Auto dosing question

[Hawk23]

Hi Everyone!

Some background, I am still pretty new to the reefing community, my tank is roughly 4 months old. I have fish and some zoas in there that are all doing well. I was gifted a green slimer a few weeks back and had to upgrade my lighting because I really wanted it to survive. I also started dosing Calcium, Alk, and Magnesium. Been dosing just over a week trying to get the parameters within range. As of yesterday my Calcium was 385, Alk was 8.9 and Mag was 1,200.

My question is, what else do I need to worry about testing and dosing, and is an auto dosing method worth it? And which system would you recommend?

Thanks in advance for the help. I am open to any and all advice here, just happy to keep learning.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Autodosing is always worth it if cost is no concern.

Since that is not usually the case, it becomes worth it when needing to dose a lot based on the daily alkalinity drop.

There's little benefit if the daily alk drop is less than 0,3 dKH per day.

I don't think you need to monitor anything else at the moment, except possibly nutrients (nitrate and phosphate).

FWIW, I suspect your salinity is a bit low, hence the lowish calcium and magnesium.

 

[Hawk23]

Autodosing is always worth it if cost is no concern.

Since that is not usually the case, it becomes worth it when needing to dose a lot based on the daily alkalinity drop.

There's little benefit if the daily alk drop is less than 0,3 dKH per day.

I don't think you need to monitor anything else at the moment, except possibly nutrients (nitrate and phosphate).

FWIW, I suspect your salinity is a bit low, hence the lowish calcium and magnesium.

Thanks! I will test salinity later today, and I need to do another water change anyway so I can mix up a batch with slightly higher salinity for the next few to bring it within range. I figured the lower numbers were because I have only been dosing for 8 days. Well 9 counting today.

 

[Deep]

Thanks! I will test salinity later today, and I need to do another water change anyway so I can mix up a batch with slightly higher salinity for the next few to bring it within range. I figured the lower numbers were because I have only been dosing for 8 days. Well 9 counting today.

if your salinity was in the normal 1.026 range, your ca and mg numbers would be higher and you would not have needed to even dose in the first place.

 

[Uncle99]

I would make a 10% water change once per week with 0 TDS water. I would test the following day and record those findings.

I would use a salt that closely matches those parameters.

When it comes a time that water changes cannot bring you back to those numbers, then, I would start dosing by hand and recording the amount I dosed and the effect on the parameters.

Once the manual dosing is mastered, then I would add the autodoser as all relevant information had already been determined.

For sure, use an ATO to keep salinity on point as this forms the basis of stability throughout the parameters.

Right now you don’t have anything to use CA, ALK, and MG.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Right now you don’t have anything to use CA, ALK, and MG.

"I was gifted a green slimer a few weeks back"

In addition to corals, many things can deplete these parameters, including abiotic precipitation and risng nitrate.

FWIW, water changes are the most expensive way to maintain parameters, unless you plan to do the same size and frequency of changes anyway.

 

[Uncle99]

"I was gifted a green slimer a few weeks back"

In addition to corals, many things can deplete these parameters, including abiotic precipitation and risng nitrate.

FWIW, water changes are the most expensive way to maintain parameters, unless you plan to do the same size and frequency of changes anyway.

Absolutely correct, water change expensive but IMM, way safer for newer people than tweaking.

I just don’t see a load worthy of dosing IMM, not to say as you pointed out, that consumption is not occurring.

 

[Hawk23]

Thanks for all the input! I just tested salinity and I am at 1.025. I will get it within range via water changes. I have been doing 10% weekly changes for the last 2 months to make sure nitrates don't get out of whack.

 

[Uncle99]

Thanks for all the input! I just tested salinity and I am at 1.025. I will get it within range via water changes. I have been doing 10% weekly changes for the last 2 months to make sure nitrates don't get out of whack.

Perfect, everything, the same way, the same frequency as much as possible enhances stability, which, in the end, might be the “secret sauce”

 

[Hawk23]

Perfect, everything, the same way, the same frequency as much as possible enhances stability, which, in the end, might be the “secret sauce”

this looks amazing! One day I'll get to this point. Goal for now is stability. Thanks for the help!

 

[Uncle99]

Thank you.
There will be times where you’ll wonder if your doing anything.
Resist the temptation to change unless you got real proof, something is wrong.

 

[blasterman]

You do not need a doser now - period. Put it out of your thought processes.

A single slimer frag won't budge calcium because you have pounds of it dissolved in tank water already. 10% water changes a week with any decent salt mix will EASILY replenish calcium for that tank.

In fact, I would stop testing it because it's not going to move. Test calcium after water changes at most. Magnesium is coupled to calcium and should be replenished via water changes. A level around 400 in fine.

Alk is a different beast because it's far more unstable in younger tank, so it needs to be tested more frequently. keep it 8-10.

I cant stress this enough - stop obsessing over calcium and focus on keeping nitrate and phosphate at 5-10 and .03 respectively. Those two params getting out of whack will trash your tank more than calcium.

 

[Hawk23]

You do not need a doser now - period. Put it out of your thought processes.

A single slimer frag won't budge calcium because you have pounds of it dissolved in tank water already. 10% water changes a week with any decent salt mix will EASILY replenish calcium for that tank.

In fact, I would stop testing it because it's not going to move. Test calcium after water changes at most. Magnesium is coupled to calcium and should be replenished via water changes. A level around 400 in fine.

Alk is a different beast because it's far more unstable in younger tank, so it needs to be tested more frequently. keep it 8-10.

I cant stress this enough - stop obsessing over calcium and focus on keeping nitrate and phosphate at 5-10 and .03 respectively. Those two params getting out of whack will trash your tank more than calcium.

Wow okay thanks for the insight. I did panic a little with research just trying to make sure the green slimer made it in my tank. I'll focus on keeping nitrate and phosphate in check and monitor from there. Appreciate the help

 

[southerntnreefer]

I second third and quadruple agree. Calcium will be fine. Ive got a decent coral load, and my alk over 5 days or so looses about .4 to .5 dkh so i keep on top of hand dosing that. Magnesium will dip for me, as i have a zoa addiction, and they love it. My calcium never moves much. Even the couple acros i have in the system are growing and encrusting. I keep my phos a bit higher, but thats what my tank likes, and i keep my nitrates low with a cheato reactor. 7 months in now and calcium barely budges.