What type of dosing do I need?

[Alpha_and_Gec]

I am currently dosing calcium and alk according to this recipe, but I'm not sure what dosing size I need. Right now I dose mixed tank, not bothering to do mag yet because I'm waiting on another gallon milk jug to empty out. I keep a chunk of montipora, two heads of hammer, two Astrea snails and a Conomurex luhanus in an 80 gal, and am planning to pick up birdsnest and maybe octospawn in the future. How much of all three(Ca, alk, Mg even though it'll be another week or two) should I dose?

 

[Pod_01]

Hmmm…. I am not sure a table will work.
My suggestion is to get a test kit for Alk and calc and measure both Alk and Calc without dosing and find out what or if any is consumed.
Base your dosing on actual consumption of your tank not a table that might or might not represent your tank.
I would not be concerned with Mg yet. Get Alk and calc sorted then move on to Mg.

 

[Reeferbadness]

I agree with Pod_01, forget dosing tables. Get good test kits (Hanna for Dkh but not Calcium, for calcium i use Salifert ). Magnesium is an important part of this mix. It helps stabilize Alk and Calcium. My recommendation is to get a 3 part dosing pump once you get a handle on your parameters. There are some pretty expensive ones like the RedSea but also relatively inexpensive ones like the Jebau, which is what i use. This will make your life a heck of a lot easier and also will help control swings of each as you can slow dose over a few hours throughout the day without having to do it yourself.

 

[Colton Yuchnewicz]

i would not go by this table. or even assume you need to dose! gptta test and see what you need!

 

[Pod_01]

Just a suggestion (and addition to comments in second post), but if you are starting out you might want to consider using Tropic Marin All For Reef. It is simple system where Alk, Calc, Mg and trace elements are dosed with one solution and you can use Alk measurement to dose it. It makes getting into reefing easier and allows you to figure out other things.
Since the Alk is released slowly you can dose it by hand once a day. Doser at the start is optional.

This can give you nice reef and once comfortable you can move on to 2 part / 3 part, dosing pumps etc…

 

[Alpha_and_Gec]

Just a suggestion (and addition to comments in second post), but if you are starting out you might want to consider using Tropic Marin All For Reef. It is simple system where Alk, Calc, Mg and trace elements are dosed with one solution and you can use Alk measurement to dose it. It makes getting into reefing easier and allows you to figure out other things.
Since the Alk is released slowly you can dose it by hand once a day. Doser at the start is optional.

This can give you nice reef and once comfortable you can move on to 2 part / 3 part, dosing pumps etc…

This reef has een running for 3 years, I'm dosing to keep sps and large arthropods. I'm really just feeding growth. if there isn't a set standard I'll be dosing the same as usual, which seems to be fine.

 

[Alpha_and_Gec]

Hmmm…. I am not sure a table will work.
My suggestion is to get a test kit for Alk and calc and measure both Alk and Calc without dosing and find out what or if any is consumed.
Base your dosing on actual consumption of your tank not a table that might or might not represent your tank.
I would not be concerned with Mg yet. Get Alk and calc sorted then move on to Mg.

they are eating a fair bit of Ca, depletes off a few tens of ppm every few days. The thing is I don't know how much Ca a dose actually adds because I'm not certain how long the dispersal time. Alk is even more confusing, so I just add tiny bits regularly and it sticks around 8.4.

 

[Pod_01]

they are eating a fair bit of Ca, depletes off a few tens of ppm every few days. The thing is I don't know how much Ca a dose actually adds because I'm not certain how long the dispersal time. Alk is even more confusing, so I just add tiny bits regularly and it sticks around 8.4.

If you dosing any 2 part they are generally available quickly, let’s say within 15 minutes. I am sure experts can provide better time.
Dosing amount is based on product used, for example I use Fauna Marin Balling light and I dose 54ml daily of Alk (dosed 27times at 2ml), calc is 10ml (5 times at 2 ml). I don’t dose Mg I don’t seem to need it. Other 2 parts require equal dosing of Alk and calc etc… Don’t dose the Alk and Calc at the same time give 15 minutes before adding the other.

 

[Thumbster]

Will this reef chemistry calculator help you?
http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html

 

[Alpha_and_Gec]

If you dosing any 2 part they are generally available quickly, let’s say within 15 minutes. I am sure experts can provide better time.
Dosing amount is based on product used, for example I use Fauna Marin Balling light and I dose 54ml daily of Alk (dosed 27times at 2ml), calc is 10ml (5 times at 2 ml). I don’t dose Mg I don’t seem to need it. Other 2 parts require equal dosing of Alk and calc etc… Don’t dose the Alk and Calc at the same time give 15 minutes before adding the other.

it's not about being bioavailable, it's about it being homogeneous enough for a Ca test to actually accurately measure. Nontheless, at the end of the day it's just spending two charges of the kit every time I add a coral. I'd just prefer to not waste tests on something I can get from asking.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Personally, for just 3 corals, there really is no need to dose anything.

Cannot really have a discussion with you about it since you have no test results to discuss, or you are not sharing any numbers at least. Can't talk without actual numbers, and cannot suggest to dose anything with out looking at the numbers, thats how its done.

 

[Alpha_and_Gec]

Personally, for just 3 corals, there really is no need to dose anything.

Cannot really have a discussion with you about it since you have no test results to discuss, or you are not sharing any numbers at least. Can't talk without actual numbers, and cannot suggest to dose anything with out looking at the numbers, thats how its done.

I don’t want to boost my Ca and alk to a specific level, I want to maintain my current level, and thus I need to know how much all these corals consume as opposed to how much calcium I actually have, which is roughly 430ppm at 8.4 alk.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I need to know how much all these corals consume

For this you need to stop dosing, let the tank come down to baseline. Then you test every day for a week, you will see exactly how much your corals consume daily/weekly. Then you have the numbers, so you can figure out how much to add to maintain.

 

[Jobe S.]

I agree, each tank consumes a different amount of those foundation elements and you should not dose anything for a two-week period and watch how much of the elements your tank consumes.

 

[Alpha_and_Gec]

For this you need to stop dosing, let the tank come down to baseline. Then you test every day for a week, you will see exactly how much your corals consume daily/weekly. Then you have the numbers, so you can figure out how much to add to maintain.

Thought there would be a table of some sort for calcium consumption per polyp per hour for the more common species… guess not.

 

[Alpha_and_Gec]

For this you need to stop dosing, let the tank come down to baseline. Then you test every day for a week, you will see exactly how much your corals consume daily/weekly. Then you have the numbers, so you can figure out how much to add to maintain.

By the way, there isn’t a baseline. Normally my tank doesn’t seem to replenish calcium by itself, the corals would just keep uptaking it. The hammers and conch(they’re the only non - pests that consume Ca) took nearly a hundred ppm in the few weeks I’ve had them. Should I let it floor out to 0ppm and rebuild from there? That might cost me my entire stock of CaCl2 solution…

 

[Pod_01]

Thought there would be a table of some sort for calcium consumption per polyp per hour for the more common species… guess not.

Not that I know of, but you could try to create one. Sounds like fun project.

So out of curiosity how many polyps do you have on your Montipora?

I keep a chunk of montipora,

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

i would not go by this table. or even assume you need to dose! gptta test and see what you need!

lol

I wrote that table, and it is clearly identified as

Table 1. Suggested starting daily doses of this supplement in different aquaria.​

Then there are extensive and appropriate dosing instructions:

Dosing Instructions

---

The dosing instructions are basically the same for each recipe, although any given aquarium will end up using about twice as much of recipe #2 as recipe #1 to add the same amount of calcium and alkalinity.

To initiate dosing, first adjust calcium and alkalinity to roughly their correct ranges. This may require a substantial dose of just the calcium part if calcium is low (e.g., below 380 ppm). I would suggest targeting calcium between 380 and 450 ppm, and alkalinity between 2.5 and 4 meq/L (7-11 dKH; 125-200 ppm calcium carbonate equivalents).

This calculator shows how much of what parts to add in order to boost one or both of the parameters by a certain amount:
Reef chemicals calculator
http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chem_calc3.html

Then, once things seem roughly correct, select a starting daily dose for routine dosing. Here are some suggested starting doses, but the exact values do not matter much. The suggested doses apply to both recipes.

After a few days of dosing, note whether alkalinity is low, high or on target. Only bother to test alkalinity, not calcium, during this period, because it is much more sensitive than calcium to over- or underdosing. Adjust the dose up or down as necessary to increase or decrease the alkalinity.

Once you have determined the proper dose, continue it until there is a substantial reason to adjust it (such as falling alkalinity as the corals increase in size). When adjusting the dose, raise or lower both of the recipe's parts together.

Resist the temptation to keep jiggering calcium and alkalinity independently. They will need occasional corrections, but that should not be the normal course of dosing unless there are substantial outside influences, such as water changes with a salt mix that does not match the tank's parameters or an error in making the mixes.

Check alkalinity fairly frequently to make sure the dosing continues at a suitable rate. Check it maybe once a week to once a month (or less as you get more experienced with the system and the tank). Check calcium once a month to once every few months to make sure it continues on track.

Remember to add an appropriate amount of Part 3 each time you finish adding a gallon of Parts 1 and 2.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I don’t want to boost my Ca and alk to a specific level, I want to maintain my current level, and thus I need to know how much all these corals consume as opposed to how much calcium I actually have, which is roughly 430ppm at 8.4 alk.

Which is best done by trial and error dosing to stabilize alk.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Thought there would be a table of some sort for calcium consumption per polyp per hour for the more common species… guess not.

Nope. It depends strongly on many things such as pH, lighting, flow, and nutrients.

Corals are also not the only user of alk and calcium. Often, they are not even the main user.