Recommended dosing sequence

Joker79 · Dec 7, 2014

I'm kinda stumped as to which to dose first?
I tested and the results are as follows:
Sg 1.021 (yes I need to raise this)
Alk 8.0
Mag 1230
Cal 340

I dosed 70 ml of brightwell mag and retested
Alk 7.3
Mag 1200
Cal haven't tested yet.
How can this be?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Dec 7, 2014

One or both of the magnesium tests was erroneous.

I'd focus on calcium anyway, and measure magnesium a few more times over a few days without dosing.

mike007 · Dec 7, 2014

I would suggest getting salinity up first with a good salt mix then retest. Most reef salt mixes have everything you need. You strive for salinity to be 1.025- 1.026. Alk. 7-11dkh,calcium 420-450 and mag. around 1400. I really don't see how dosing mag. would lower your alk. Once you get levels where you want them then you can find out what your consumption is then start dosing what is needed to maintain parameters.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Dec 7, 2014

Oh, duh. I missed the low salinity.

Joker79 · Dec 7, 2014

So best idea is to raise salinity to 1.026 and test to see what chem levels would be? My next question would be as to how the best way to raise salinity? I have a 33 gal tank and a 15-20 gal sump...
Would the best way to raise be a massive water change at a salinity of 1.026?

phillrodrigo · Dec 7, 2014

No just grab a grab a gallon of water and make it extremely salty. Then raise it up. If there's animals in it go .001 a day if not go for the fill raise

JMSKI333 · Dec 7, 2014

I never had any luck getting consistant test result on mag.

Definitely work on getting that salinity up to par. My reccomendation is mix up saltwater to your desired salinity and do regular water changes until it is where you want it. By that point, I would imagine your mag will be matching you salt mix. Raise your salinity slow. You don't want to upset anything, especially your inverts.

What is your current water change schedule? Like Mike said, your salt mix should do most of the work unless you have a lot of corals.

tonymission · Dec 7, 2014

I would just top off with 1.026 until it gets there.

mike007 · Dec 7, 2014

If you have live animals In your tank you want to raise salinity slowly as not to shock them. Your can do this with small water changes. Don't get too hung up on mag. at this point . Most test kits are not very accurate so if can get your alk. 7-11dkh and ca. 420-450 you will be fine. Once you get your salinity ,alk and ca. correct then you can figure out what your tank is consuming so that you can start with a dosing regiment. That is a whole new issue which we can help once you get the other parameters in order.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Dec 7, 2014

tonymission said:
I would just top off with 1.026 until it gets there.

That's the best bet, IMO.

Joker79 · Dec 7, 2014

Excellent! I like the idea of 1.026 top off! Mixing salt now! Thank you everyone for your input! I will keep this updated as to my results!
My current water change is typically a 5 gal change a week... With that being said and having 6 kids it becomes a little difficult at times...
I do have a rather large coral collection which consists of chalices, acans and zoas. Yes, they are suffering unfortuately... This will be corrected though! :-D
Thank you once again for the quick responses!!!

Randy Holmes-Farley · Dec 8, 2014

:thumb:

Good luck.

Joker79 · Dec 17, 2014

So since raising my salinity up to 1.026 I have noticed my levels are higher except for mag.
Alk 8.6 (dosing 25ml daily to 9)
Cal 410
Mag 1290
Any reccomendations?

NanaReefer · Dec 17, 2014

Dose mag till preferred level is reached

Joker79 · Dec 18, 2014

Check! When are the best times for dosing? I know you don't wanna dose Alk and cal together. And you don't want to dose Alk and mag together. Oye...

Randy Holmes-Farley · Dec 18, 2014

IMO, that magnesium is fine as it is the natural level, but if you want it a bit higher, that is fine and higher may promote coralline growth.

NanaReefer · Dec 19, 2014

I dose my Ca/ALK at the same time, no problems. But I do break the doses up to 2x a day. Morning/night.

Volpone · Dec 25, 2014

Randy Holmes-Farley
Plz can u guide us for best way to dose , so if we start dosing CA MG and KH how we can divide them and which one should be before the other one .

Randy Holmes-Farley · Dec 25, 2014

Do you mean on a daily basis, or for a one time correction?

Volpone · Dec 25, 2014

I mean how should dose it for the three supplements
For example if we start dosing Ca it should be before dose the Mg or Kh or after , what time should be different between each other ? If i have to dose like 40 ml every day is it ok to do it one time or two times at morning and evening