Need help understanding dosing systems

[Jake_the_reefer]

So I am slightly confused on dosing systems. I understand at some point it is better to get a dosing system rather than trying to keep up with demand via water changes. But what I dont understand is how do dosing systems not overdose a tank? Does the consumption of resources stay the same or does it speed up and slow down?
If a system auto does then wouldn't the elements become way too high? Such as calcium say the calcium demand of a tank decreases wouldn't the calcium start raising and become too high? Are we supposed to test and manually adjust the dosing pumps or are there ways (under 500$) to measure parameters and dose at the same time
Sorry if this post was long and seemed uninformed I have always just done water changes to keep up but I plan on making a more dense lps tank in the future

 

[redfishbluefish]

You are correct, that as you add more hard corals, or as the frags grow into colonies, water changes won't be able to keep up with alk and calc demand.

First off, testing is your friend when starting to dose. Recommend kits for testing alkalinity, calcium and magnesium.

If your tank is still young with hard corals, you could begin by adding calcium hydroxide (Mrs. Wages Pickling Lime) to your ATO reservoir (up to one teaspoon per gallon of reservoir water). Eventually this dosing won't be able to keep up with demand.

At that point your looking at a kalk reactor, calcium reactor or dosing two part. Here's where the testing comes in. At first you might be testing multiple times a day to dial in your tanks needs. For two part, THIS POST will give you the details.

Once you have your dosing dialed in, and you know your tank, and what's going it, you'll find that you can do less testing. I know my tank so well that I only test about every 3 - 4 weeks. But again, initially you'll be doing testing, testing and more testing.

 

[Jake_the_reefer]

You are correct, that as you add more hard corals, or as the frags grow into colonies, water changes won't be able to keep up with alk and calc demand.

First off, testing is your friend when starting to dose. Recommend kits for testing alkalinity, calcium and magnesium.

If your tank is still young with hard corals, you could begin by adding calcium hydroxide (Mrs. Wages Pickling Lime) to your ATO reservoir (up to one teaspoon per gallon of reservoir water). Eventually this dosing won't be able to keep up with demand.

At that point your looking at a kalk reactor, calcium reactor or dosing two part. Here's where the testing comes in. At first you might be testing multiple times a day to dial in your tanks needs. For two part, THIS POST will give you the details.

Once you have your dosing dialed in, and you know your tank, and what's going it, you'll find that you can do less testing. I know my tank so well that I only test about every 3 - 4 weeks. But again, initially you'll be doing testing, testing and more testing.

So it's all testing, fine tuning and testing?
Now why would one make a reactor over a 3 channel dosing system because even nice dosing systems run cheaper than reactors

 

[redfishbluefish]

So it's all testing, fine tuning and testing?
Now why would one make a reactor over a 3 channel dosing system because even nice dosing systems run cheaper than reactors

Not written in stone, but big tank - calcium reactor. Smaller tanks - two part dosing.

 

[ndrwater]

Reactors require less maintenance and are cheaper to run in the long run. As an example, on my heavily stocked 240 SPS tank, I was dosing via doser over 8 gallons of 2 part a month. That gets awfully expensive in a hurry. Since adding an appropriately sized calcium reactor, I haven't touched it on over 2 years while maintaining Calcium and Alkalinity levels within my desired range.

 

[MikeYasin]

So

@Jake_the_reefer - I’ve never run a reactor, so can’t really comment on the advantages or disadvantages vs a dosing system. You may have already done this, and know the process, but you’ll have to establish a base line for your tank’s current usage - the way I’ve always done it is: take a base line of your Cal., Mag., and Alk. - you pick the day. Then don’t add any supplements for 3-4 days. Take another series of tests the and subtract those from your base line three/four days ago. Divide those by thee/four and now you know what your tank uses ( approximately) each day.

Once you have the baseline and approximate usage, add the total3/ 4-day deficit of elements to your tank and on the 4th/5th day, resume with the daily doses you’ve previously calculated. You should be very close for a while. As your corals grow and / or you add more coral, your values are going to change, as they will demand more supplements, so repeat this process as needed. For me, i test every week, and notice a shortfall in calcium or Alk in short order, which allows me to change my dosing amounts immediately.

I use the aquamedic evo 4 dosing Pump. I can program it to dose specific amounts once or multiple times per day based on time of day; I dose small increments 5 times per day. Be sure to space your Cal and Alk by at least a minute if you go this route to prevent them from inadvertently mixing. Better yet, space them out and dose in separate high-flow locations.