New and Confused about water maintenance.

[Steveso]

I am new this hobby,since starting my tank a little over a year ago. I have a Biocube 29 with about 12 pounds of live rock, and an add on canister filter in addition to the sump which I have customized. I have been through the beginner's nightmare of huge algae blooms and I even lost all of my fish and most of my snails for some reason my LFS could not figure out. I now have 1 coral beauty, 1 bicolor dotyback, 1 Mandarin dragonet, 1 yellow tail damsel, 1 saltwater mollie and 1 transparent blenny. I also have a cleaner shrimp, a royal urchin, 3 hard coral frags and 3 soft coral frags.I do 20% water changes every 2 weeks, as well as cleaning and changing the media in the canister (there is never any detritus in the filter media) and the sump at the same time. I used to have my water tested at my LFS, but since the fish loss I have been testing myself. I add ESV Bionic 2 calcium buffer every day as directed by my LFS and I also add Kent Marine Liquid Reactor twice a week. On a weekly basis I use Seachem Reef Advantage Calcium and Seachem Reef Builder. My LFS said that I would have to continue this maintenance for the life of the tank, which means I can never take a vacation! When I search the internet for clarity I end up more confused. My question being do I have to add the ESV bionic every day and is there a simpler way to maintain the water quality? Thanks

 

[CodyRVA]

The short answer is yes, invest in a dosing system and dose two part. It adds small quantities, most up to 1 ml at a time to sustain the CA, MG, and ALK, among other possibilities, to your system. This approach is purely automated, all you have to do is dial in how much the doser should dose each day and keep your dosing jugs filled with the 2 part solution.

 

[Steveso]

The short answer is yes, invest in a dosing system and dose two part. It adds small quantities, most up to 1 ml at a time to sustain the CA, MG, and ALK, among other possibilities, to your system. This approach is purely automated, all you have to do is dial in how much the doser should dose each day and keep your dosing jugs filled with the 2 part solution.

Thanks. That make a lot of sense!

 

[reefwiser]

What is your Alkalinity readings like when you test every day for a week? What happens if you don't dose for a few day's does your Alkalinity drop? These will tell you how to dose your tank. You want a steady Alkalinity reading. So It doesn't make wide jumps from day to day that is the goal of dosing a liquid calcium and alkalinity solution.