quality product. That said i do use 2 jebao wavemakers but i have to clean them more often than other pumps

I haven't bought anything yet. I wanted to go over my plan on here first lol.

I plan on getting stuff on Monday.

 

[R33fDaddy]

Imo you 1 doser should be enough. Esp in the beginning. Even for a heavily stocked tank, at 54 gallon, the daily consumption in terms of ml should only necessitate auto dose for Alk and CA only, probably around 10 to 20 ml depending on your daily consumption

Mg, once your Alk/ca stabilizes the abiotic precipation, should also have very slow biotic consumption - something tho coral absorption of mg varies, on avg it roughly gets to about 1 ppm per 10 ppm of CA. The trace color for ABCD is also based on a 1ml per 10 ml of foundation A (calcium) dosage rate. So, all this means that 5 of your planned dose will be probably about 1 to 2 ml per day. The issue here is that jebao's rotors and silicon tubes don't have the best peristalic seal so they often form bubbles. Its less of an issue if you dose 10+ mls a day bc at that rate the bubbles can be pushed out quickly. However for slower rates like 1 to 2 ml a day, the bubbles will accumulate to air pockets and you end up getting inconsistent empty pumps on random says. For these reasons it would be better to just dose these manually weekly.

Great point.

I didn't check to see if the Jaebo could does 1ml per consistently. One of the main reasons I picked foundation is because of how easy it is to does the trace elements.

I'm still not sure how to dose the trace elements. For example: do I wait for calcium to get close to zero and then does 1ml of trace elements or do I record the amount of calcium used daily and dose the trace elements in micrometers? Let me know if that makes sense lol

I really appreciate all the help.

 

[Uncle99]

Great point.

I didn't check to see if the Jaebo could does 1ml per consistently. One of the main reasons I picked foundation is because of how easy it is to does the trace elements.

I'm still not sure how to dose the trace elements. For example: do I wait for calcium to get close to zero and then does 1ml of trace elements or do I record the amount of calcium used daily and dose the trace elements in micrometers? Let me know if that makes sense lol

I really appreciate all the help.

My DP-4 is doing 1-2ml per hour, accurately, for years.
Simple but effective.

 

[Dkmoo]

Great point.

I didn't check to see if the Jaebo could does 1ml per consistently. One of the main reasons I picked foundation is because of how easy it is to does the trace elements.

I'm still not sure how to dose the trace elements. For example: do I wait for calcium to get close to zero and then does 1ml of trace elements or do I record the amount of calcium used daily and dose the trace elements in micrometers? Let me know if that makes sense lol

I really appreciate all the help.

For the trace you measure your daily CA consumption to figure out how much ml of foundation A you use per day, then ÷10 for the ml of abcd trace to dose. IE, if you dose 10ml of foundation A each day, then you will dose 1ml of each trace element per day.

My DP-4 is doing 1-2ml per hour, accurately, for years.
Simple but effective.

I should clarify, it CAN have accurate 1-2 ml single doses if its frequent enough. The issue is the down time in between the doses where the air pockets accumulate so its a function of the overall "traffic" that pushes thru the tubes. 1 ml per hour, but multiple doses per day is OK bc you are still pushing the liquid frequently enough to prevent big air pockets. Dosing 1 ml per day is a lot different bc the traffic is a lot more stagnant, and going to have a higher chance of air pockets forming.

 

[klimfish]

I said it once I'll say it again:

Are you measuring your levels between water changes and noticing they are falling further than you want? Just wondering what makes you want to dose all of this to start.

IF you are seeing your levels drop of things like Alk, Calcium, and Mag between water changes, then it's a good idea to start dosing those 3 elements. I've found trace dosing is not needed as much in tanks that do frequent water changes.

Have you bought test kits for test your trace elements and determined they are below what you want?

Don't just start dosing because it's been a "certain amount of time". Get the test kits, do the measurements, and let the hard numbers dictate your path. Otherwise you are aiming for a target you cannot even see.

That Alkalinity target of 11.5 is SUPER high. I'd recommend Red Sea blue bucket salt for a more manageable Alk level. Somewhere between 7-9. 12 is very likely overkill and not appropriate for your system given it's age and lack of SPS corals and low nutrients.

Given that you've put so much effort into getting good dosing chemicals, and will be doing a lot of testing and measuring and logging before you buy anything, why would you negate all of that effort by getting "budget" dosing pumps? You can get all the best chemicals and perfect the amount you need to dose per hour but if one of the dosers fails in the "on" position, it doesn't matter. Just a thought. Maybe wait for it to be too much of a pain to dose by hand, chemical by chemical, and get a nice, single headed dosing pump as needed. Something like an Ecotech Marine Versa. There is no need to jump all in at once.

 

[R33fDaddy]

I said it once I'll say it again:

Are you measuring your levels between water changes and noticing they are falling further than you want? Just wondering what makes you want to dose all of this to start.

IF you are seeing your levels drop of things like Alk, Calcium, and Mag between water changes, then it's a good idea to start dosing those 3 elements. I've found trace dosing is not needed as much in tanks that do frequent water changes.

Have you bought test kits for test your trace elements and determined they are below what you want?

Don't just start dosing because it's been a "certain amount of time". Get the test kits, do the measurements, and let the hard numbers dictate your path. Otherwise you are aiming for a target you cannot even see.

That Alkalinity target of 11.5 is SUPER high. I'd recommend Red Sea blue bucket salt for a more manageable Alk level. Somewhere between 7-9. 12 is very likely overkill and not appropriate for your system given it's age and lack of SPS corals and low nutrients.

Given that you've put so much effort into getting good dosing chemicals, and will be doing a lot of testing and measuring and logging before you buy anything, why would you negate all of that effort by getting "budget" dosing pumps? You can get all the best chemicals and perfect the amount you need to dose per hour but if one of the dosers fails in the "on" position, it doesn't matter. Just a thought. Maybe wait for it to be too much of a pain to dose by hand, chemical by chemical, and get a nice, single headed dosing pump as needed. Something like an Ecotech Marine Versa. There is no need to jump all in at once.

I get My Hannah Alk tester Today so I'll test everyday for 5 days striaght to see what the readings are.

Also I have a bunch of Corals that are ready to come out of Quarantine and go into my display tank.

Like I said prior, the reason I want to start dosing is because my Corals look much happier after I do my weekly water changes and then they kinda fall off until the next water change. So regardless of what these test kits say it's obviously something the Saltmix has that's making my Corals happy that is rapidly getting used up over the course of 7 days. Does this make sense?

 

[R33fDaddy]

Just checked My dkh with the Hanna Checker and it's reading 10.9 dkh, my last water change was 6 days ago. Will test again the same time tomorrow.

Also, Coral Quarantine Tank tested at 11 dkh.


On a side note: This Acan (or scully, not sure lol) was pretty much dead. I started spraying the skeleton with Reef Energy AB+ about two weeks ago. Look at it now, crazy.

 

[R33fDaddy]

Just did the biggest Fragging I've every done! I hope everything survives lol

Moved 14 Corals from Quarantine into my Display Tank.