Jon Warner
Well-Known Member
I've been reading through reef related web forums since Compuserve FishNet in the mid-90's
And I've NEVER seen so many people having dosing problems.
Look at the Reef Chemistry forum here. Half of the threads are dosing problem related.
Just a few tips and notes:
1) If you don't have a significant demand, don't dose. What this means is if you don't have a high enough number of corals removing Calcium and Alkalinity from your water DON'T dose it. Water changes will replenish Ca/Alk for a great number of people here.
2) Use a good salt. Consistency is more important than the flavor of the week that your friend recommends. Instant Ocean is great for the vast majority of users and batch to batch it is very consistent.
3) Don't dose ANYTHING without testing your water.
4) Don't chase a "number". If you've been running 390-400 Calcium, why are you dosing to hit 420? Do you believe that an extra 30ppm of Calcium will make your corals grow better?
5) Be careful with DIY 2-Part. Most of these threads with problems are people dosing DIY 2-Part who either don't need it or don't know how to do it. When you add Calcium it affects Alkalinity and vice versa.
Think of it this way. You have a white plastic bucket, it is filled with glass marbles. Blue Marbles are Calcium Ions, Red marbles are Alaklinity, Green are Magnesium, etc...
There is a 1" space from the marbles to the top of the bucket. If you add a little bit more of an element it will affect the natural ionic balance ratio of the water. But if you add too many marbles to the bucket then other marbles spill out. The water can't hold infinite amounts of elements in solution.
So if you add too much Alkalinity, Calcium and Magnesium can come out of solution. Or add too much Calcium and Calcium and Alkalinity come out of solution.
6) So to many of you... stop dosing Calcium and Alkalinity!
Verify that it is NECESSARY first. Measure your actual usage. And not usage/loss from precipitation. If you can start Monday morning with 400ppm Ca and you're 320 by Friday, ok you should be dosing Calcium. How many of you have that kind of bio load? Some hobbyists do, I've seen some that dose 200-300ml a day in fact... but those are exceptional systems that literally grow massive SPS corals.
So... be patient, don't chase "magic numbers". Get in a good comfortable relationship with test kits.
Oh and BTW this comes from someone whose business IS additives and supplements.
And I've NEVER seen so many people having dosing problems.
Look at the Reef Chemistry forum here. Half of the threads are dosing problem related.
Just a few tips and notes:
1) If you don't have a significant demand, don't dose. What this means is if you don't have a high enough number of corals removing Calcium and Alkalinity from your water DON'T dose it. Water changes will replenish Ca/Alk for a great number of people here.
2) Use a good salt. Consistency is more important than the flavor of the week that your friend recommends. Instant Ocean is great for the vast majority of users and batch to batch it is very consistent.
3) Don't dose ANYTHING without testing your water.
4) Don't chase a "number". If you've been running 390-400 Calcium, why are you dosing to hit 420? Do you believe that an extra 30ppm of Calcium will make your corals grow better?
5) Be careful with DIY 2-Part. Most of these threads with problems are people dosing DIY 2-Part who either don't need it or don't know how to do it. When you add Calcium it affects Alkalinity and vice versa.
Think of it this way. You have a white plastic bucket, it is filled with glass marbles. Blue Marbles are Calcium Ions, Red marbles are Alaklinity, Green are Magnesium, etc...
There is a 1" space from the marbles to the top of the bucket. If you add a little bit more of an element it will affect the natural ionic balance ratio of the water. But if you add too many marbles to the bucket then other marbles spill out. The water can't hold infinite amounts of elements in solution.
So if you add too much Alkalinity, Calcium and Magnesium can come out of solution. Or add too much Calcium and Calcium and Alkalinity come out of solution.
6) So to many of you... stop dosing Calcium and Alkalinity!
Verify that it is NECESSARY first. Measure your actual usage. And not usage/loss from precipitation. If you can start Monday morning with 400ppm Ca and you're 320 by Friday, ok you should be dosing Calcium. How many of you have that kind of bio load? Some hobbyists do, I've seen some that dose 200-300ml a day in fact... but those are exceptional systems that literally grow massive SPS corals.
So... be patient, don't chase "magic numbers". Get in a good comfortable relationship with test kits.
Oh and BTW this comes from someone whose business IS additives and supplements.
