When is the best time of day to dose additives?

[Rob Lion]

Hi,
I currently dose Ca, Alk, Mg, NOPOX with a dosing pump.

I made the assumption that my corals need their additives during light hours, when they are open and presumably growing. (SPS/LPS)
My light schedule ramps up from 7am to peak at 2pm and down to moonlight at 7pm. I have my refugium lights on from 6pm to 8am.

I dose Mg at 6am, so it's in the system first,
then at odd hours , 9am, 11am, 1pm, 3pm and 5pm i dose my Alk in equal amounts.
at even hours , 10am, 12pm, 2pm,4pm,6pm i dose my Ca in equal amounts.
I dose my NOPOX (red sea carbon dosing) once a day at 7pm, on the grounds that i've added all the food i'm going to, so it can get to work over the evening/night on the resultant nitrates/phosphates.

On testing, my Alk reads 1 dKH lower at 2am than it does at 2pm, so I guess its still being used up after the last dosing at 5pm. Interestingly, pH stays fairly stable at about 8.2 all day and night.

1. Should I spread my dosing over 24 hours? or ramp dosing up and down to follow my lighting schedule?
2. When should I dose NOPOX?

I'd like to try to keep my parameters stable over the whole day, as I have seen many people test at a fixed time (say 1pm) and dose whats needed afterwards... but surely that means that the parameters will be perfect only at that time only.

Any thoughts appreciated.

Rob

 

[Live Water]

I believe sps add mass at night....this is sourced from David Attenborough and he is referring to the actual reefs not closed system habits. I run a calcium reactor but sometimes I auto dose acropower, I would say an even dose 24/7. That's how I do the acropower. And that's how the oceans run.

 

[FishOfHex]

Hi,
I currently dose Ca, Alk, Mg, NOPOX with a dosing pump.

I made the assumption that my corals need their additives during light hours, when they are open and presumably growing. (SPS/LPS)
My light schedule ramps up from 7am to peak at 2pm and down to moonlight at 7pm. I have my refugium lights on from 6pm to 8am.

I dose Mg at 6am, so it's in the system first,
then at odd hours , 9am, 11am, 1pm, 3pm and 5pm i dose my Alk in equal amounts.
at even hours , 10am, 12pm, 2pm,4pm,6pm i dose my Ca in equal amounts.
I dose my NOPOX (red sea carbon dosing) once a day at 7pm, on the grounds that i've added all the food i'm going to, so it can get to work over the evening/night on the resultant nitrates/phosphates.

On testing, my Alk reads 1 dKH lower at 2am than it does at 2pm, so I guess its still being used up after the last dosing at 5pm. Interestingly, pH stays fairly stable at about 8.2 all day and night.

1. Should I spread my dosing over 24 hours? or ramp dosing up and down to follow my lighting schedule?
2. When should I dose NOPOX?

I'd like to try to keep my parameters stable over the whole day, as I have seen many people test at a fixed time (say 1pm) and dose whats needed afterwards... but surely that means that the parameters will be perfect only at that time only.

Any thoughts appreciated.

Rob

I dose most of my two part at night ill link a couple videos

 

[FishOfHex]

 

[Salty1962]

I dose 24/7 to keep things consistent. So I get 2 doses during day and 2 at night for Alk and Ca.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

From what I have seen from hobbyists, alk is consumed most during the day.

Personally, I'd dose organic carbon in the early to mid part of the light cycle because it tends to lower O2 as it is metabolized, and I'd want that to happen when it is already high.

 

[Rob Lion]

Thanks you all, and great videos @FishOfHex , i've subscribed!

@Live Water , now you have got me thinking!..... do corals build skeletons during the night and flesh during the day?...... if so, dosing Alk at night makes more sense...

I'm surprised there isn't more information out there regarding dosing schedules and water parameter stability, after all, that's what we are all trying to achieve.
I guess I should first dose equal amounts of Alk every hour for a few days, then test Alk every hour (55mins after the dosing) for a whole day, to see the hourly Alk usage data, then adjust dosing on my findings for a few days and re-test again.

@Randy Holmes-Farley thanks, that makes sense... it also means that any bacteria produced can be consumed by corals to during the day as well as being removed by the protein skimmer.

 

[FishOfHex]

Thanks you all, and great videos @FishOfHex , i've subscribed!

@Live Water , now you have got me thinking!..... do corals build skeletons during the night and flesh during the day?...... if so, dosing Alk at night makes more sense...

I'm surprised there isn't more information out there regarding dosing schedules and water parameter stability, after all, that's what we are all trying to achieve.
I guess I should first dose equal amounts of Alk every hour for a few days, then test Alk every hour (55mins after the dosing) for a whole day, to see the hourly Alk usage data, then adjust dosing on my findings for a few days and re-test again.

@Randy Holmes-Farley thanks, that makes sense... it also means that any bacteria produced can be consumed by corals to during the day as well as being removed by the protein skimmer.

No problem man we are all looking for the same answers but at the end of the day sometimes we need to just try something and wait to see if it works. Base all your decisions off of what others have tried and either failed or have been successful, Unfortunately every tank is different. Also thanks for the Sub.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Here's a discussion of whether alk depletion is 24/7 or mostly at day or night, with some folks clearly seeing it mostly in the day:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/alk-swing-night.216823/

 

[Cment]

I'm with salty1962, I dose every hour alternating Alk and Ca over a 24hr cycle bc I feel consistency is key. I do weekly water changes so I rarely have to add Mg. I dose NoPox when my lights come on at 11:30am. This is broken apart equally over a 6hr period. My light go off at 10pm so it's stopped 4hrs before for the reasons Randy mentioned

 

[Rob Lion]

@Randy Holmes-Farley thank you yet again!! That is the exact information I was looking for and saves me from having to run Alk tests over whole day too ! ....(although I am still temped to do it)

For those that haven't read the article in the other thread, It says that Alkalinity consumption basically follows the lighting schedule, but the actual calcification within corals lags by about 3 hours due to its internal conversions of inorganic matter. It also says that a corals ability to dispel H- (protons) is limited during darkness hours, possibly due to slower water movement, causing a lowering of pH within the Coral boundary layer around it and can be a problem. So what is more important, consistent Alkalinity or consistent pH?

I am also wondering, if this could be the root cause for RTN or STN..... more acidic water at the slower water moving parts of a coral structure, causing a lowering of pH causing tissue death, in turn causing even more acidity .....

 

[Larry L]

From what I have seen from hobbyists, alk is consumed most during the day.

Personally, I'd dose organic carbon in the early to mid part of the light cycle because it tends to lower O2 as it is metabolized, and I'd want that to happen when it is already high.

So assuming you dose alk during the day and organic carbon during the early part of the light cycle, when does it make sense to dose calcium? I've always dosed my calcium at opposite times of the day than alk, because I figured that might reduce the chance of precipitation? Not sure if that matters or not.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

So assuming you dose alk during the day and organic carbon during the early part of the light cycle, when does it make sense to dose calcium? I've always dosed my calcium at opposite times of the day than alk, because I figured that might reduce the chance of precipitation? Not sure if that matters or not.

Calcium is unlikely to change much during 24 h and I don't think it matters much when or how often you dose it each day. Calcium is also not usually limiting to coral growth at the levels we try to maintain.

 

[Seabourne78]

Hi I would love to talk about dosing I'm new when it comes to this . I want the best results for my system. Wanna know the best times in a 24 hour span to dose. And I'd like you to break it down for me if you could. Thank Chris

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Hi I would love to talk about dosing I'm new when it comes to this . I want the best results for my system. Wanna know the best times in a 24 hour span to dose. And I'd like you to break it down for me if you could. Thank Chris

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

What exactly are you choosing to dose and are you using dosing pumps or manual addition?

 

[Strat1960s]

I have been dosing 2-part hourly (Alk 0200, 0400, 0600 ... and Cal 0100, 0300, 0500 ...) over a 24/7 period, for over 1 year. I know part of my PH swing is due to lighting schedule, but my PH usually swings from 8.08 to 8.25 during a 24-hour period. (not sure if this is too much of a swing or not) I also dose Mag daily 5.5 mL at 10am. Tanks is pretty stable throughout the day, without any (what I'd consider) major swings.
Note: My tank is less than 2-years old and is not loaded up with a lot of corals..... yet

 

[Rich Klein]

I run a calcium reactor 24/7, but will augment ALK, CA, and Mag via my Apex DOS for fine-tuning (soda ash at night for boosting PH). But I hand dose Reef Energy AB+ each day by hand (pre-measured and refrigerated). Feedback about the timing for the Reef Energy from anyone would be great. I currently add it in the afternoon.

 

[StewL6]

I dose all for reef 6 times a day spreed over 24 hours every day so every 4 hours via an X-1. I also hand dose iodine and Ferron 6 drops each, every Monday and Thursday Morning as per my weekly maintenance schedule. ALK has been pretty darn consistent for a year now 9.02 - 9.07 i've had to make small dosing adjustments when changing the all for reef dosing container. Also on Monday and Thursday i make a AB+/frozen food/ Sustainable Hachery DIet concoction to target/boardcast feed Corals and Anemones. Fish get in on the action also. The Anemones particularly like it (color and bubbles)