Starting to dose on a 150

YHSublime · Apr 12, 2014

Hey all. I'm getting ready to start dosing on my tank, and have been testing nightly at the same time to see what I should be dosing everyday. I'm very cautious, as I have been having things grow, and look great with just water changes, but I have added some new acros, and I know that I'm consuming quite a bit of calc and alk. Below are my numbers, and my dosing plans. My tank is primarily SPS dominated, with many zoas, and a few LPS pieces. I have a 20 gallon tank plumbed off the side, and I would say my water volume is probably about 170 after rock and sand is taken out. Looking for another set of eyes on this.

My tests are taking with the sailfert for calcium, and a hanna checker for alkalinity.

4/7/14

Alk- 140 (or 7.84)
Calc-410

4/8/14
Alk- 130 (7.28)
Calc- 380

4/9/14
I ran out of reagent, and had what I thought was enough for one more test, but results yielded 130 (7.28)

4/10/14
Alk- 125 (7dkh) with new reagent. Seems somewhat consistent. Did not test calc.

4/11/14
Alk- 125 (7dkh)

4/12/14
Alk- 122 (closer to 6.72, probably 6.80)
Calc- 375
I tested calcium using my salifert test. First it said 410, and then 400. I tested it against my API kit, which came up to 350. I did another two tests on the salifert, and made sure I followed the instructions to a T. This yielded 375, and I'm confident that is the closest number to what it is currently.
Magnesium- 1290

So over 6 days, I averaged 3ppm in dkh per day, and 5.83 for calcium.
In meq/l that is .06 a day

So BRS calculator says that for alkalinity to get back to 6 days ago
NEED: 135.9 ml
4.5 fl oz
27.1 tsp

and for calcium to get back to 6 days ago worth of consumption:
NEED: Need: 609 ml
20.5 fl oz
121.8 tsp

mike007 · Apr 12, 2014

I do my calculations a little different. After I get all parameters where I want hem I go 3 days without dosing and then test. Divide by 3 and that's may daily consumption. Then I go to the calculator and determine how much of each to dose each day. I dose alk. and ca. 24 times a day and my parameters stay very stable.

YHSublime · Apr 12, 2014

mike007 said:
I do my calculations a little different. After I get all parameters where I want hem I go 3 days without dosing and then test. Divide by 3 and that's may daily consumption. Then I go to the calculator and determine how much of each to dose each day. I dose alk. and ca. 24 times a day and my parameters stay very stable.

Thanks for the quick reply. I keep my alk around 7.5, so I'm wanting to be cautious in not going to high to quick. Calcium I'm less concerned about. I think I'm just going to start real low, 30ml a day, and see how I look 3 or 4 days from now.

mike007 · Apr 12, 2014

I am adding 75ml a day of alk. and ca. I keep my alk. at 7-7.5 low nutrient tank.

YHSublime · Apr 12, 2014

mike007 said:
I am adding 75ml a day of alk. and ca. I keep my alk. at 7-7.5 low nutrient tank.

Cool. So for perspective, I have many small frags, and some huge Monty's. So far water changes of reef crystals 40 gallons every 2 weeks has been doing it.