What's the first thing you start dosing?

[Aquaman102]

I'm getting to the point where I am thinking about starting a dosing program to get my softy an LPS corals to grow a little quicker.

If everything is in range per the normal specs, what would you start dosing first to encourage more growth?

I've got a 120 gallon tank, with a 40 gallon breeder sump.

120 lb of rock
Reef Breeders Photon V2 lights
Salinity - 35 ppt
78 degrees
pH - 8.1
phosphate - .05
Nitrate - 2 - 5 ppm

Is Kalkwasser the first step? I do have an ATO.

 

[mta_morrow]

The first thing you need to do is get good test kits for alkalinity, calcium, and magnesium.

Then, test.

Then test again the next day at the same time to determine how much your tank uses everyday.

Then, use a dosing chart to determine how much to dose to maintain.

You will also have to dose to get to desired levels, but first you have to know where you are

 

[ZoWhat]

Waterchanges are a great way to start dosing. Call me crazy. Lololololololololol

 

[vetteguy53081]

Agree- CA, Mag and Kalk. Also temp and salinity

 

[W1ngz]

The first thing I started dosing was what my alk, cal and mag tests consistently showed me were low.
alk was always really low come water change time, so I started evening it out with a little baking soda in my topoff water.

 

[krash7172]

Pardon the question but exactly what additives are considered "dosing"?

To answer the OP, I only test salinity and alkalinity and do regular water changes. My softies are thriving. Those are the first and minimum things to worry about imo. Stonies will need more.

 

[corresnake]

I wanna start dosing too.
I will start to do the testing .
And see where my parameters take from there.

 

[homer1475]

First thing you should start dosing..... Water. Saltwater to be exact.

If you start to notice a drop in parameters, see if a normal WC brings them back up. When a WC fails to bring levels back up from consumption, then start testing. Once you get a good idea of how much your tank requires daily, then start adding ALK, and/or CAL daily to keep your tank at a constant(remember stability is the key here, not wild fluctuations).

 

[EW_Fish]

Well if you don't have a ton of corals that soak up alk and cal then water changes would work. If you want I would consider keeping alk and cal stable for a healthy tank,

 

[foxt]

You didn’t list your all, what is it at?