Questions about dosing!

[JosephM]

So I think I’m to the point where I want to start with some LPS corals, I’ve been eyeballing a beautiful hammer coral at my LFS. I was planning on going with BRS 2-part just due to how much I’ve seen it mentioned and price. I’ve read so much that I’m almost confused. So from my understanding... test params and dose to desired level. Then maybe a week later (since I’ll only have 1-2 LPS) test again and divide by 7 to get an average daily intake and start dosing daily. I’ll start dosing by hand just to get a feel and possibly invest in pump if budget allows it. Also BRS 2-part doesn’t contain any trace elements, will I need to dose these. I do ~ 12% water change weekly and use IO salt. Any advice or opinions will be greatly appreciated, almost ready to take the leap into LPS and dosing just need a little more guidance. Thank you!

 

[Bradley2448]

Dosing is really something that should only be done if you know for a fact regular water changes aren’t keeping things balanced due to large scale coral consumption, it can throw things out of wack fast. I would not expect to start having to dose as soon as you getting into keeping coral, but monitor your levels with reliable test kits until your seeing steady declines you can’t keep up with. Most decent salt mixes will sustain your dosing needs until things get mature in your tank.

 

[X-37B]

Take a look at esv- b ionic 2 part.
Its liquid and has trace elements.
Super easy to use.
I use it on my 45 frag tank.
On a tank your size water changes you currently do will work for months.
No need to dose yet, imo.
For dosing its simple.
Test at the same time ,say 9am, every day for 4-5 days in a row and that will tell you your daily alk useage.
It will be small.
On my 45 frag tank with live rock and a few frags I only dose 7ml a day of 1&2.
The tank has been up for a year and I have not done a water change yet.

 

[PghReef]

You'll be surprised how quick you grow your coral collection abs how much you need to dose, mainly alk and calcium. Magnesium is used up much slower.

I'd get some simple brs dosers and timers, mix up some calcium and alk, and program to run maybe only 2 minutes a day. Check the levels frequently and add a few minutes as needed.

 

[JosephM]

Okay, thank you to all 3 of you. I’m glad I posted this because I was ready to buy some dosing products but now I know I may not need it for a while. I will look into ‘esv’. Once again thank you guys and I can’t wait to grow my coral collection outside of softies

 

[Jeffcb]

I use the Red Sea "My Recipe" program. Its a little expensive but always spot on. Their "Recipe Wizard" on there website even tells you what its going to cost you average. I just dose the recommended and test ever 7-10 days. My 250 liter is 4 months running now. Good so far.