to Dose or Not to dose

LetItReef · Sep 9, 2014

Hello, I am planning to have Softies and LPS, do I need to dose or good Salt mixes are fine and of course along with water changes and feeding Thanks. Found this site too: What is the best aquarium salt mix? A review of the most popular salt

Randy Holmes-Farley · Sep 9, 2014

Very first thing it to get an alkalinity kit.

If alkalinity is OK, then you likely do not need to dose anything as it is the first indicator of the need.

I recommend 7-11 dKH (2.5-4 meq/L) unless it is a ULNS SPS tank, in which case 7-8 dKH is probably good.

Most salt mixes will serve fine. I use ordinary IO.

luxauterna · Sep 9, 2014

I have had trouble when dosing two part watching my alkalinity sky rocket while my calcium depletes. I just went through a battle of this while even with w/c's I was consistently having calcium readings of 380 with alkalinity at 16 dkh. I thought it was my test kit at first, but I went to my LFS and had them test too. I had noticed the corals lack of growth and especially noticed the lack of coralline growth. I quit doing the two part dosing and went straight with calcium dosing along with a larger w/c ratio. That was the kicker for me. I am still battling getting the alkalinity to drop down to the good level though. I had been dosing brightwell aquatics reef code a and b

Randy Holmes-Farley · Sep 10, 2014

What salt mix are you using?

If the salt mix does not have enough calcium to match the tank (or it does, but the salt mix has even more alkalinity than the tank), then every water change will lower calcium (or lower it relative to alkalinity) and using the two part equally will appear to cause a need for more calcium than alkalinity.

The other way that can happen is if you are otherwise adding alkalinity somehow, such as by using tap water for top off.

But in general, if you have confidence in your kits (not always justified), then dosing more of the calcium part than the alk part is OK. It is not that you tank can be using more calcium than the balanced amount of alkalinity, but the two part may not be exactly balanced, or one of the other issues I mentioned may be happening.

Also, if calcium is low, you cannot add both parts equally to make a correction to calcium. Alkalinity will skyrocket by about 2.8 dKH for each 20 ppm boost to calcium. Use calcium chloride, or just the calcium part of the two part for such one-time corrections.

luxauterna · Sep 10, 2014

Instant Ocean Reef Crystals. . Yea I stopped the two part dosing when I saw the alkalinity was so high with the calcium low. I started supplementing just calcium. I think it was my LFS RO/DI I was using (since I still have not purchased my own RO/DI filter) . I don't have a TDS and I am wondering if maybe they hadn't changed out their membranes properly.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Sep 10, 2014

That sounds like a good plan.

Good luck!

LetItReef · Sep 10, 2014

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Very first thing it to get an alkalinity kit.

If alkalinity is OK, then you likely do not need to dose anything as it is the first indicator of the need.

I recommend 7-11 dKH (2.5-4 meq/L) unless it is a ULNS SPS tank, in which case 7-8 dKH is probably good.

Most salt mixes will serve fine. I use ordinary IO.

noted- Thanks!