Hey folks! I have had my 150g red sea reef tank for a year now. Bought used with great success with transport and setup. It has been my 1st salt water tank and thank god this tank systems and add on's work so well. My question is what steps should I take to look at dosing? I have done checks 2-3 times a week to get pretty good ideas of what it seems to be using. Calcium always needs added it seems at every check. Help?
New to dosing
- Thread starter tp686kydup
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Diesel
ME=1, CANCER=0.
If your tank is running for a year by now you should have some corals on there and probably a good amount of coraline algae too.
If you just rely on water changes and not dosing it will be a costly job after a year.
You need to know where you want to be with your ALK, CAL and MAG.
Some ppl have their ALK as low as under 8 dkh and some have it as high as over 10 dkh.
CAL should be between 400 and 450, and MAG as ppl say the golden rule around 1400.
So for you it is to know where you are and what your consumption is on a 24 time period and by that you dose daily or with a doser several times a day or best every hour a few ML.
You can also go the Calcium Reactor route as I do, lots more simplified but you need to read up on all that.
Can you tell us a bit more about your tank for what corals you have and test results?
ALK
CAL
MAG
PH
Temp.
Po4
No3
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Agreed with @Diesel here. My first rule is to never dose anything you can't test and understand where the level is now. Get a starting point on day 1, then test again in a day or two. Then you'll know your consumption for the tested parameter over the given period of time.
There are plenty of calculators out there to help you determine the amount to dose to maintain your desired levels. The goal in my opinion is consistency, so spreading dosing out throughout the day is probably the best course of action if that is an option for you.
There are plenty of calculators out there to help you determine the amount to dose to maintain your desired levels. The goal in my opinion is consistency, so spreading dosing out throughout the day is probably the best course of action if that is an option for you.
wpeterson
Active Member
There are plenty of companies that will sell you pre-mixed, two part dosing additives (for Alkalinity and Calcium). If you're not dosing too much, these can be the simplest way to get started and dosing by hand 2-3 times a week. You'll also want to stay on top of Magnesium, but you can check/dose this less frequently (once a month or so).
If you are looking to save money or are dosing larger amounts, buying dry dosing mixes from somewhere like BulkReefSupply can be a good way to scale up two part dosing to larger levels. Also, given you have a large tank it may make sense to plan for this at the start if you're comfortable weighing/mixing dry ingredients.
Once you have a manual dosing routine working out well for you, you might consider automating it using dosing pumps to continuously add small amounts of two part over the day instead of manually dosing a larger amount several times a week. This will largely be driven by how much coral and other inverts you have consuming Alk/Calc in your tank.
When we had a 29gal nano tank, it was easy to buy Kent two part in liquid form and dose 10s of mls every day or two without investing in larger amounts or automation.
In our 90gal tank with a lot of coral, I'm dosing about 2L a week of Alk/Calc through an automated Jebao dosing pump (about 11ml/hour of each). I'm mixing my Alk/Calc from bulk, dry ingredients now to save space, money, and hassle.
Like anything, there are more complicated/expensive ways to maintain your Alk/Calc and simpler/cheaper ways. The right solution depends on your goals and what kind of reef tank you want to keep. Good luck!
If you are looking to save money or are dosing larger amounts, buying dry dosing mixes from somewhere like BulkReefSupply can be a good way to scale up two part dosing to larger levels. Also, given you have a large tank it may make sense to plan for this at the start if you're comfortable weighing/mixing dry ingredients.
Once you have a manual dosing routine working out well for you, you might consider automating it using dosing pumps to continuously add small amounts of two part over the day instead of manually dosing a larger amount several times a week. This will largely be driven by how much coral and other inverts you have consuming Alk/Calc in your tank.
When we had a 29gal nano tank, it was easy to buy Kent two part in liquid form and dose 10s of mls every day or two without investing in larger amounts or automation.
In our 90gal tank with a lot of coral, I'm dosing about 2L a week of Alk/Calc through an automated Jebao dosing pump (about 11ml/hour of each). I'm mixing my Alk/Calc from bulk, dry ingredients now to save space, money, and hassle.
Like anything, there are more complicated/expensive ways to maintain your Alk/Calc and simpler/cheaper ways. The right solution depends on your goals and what kind of reef tank you want to keep. Good luck!
tp686kydup
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Great points. My level target are:
Sal-1.025
Alk-9-11
Cal-460
Mag-1350
Ph-8-8.4
Phos- no more than 30.
U should mention I have a uv on during high bulb and two reactors running phos- pellets and the other are a cream colored pellet for good bacteria as I recall. Sorry the name escapes me.
Sal-1.025
Alk-9-11
Cal-460
Mag-1350
Ph-8-8.4
Phos- no more than 30.
U should mention I have a uv on during high bulb and two reactors running phos- pellets and the other are a cream colored pellet for good bacteria as I recall. Sorry the name escapes me.
tp686kydup
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Sorry..*I
wpeterson
Active Member
I mentioned a lot of information about the actual dosing, but didn't talk at all about measurement. You should find a measuring regime that's quick and easy to check your Alk/Calc levels to establish how much of each you're using per day and plan out manual dosing to get to a stable level inside your target.
In general, folks seem to like the Red Sea/Salifert testing kits as the most accurate. The API kits are cheaper and less accurate, but I like them because they are very easy to use. For me, having a simple test I can use often without a hassle is more conducive to good reefing. I have a Red Sea test kit I pull out once a month or so, but the cheaper API Alk/Calc kits are easier for my 1-2/week spot checks.
If you have a bigger budget and want to automate this, Hanna makes nice optical checkers for Alk/Calc which are both pretty easy and highly accurate.
In general, folks seem to like the Red Sea/Salifert testing kits as the most accurate. The API kits are cheaper and less accurate, but I like them because they are very easy to use. For me, having a simple test I can use often without a hassle is more conducive to good reefing. I have a Red Sea test kit I pull out once a month or so, but the cheaper API Alk/Calc kits are easier for my 1-2/week spot checks.
If you have a bigger budget and want to automate this, Hanna makes nice optical checkers for Alk/Calc which are both pretty easy and highly accurate.
tp686kydup
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I use the API as well. Very quick and easy. I also received the Hanna gages for Christmas. Still learning to trust them. Specifically cal. It's always 20-40 pts fromy API. Think its just the inaccuarvy?
Hanna Alk checkers are wonderful but their CA version takes TONS of time and reagents are expensive. My recommendation for test kits is Salifert all the way. I've used Red Sea as well but find Salifert more accurate and easier (particularly for Mag). API are cheaper and as others have said less accurate. Do yourself a favor and spend a few extra bucks. My preference on 2-part is Bulk Reef and you can use their handy calculators to get you on track initially. Afterwards it's about testing to measure consumption.
