Mean Dosing Questions

[Fishbro]

Edit: In the title I meant NEWB not mean. Hey everyone! So I’m a new to reefing and as I am setting up my Biocube 32 I have become interested in dosing for my future coral. The thing is, it will be a softie/lps dominated tank with MAYBE in the future sps but not anytime soon for the sticks. The doser I’m looking at is the Jebao Dp-4 (cheap and looks to be mostly accurate)

1: Do I need to dose in my tank if I am doing weekly water changes with Instant Ocean Reef Crystals? I am very busy so it should usually be a week but sometimes it could go a week and a half to possibly two weeks.

2: What to even dose? BRS 2 Part, Red Sea Reef Energy, or something else? Just help me understand these.

3: If water changes do supply the proper nutrients should I still dose because I’m looking for great coral growth not slow coral growth.

I will be using the Sailfert test kit for Alkalinity, Magnesium, Calcium, and Phosphate. I’m currently using the API saltwater test kit for everything else I set up my tank about a week ago.

Any help is greatly appreciated thanks all!

 

[Js.Aqua.Project]

In general, if you are doing water changes there is no reason to dose unless the water changes aren't keeping up with the demands of your coral. So only testing, logging the results, and then analyzing trends will tell whether or not you need to dose.

When you do get where you are having to dose, there are plenty of methods to look into, but I would recommend starting by watching this video from MACNA last year:

I personally use an recommend a Balling Method style system (one of those talked about in the video) as it doses everything separately rather than a traditional two-part, and includes dosing the trace elements. I use Red Sea's products, but there are other options out there.

 

[lilgrounchuck]

Second on the changes. I’m mostly softie/lps with two montis and it was about 6 months before I started dosing anything, just WC. Now, with coralline and coral growth my tank is consuming about 5 ml of each of the two part I’m dosing a day. I still do weekly changes, but smaller and they’re mostly just for cleaning the sand bed. Once your tank starts growing, measure the difference in alk/ca over a 24 hr period, see how much it consumes, and dose accordingly. It’ll change as things get bigger/grow faster. keep in mind that different brand products will need to be dosed at different volumes to maintain the desired levels in your tank (when/if you do start dosing).

 

[TheKyle]

Testing water regularly will tell you what/if you need to dose. If you have the ability to do large water changes you can always get out of a pinch with that before getting the necessary dosing set up.

 

[lilgrounchuck]

I’d also add that manually dosing gave more of a feel for what my tank was doing. I just up automated dosing this week with the implementation of my reef pi build. Find out what your daily delta is and manually dose accordingly. Test again, adjust, watch the tank, test, watch, test, adjust (see a theme here). Don’t chase numbers. My tank was solid, then I chased numbers to what it “has to be” and it all got mad. Watch the response of the tank, but give at least a week between changes unless that change causes some dramatic adverse impact. Remember: this is stuff from the ocean, the place life first began here. Nothing happened quickly for anything there, and it still doesn’t ( naturally, anyway).

 

[W1ngz]

I'll share my evolution towards dosing. My point in sharing this is to say, you have plenty more to figure out right now and dosing can wait a few months. Doing things the hard way will also give you a really good base and feel for how your tank reacts to things.

I was doing my weekly water changes, and my weekly testing. Things seemed to go just fine the first couple of months.

Gradually as my corals grew and I started putting stony corals in, I found myself needing to bump things just a little halfway between water changes.

Then I found I was needing to bump things two, maybe three times a week or I'd be adding too much at once.

Then I figured out that I could mix a bit of baking soda in my topoff water, and just needed to bump the calcium mid week.

Then it was summer, and the humidity slowed my evaporation (and slowed how fast my ATO would empty), so my dosed topoff water needed to be supplemented with more manual dosing.

When I got to the point I was testing the big three every other day just to figure out what to add, my tank was feeling more like a ball and chain, but I worked out the weekly dose and spread that across 7 days, and went back to weekly testing.

About 14 months after I'd put in my first corals I finally got fed up of all the testing, math and manual dosing, I knew it was time for me to get a dosing pump.

 

[lilgrounchuck]

I'll share my evolution towards dosing. My point in sharing this is to say, you have plenty more to figure out right now and dosing can wait a few months. Doing things the hard way will also give you a really good base and feel for how your tank reacts to things.

I was doing my weekly water changes, and my weekly testing. Things seemed to go just fine the first couple of months.

Gradually as my corals grew and I started putting stony corals in, I found myself needing to bump things just a little halfway between water changes.

Then I found I was needing to bump things two, maybe three times a week or I'd be adding too much at once.

Then I figured out that I could mix a bit of baking soda in my topoff water, and just needed to bump the calcium mid week.

Then it was summer, and the humidity slowed my evaporation (and slowed how fast my ATO would empty), so my dosed topoff water needed to be supplemented with more manual dosing.

When I got to the point I was testing the big three every other day just to figure out what to add, my tank was feeling more like a ball and chain, but I worked out the weekly dose and spread that across 7 days, and went back to weekly testing.

About 14 months after I'd put in my first corals I finally got fed up of all the testing, math and manual dosing, I knew it was time for me to get a dosing pump.

This. It varies. Feel it out. Don’t try to lift the gym on your first ever day of training. Start slow, feel it out.

 

[Fishbro]

Thanks all all for the help so I’ll just start slow and feel the tank out and if needed maybe get into dosing when my tank matures.