About to start dosing have question

[USN74NMCB]

My tank will be turning 2 years on April 4th and im about to start dosing. I have been running calcium and alkalinity test for almost 7 days this Friday will be 7 days in order to find my daily consumption. I know how to do the calculations for what i need to dose daily to stabilize parameters. My question is since i know where i woul like my numbers. They are lower then i want them by doing the calculations to get where i want them i should do a maintenance dose to get them there first. Then enable my daily dosing based off my daily consumption. So it will hold the parameters where they are supposed to be and adjust dosing schedule off another week or two of testing to keep where i want them. I will be needing to get a mag test kit to verify Magnisum levels and dose that monthly manually as i know mag does not get consumed as much as calcium and alkalinity. I'm using BRS 2 part with Magnisum and in time will get the ioncB to keep balance of the calcium and alkalinity dosingbut know that can be 6 months to a year down the line. Thanks in advance for helping with the above question.

 

[Reefer Matt]

My tank will be turning 2 years on April 4th and im about to start dosing. I have been running calcium and alkalinity test for almost 7 days this Friday will be 7 days in order to find my daily consumption. I know how to do the calculations for what i need to dose daily to stabilize parameters. My question is since i know where i woul like my numbers. They are lower then i want them by doing the calculations to get where i want them i should do a maintenance dose to get them there first. Then enable my daily dosing based off my daily consumption. So it will hold the parameters where they are supposed to be and adjust dosing schedule off another week or two of testing to keep where i want them. I will be needing to get a mag test kit to verify Magnisum levels and dose that monthly manually as i know mag does not get consumed as much as calcium and alkalinity. I'm using BRS 2 part with Magnisum and in time will get the ioncB to keep balance of the calcium and alkalinity dosingbut know that can be 6 months to a year down the line. Thanks in advance for helping with the above question.

If you want to change parameters, do it slowly. If they are just a little low because of consumption, you can dose them up first if not too far off. Expect to make adjustments occasionally, and don’t assume the doser is keeping things stable. Where are you at now, versus where you want to be?

 

[USN74NMCB]

Cal 400 looking for 450
Alkalinity 7.5 looking for 9

Looks to be a 1 dkh drop over a week and 50 cal drop over the week from a 10 gallon weekly water change will know exact numbers tomorrow after water test but thats after 6 days of testing WC hapens on Tuesdays night.

 

[USN74NMCB]

My tank will be turning 2 years on April 4th and im about to start dosing. I have been running calcium and alkalinity test for almost 7 days this Friday will be 7 days in order to find my daily consumption. I know how to do the calculations for what i need to dose daily to stabilize parameters. My question is since i know where i woul like my numbers. They are lower then i want them by doing the calculations to get where i want them i should do a maintenance dose to get them there first. Then enable my daily dosing based off my daily consumption. So it will hold the parameters where they are supposed to be and adjust dosing schedule off another week or two of testing to keep where i want them. I will be needing to get a mag test kit to verify Magnisum levels and dose that monthly manually as i know mag does not get consumed as much as calcium and alkalinity. I'm using BRS 2 part with Magnisum and in time will get the ioncB to keep balance of the calcium and alkalinity dosingbut know that can be 6 months to a year down the line. Thanks in advance for helping with the above question.

If you want to change parameters, do it slowly. If they are just a little low because of consumption, you can dose them up first if not too far off. Expect to make adjustments occasionally, and don’t assume the doser is keeping things stable. Where are you at now, versus where you want to be?

Wenseday test less then 25 hours after water change
Cal 440
Alk 8

 

[USN74NMCB]

And i know i have to keep testing even after setting up dosing schedule as stuff grows or add more voral will need to adjust dosing. Was just curious if i should do does to get where i want and then do daily consumption dosing to hold it there

 

[Reefer Matt]

Cal 400 looking for 450
Alkalinity 7.5 looking for 9

Looks to be a 1 dkh drop over a week and 50 cal drop over the week from a 10 gallon weekly water change will know exact numbers tomorrow after water test but thats after 6 days of testing WC hapens on Tuesdays night.

I’d dose it to 8-8.5 dkh alk, then see what the trend is. You will probably have to make adjustments at first anyway. Calcium shouldn’t be a problem if dosed up front.

 

[USN74NMCB]

Im sure i will its been many moons since the last time i was dosing a tank and things have changed so much from back then so before i get started figured i would clairify before i started it.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I recommend neither getting a magnesium kit, nor testing it. The testing is often too inaccurate to guide dosing. Just dose it based off the calcium dosed.

This has more:

Just say NO to magnesium testing: RMM is born

OK, this thread has been many years in the making, and I'm posting it here since folks in the chem forum are probably already tired of all the threads relating to problematic magnesium testing. I'm going to propose a method, let's call it the Randy Magnesium Method, or RMM for short. All good...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Sophie"s mom]

If you want to change parameters, do it slowly. If they are just a little low because of consumption, you can dose them up first if not too far off. Expect to make adjustments occasionally, and don’t assume the doser is keeping things stable. Where are you at now, versus where you want to be?

Great advice here! I did just that, and my doser was off a bit so my alk dropped because I did just that. Check weekly once you have it where you want it. Things always change.

 

[USN74NMCB]

After test this evening i got my weekly usage of calcium and alkalinity. My total system volume is 400 gallons which after geting weekly calculation and dividing by 7 for daily dose i have 233.9 ml calcium and 40.8 alkilinity. Did a calcium dose this evening to get up to where i want it and will start the calcium daily dosing at 0630 to 1830 split 10 times to does the 233.9ml of calcium. Alkalinity will get a 1dkh bump tonight and a 1dkh bump tomorrow night and at that point will set schedual to dose alkalinity daily dosing 1900 to 0600 split 10 times through the night to does the 40.8 ml daily

 

[aussie_aquarium1]

The thing that trips most people up with two-part is that there are actually two different doses, and most calculators only show you one of them.

Correction dose is what you do *once*: the amount of supplement to bring a parameter from where it is now to where you want it. If you're at 7.0 dKH and want 8.5, that's the correction. You spread it across a few days (rule of thumb is no more than 1 dKH/day) and then you stop.

Maintenance dose is what you do *every day forever*: replaces what your corals consume. This number depends on coral load, light, growth, totally different from how far off your starting point was. You can only know it by testing 2–3 times across a week and watching how fast alk drifts down between tests.

If you dose the correction amount every day, you bury the tank. If you only dose maintenance when you're starting out behind target, you never catch up. You need both, in sequence, not the same number repeated.

 

[USN74NMCB]

The thing that trips most people up with two-part is that there are actually two different doses, and most calculators only show you one of them.

Correction dose is what you do *once*: the amount of supplement to bring a parameter from where it is now to where you want it. If you're at 7.0 dKH and want 8.5, that's the correction. You spread it across a few days (rule of thumb is no more than 1 dKH/day) and then you stop.

Maintenance dose is what you do *every day forever*: replaces what your corals consume. This number depends on coral load, light, growth, totally different from how far off your starting point was. You can only know it by testing 2–3 times across a week and watching how fast alk drifts down between tests.

If you dose the correction amount every day, you bury the tank. If you only dose maintenance when you're starting out behind target, you never catch up. You need both, in sequence, not the same number repeated.

Yes i tested for a week and found what was being used daily. Then i figure corrrection dose to get where it need to be. And change to daily uses dose after getting levels up. So far everything is been where it should be and everything in tank is doing much better.

 

[Kooma]

I prefer to begin dosing with the calculated loss. Start with that for a week and see how the tank responds and ensure your dose covered the expected loss and everything remains stable.

Once you’ve done this, add 10% of the calculated maintenance dose needed to each days dosage.

In a week, check that you are 70% of the way to the end goal.

I’d personally undershoot a little bit, especially if you don’t notice anything wrong with your corals.

My magic number was 8.3-8.5, I dosed all for reef and calculated dosage off alkalinity loss alone. I tested the others monthly, all weekly once it was stable.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The thing that trips most people up with two-part is that there are actually two different doses, and most calculators only show you one of them.

Correction dose is what you do *once*: the amount of supplement to bring a parameter from where it is now to where you want it. If you're at 7.0 dKH and want 8.5, that's the correction. You spread it across a few days (rule of thumb is no more than 1 dKH/day) and then you stop.

Maintenance dose is what you do *every day forever*: replaces what your corals consume. This number depends on coral load, light, growth, totally different from how far off your starting point was. You can only know it by testing 2–3 times across a week and watching how fast alk drifts down between tests.

If you dose the correction amount every day, you bury the tank. If you only dose maintenance when you're starting out behind target, you never catch up. You need both, in sequence, not the same number repeated.

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

While I agree, I actually prefer to home in on the maintenance dose iteratively rather than try to calculate it, because that needed dose will change as the absolute alk changes and as the pH changes with dose. :)

 

[aussie_aquarium1]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

While I agree, I actually prefer to home in on the maintenance dose iteratively rather than try to calculate it, because that needed dose will change as the absolute alk changes and as the pH changes with dose. :)

Thanks @Randy Holmes-Farley , that's a fair refinement. My usual reason to start from a
calculated estimate is that it gives someone with no baseline data a starting point to iterate
from rather than a cold start. But you're right that the calculated number is almost never the
final one.

Your point about pH-shift changing apparent demand as alk lifts is one I see missed a lot,
people recalibrate their dosing thinking consumption changed when really their pH drifted up and
the same dose now lifts alk further. Appreciate the welcome, and thanks for the perspective.