Am I doing it right? Red Sea Supplement

TLKAg87 · Jul 23, 2019

I am relatively new to reefing. I have had my 75 gal tank right at one year. I now have a handful of coral in the tank. Leathers, zoas, mushrooms and LPS. The leathers (2) are big, zoas have a pretty good colony going now. I bought some Red Sea supplement liquid, and have been dosing manually. I'm trying to keep the Alkalinity at around 8, but it is dropping to 7.3 to 7.5 almost daily. I am putting 15 to 20ml of Alk supp in the sump very slowly almost every night. I just pour a little bit at a time in between the last baffles prior to the return pump. Ca and Mg are holding pretty steady at 380 and 1280. When I dose Ca and Mg, I do the same thing by slowly pouring the liquid supp into the sump. I've not noticed any precipitation.

I have read the "two part" articles, and just can't seem to grasp that concept. I'm still intimidated by the whole dosing process. Am I doing it right?

SPR1968 · Jul 23, 2019

Basically you need to add enough each day so that the levels remain constant for whichever parameter your concerned about and you can just pour it into the sump as with 75g you will be fine.

You will make life much easier if you get an auto doser to do it for you and then just check and adjust the amounts each week

Your calcium and magnesium are a little low but it depends what your aiming for.

Ruben's Reef · Jul 23, 2019

I was dosing manually until I get tired and got two BRS dosing pumps to dose ATI Essential Pro. I dose the two parts an hour apart to avoid precipitation.

BestMomEver · Jul 23, 2019

I use all Red Sea stuff (salt, 2 part, colors additives). I find that I have to dose more buffer than calcium. I keep my dkh between 9 and 11. My calcium is about 440. Feel free to PM me if you need to. I’ll help if I can.

TLKAg87 · Jul 23, 2019

SPR1968 said:
Basically you need to add enough each day so that the levels remain constant for whichever parameter your concerned about and you can just pour it into the sump as with 75g you will be fine.

You will make life much easier if you get an auto doser to do it for you and then just check and adjust the amounts each week

Your calcium and magnesium are a little low but it depends what your aiming for.

Shaun,
thanks for the quick response. I appreciate your input. I will start saving up for an auto doser, but in the meantime, I will keep doing what I am doing. In your opinion, what is a good number for Ca and Mg?

SPR1968 · Jul 23, 2019

TLKAg87 said:
Shaun,
thanks for the quick response. I appreciate your input. I will start saving up for an auto doser, but in the meantime, I will keep doing what I am doing. In your opinion, what is a good number for Ca and Mg?

Personally I go for

Alkalinity 8
Calcium 430
Magnesium 1320-1400 (I don’t mind this higher as it facilitates things)

Also take a look on the Red Sea site, I would have recommended the mixed reef numbers but their alkalinity is on the high side for me and I have done those levels for over 12 months on their accelerated growth program

Reef Care Recipes - Red Sea

Red Sea's recipes for easy & successful Reef-Keeping, Our Reef Care Recipes offer easy-to-understand and simple-to-implement instructions for reef maintenance, tailored to each type of aquarium.

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