Pinpointing Correct Dosage Amounts

[goldenhurricane2]

Sorry to burden everyone with another dosing question, but here it goes: I’ve got my levels up to acceptable ranges (after a little alk snafu). However right when I thought I had it figured out, I realized that I can’t seem to pinpoint exactly which dosage I should use.

Specifically with alk: I was dosing 20ml per day and and it was staying relatively steady at 7.7dkh but it increased slightly so I lowered my dosage down to 18ppm and when I tested today it showed I was over 8dkh (which isn’t where I want to be since I have low nutrients).

On the flip side, my Ca has been sitting at 350ppm and I’ve been slowly increasing my dosage and I’ve dosed 30ml the past few days and I can’t get it to raise at all.

What am I doing wrong? Any advice?

I have an auto doser but I don’t want to use it until I get this all pinpointed. So I’ve been doing this all by hand and testing every day.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

What product are you using? Not all are designed for equal parts dosing.

Calcium is very slow to respond to over or under dosing. Make a one time boost to where you want it (which will be large), then mostly dose based on the alk demand.

You need to dose over a period of days and note trends, not try to jigger the dose every day.

 

[goldenhurricane2]

What product are you using? Not all are designed for equal parts dosing.

Calcium is very slow to respond to over or under dosing. Make a one time boost to where you want it (which will be large), then mostly dose based on the alk demand.

You need to dose over a period of days and note trends, not try to jigger the dose every day.

I'm using BRS alk and Ca for dosing. So instead of dosing slowly to get my Ca up, I should do a 150ml dose (per their calculator) to get it from 350ppm to 425ppm?

Also - you're say saying that I should just steadily dose alk and watch the tests over several days before making any adjustments?

finally - My Ca demand seems to be much lower than my alk demand so they dosage of the two will likely not be the same. Is that ok? (example: dosing 18ml of alk and 10ml of Ca).

Sorry for all the questions - I just want to make sure I understand all this correctly!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I'm using BRS alk and Ca for dosing. So instead of dosing slowly to get my Ca up, I should do a 150ml dose (per their calculator) to get it from 350ppm to 425ppm?

Also - you're say saying that I should just steadily dose alk and watch the tests over several days before making any adjustments?

finally - My Ca demand seems to be much lower than my alk demand so they dosage of the two will likely not be the same. Is that ok? (example: dosing 18ml of alk and 10ml of Ca).

Sorry for all the questions - I just want to make sure I understand all this correctly!

Yes, I'd boost the calcium over a few days, on top of the equal parts dosing matching the alk dose to match the alk demand.

I doubt the demand is very different between alk and calcium (except as water changes mess with the apparent demand for each). It takes way more to make it budge. Exactly equal demand will show a drop of 1 dKH in alk (which is easily detected) being equivalent to a 7 ppm drop in calcium (which you can not reliable detect with most kits).

 

[goldenhurricane2]

Yes, I'd boost the calcium over a few days, on top of the equal parts dosing matching the alk dose to match the alk demand.

I doubt the demand is very different between alk and calcium (except as water changes mess with the apparent demand for each). It takes way more to make it budge. Exactly equal demand will show a drop of 1 dKH in alk (which is easily detected) being equivalent to a 7 ppm drop in calcium (which you can not reliable detect with most kits).

So then, I should be dosing the same amount of Ca as I am alk?

Regarding water changes - how does that affect this whole dosing situation? Do I continue to dose as I normally would or just test the water after the water change and go from there based on the new readings?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

My recommendation is to get the calcium where you want it by dosing just that part.

Then dose equal parts to maintain alk where you want it, and only change the calcium dose based on longer term trends up or down substantially (not 10 or 20 ppm) from where you want it.