About to Start my Dosing Journey

[mythesis]

Hey all, tank is about a year old and I think it's time I start regularly adding to the water to help the corals grow.

In Late Aug/Sept, I started testing Alk more regularly and realized it had dropped down to 7ish. I added some Reef Fusion 2-Part, making the Coraline algae *explode* as seen above. Now, Calcium levels dropped a ton and I'm having to add 20-40 ml of each part each day (90 gal display).

So, figured it's time to automate this and have tons of questions. Ordered some pumps and going to start setting up automation.

1. Does it matter *when* to dose? I know the 2 part is supposed to be separated. I see some notes about dosing alk at night to help with pH?

2. I assume ramp up slow, test often and make sure nothing goes overboard.

3. Is RF 2-part the way go to? I'm considering moving to the All4Reef instead? Thoughts?

4. It seems like sometimes after I add Phyto/Feed/2Part (I generally do it all in the same morning routine), the skimmer goes *nuts* and just overflows immediately. I frequently have to just pull the cup off for a few hours to let things settle back down. Is that normal? How do folks handle that if they're going to automate?


In general, would just love some guidance. Feels like nothing is *thriving* coral-wise. I tried adding some Red Sea AB+ a couple months ago, and all it did was led to an explosion of Bubble Algae & Cyano --- right after 2-3 heads of the hammer fell off, which wasn't awesome at all.

I started adding Phyto again recently, which has led to an uptick in 'pods on the glass.

I also recently dropped flow a little and it seems like the torch appreciates that a little bit, extending some.

I would love to try and get some more corals, but until these start thriving, I fear it's not a good idea.


Other nutrients:

Salinity: 1.025
Temp: 78
Nitrates: 18 (Hanna)
Phosphates: 0.1 (Hanna)
Alk: 9.5 (Salifert)
Calcium: 350 (Salifert) --- had been around 400 and dropped after getting Alk up from 7ish

 

[BonnieB]

Hey all, tank is about a year old and I think it's time I start regularly adding to the water to help the corals grow.

In Late Aug/Sept, I started testing Alk more regularly and realized it had dropped down to 7ish. I added some Reef Fusion 2-Part, making the Coraline algae *explode* as seen above. Now, Calcium levels dropped a ton and I'm having to add 20-40 ml of each part each day (90 gal display).

So, figured it's time to automate this and have tons of questions. Ordered some pumps and going to start setting up automation.

1. Does it matter *when* to dose? I know the 2 part is supposed to be separated. I see some notes about dosing alk at night to help with pH?

2. I assume ramp up slow, test often and make sure nothing goes overboard.

3. Is RF 2-part the way go to? I'm considering moving to the All4Reef instead? Thoughts?

4. It seems like sometimes after I add Phyto/Feed/2Part (I generally do it all in the same morning routine), the skimmer goes *nuts* and just overflows immediately. I frequently have to just pull the cup off for a few hours to let things settle back down. Is that normal? How do folks handle that if they're going to automate?


In general, would just love some guidance. Feels like nothing is *thriving* coral-wise. I tried adding some Red Sea AB+ a couple months ago, and all it did was led to an explosion of Bubble Algae & Cyano --- right after 2-3 heads of the hammer fell off, which wasn't awesome at all.

I started adding Phyto again recently, which has led to an uptick in 'pods on the glass.

I also recently dropped flow a little and it seems like the torch appreciates that a little bit, extending some.

I would love to try and get some more corals, but until these start thriving, I fear it's not a good idea.


Other nutrients:

Salinity: 1.025
Temp: 78
Nitrates: 18 (Hanna)
Phosphates: 0.1 (Hanna)
Alk: 9.5 (Salifert)
Calcium: 350 (Salifert) --- had been around 400 and dropped after getting Alk up from 7ish

Yep, good to start dosing.

1. My Alk is at night…cal is mid day and my mag is morning.

2. Yes, start slow, lowest dose, test in a week, up or down a little based on tests until you find that sweet spot.

3. That’s a personal preference. I like individual elements so I can control and adjust more easily.

4. Yes, so very annoying. I’ve had my cup off seems like forever after adding AB+…use less, less frequently and build…out of curiosity is the skimmer new/relatively new? I was fine until I had to replace mine with a new one…apparently they take a while to be “seasoned.”

I hope this helps you some!

 

[mythesis]

No, skimmer has been around for a year working fine. Was shocked to check on it the other day and it was just pouring water. Figured out it was happening after I add either the RF1/2/or Phyto (not sure which one). This morning, no issues even after adding everything. Yesterday had to leave it off for half the afternoon.

Just weirdness.

 

[BonnieB]

No, skimmer has been around for a year working fine. Was shocked to check on it the other day and it was just pouring water. Figured out it was happening after I add either the RF1/2/or Phyto (not sure which one). This morning, no issues even after adding everything. Yesterday had to leave it off for half the afternoon.

Just weirdness.

Truth! Of all my equipment, the skimmer gives me the most grief. I’m going to go research all about them!

 

[exnisstech]

I have no idea why but I have one skimmer that will randomly overflow once in a while. Corals and rock flowers love it when it happens.
New to dosing AFR may be the easiest to maintain alk and calcium. It also adds some trace elements I've read. This tanks been running on just AFR and small 2g WCs every 2 weeks on 65g total for 2+ years. The only other thing I add is ammonium when NO3 shows 0. I dose starting when lights start ramping up.

EDIT: I target 8 - 9 dkH trying to stay close to 8.5

 

[nickm]

Scrape some of the coralline algae off and your alk will jump up. I just did mine.

 

[mythesis]

@exnisstech that's a beautiful tank! I did notice the last time I started dosing Phyto that my Nitrates went to 0 and had to add some ammonium solution (credit to Randy for the recipe!)

@nickm --- yeah, going to add some more urchins to eat up some of the coralline as well. I never bothered to try and scrape it off the back glass, I figured it was "fine" to be there until I realized how much alk it was consuming!

 

[X-37B]

Truth! Of all my equipment, the skimmer gives me the most grief. I’m going to go research all about them!

Tunze 9410dc are as set and forget as they come. I run one on my 35 and 55. I run 2 9430dc's on my 150.
Cup and neck lift off as one piece.
Anti overflow. No need to turn it off when feeding.
Only the neck/cup have been cleaned in 20 months since startup.