Do I need to start dosing??

[MyFirstCar]

Would you think all for reef over kalkwasser?

If you're doing semi frequent water changes, the trace element part of AFR isn't a huge help, but replaceing mag at the same time is great for my euphilia, dosing one thing in my nano frees up a ton of space, and because it converts into cal and alk over time it helps buffer swings

 

[Lavey29]

I'm curious, do the corals seem upset? Have you ran tests to compare? How big are your coral colonies?
I started dosing all for reef with a bit more corals than you 5 months in. 53g system 10% wc once a week. But I dose very little, like 5ml every other day to stabilize alk.

Same here, around 6 months or so had to start hand dosing small amount of alk and cal. Around 9 months went to auto doser.

 

[Lavey29]

@Lavey29 I haven’t for mg, ca, alk. I was thinking of buying Red Sea test kits for them to check myself.

Alk 103 nitrate 3 mg 1247, 110 nitrate 1 mg 1193, 123 nitrate 4 mg 1199, 149 nitrate 10 mg 1157, 120 nitrate 8 mg 1166.

All tanks are different but fluctuations like you see are very common in new tanks. I think MBtalon offered good advice. You really want to get your own RODI system and make your saltwater. I just carry mine out of the garage and hook it to a garden hose once every 2 weeks. I would test the alk in your LFS saltwater and just do a careful daily parameter check for a week and compare it after a water change. It's possible you may need to dose a few ML of alk and cal weekly. The magnesium is the perplexing one though because this hardly drops at all weekly especially in a new tank doing weekly water changes. I wonder if you are getting accurate test results.

 

[bvanfish]

@Lavey29 yes I do want to get an rodi that will probably be next on the list.

I think I will just start by getting more testing kits and doing a 14 day monitor to get 2 water changes and the days between. It will give me a good picture and I can go from there. Thank you all for the help. I will possibly update this thread after the 2 weeks to see what the results are.

Black friday fingers crossed for an RODI unit

 

[Lavey29]

@Lavey29 yes I do want to get an rodi that will probably be next on the list.

I think I will just start by getting more testing kits and doing a 14 day monitor to get 2 water changes and the days between. It will give me a good picture and I can go from there. Thank you all for the help. I will possibly update this thread after the 2 weeks to see what the results are.

Black friday fingers crossed for an RODI unit

Sounds like a logical approach. If your corals are good then taking your time to fully assess makes sense. I had to hand dose small amounts of alk and cal until demand exceeded my capabilities and then transitioned to an auto doser.

 

[bvanfish]

Sounds like a logical approach. If your corals are good then taking your time to fully assess makes sense. I had to hand dose small amounts of alk and cal until demand exceeded my capabilities and then transitioned to an auto doser.

Yes makes sense, I am trying to not quickly change anything as most things fish, inverts, and most corals seem to be good / growing.

Are there any decent RODI units or are they all pretty much the same?

 

[52728299]

All tanks are different but fluctuations like you see are very common in new tanks. I think MBtalon offered good advice. You really want to get your own RODI system and make your saltwater. I just carry mine out of the garage and hook it to a garden hose once every 2 weeks. I would test the alk in your LFS saltwater and just do a careful daily parameter check for a week and compare it after a water change. It's possible you may need to dose a few ML of alk and cal weekly. The magnesium is the perplexing one though because this hardly drops at all weekly especially in a new tank doing weekly water changes. I wonder if you are getting accurate test results.

Yea I store mine under bathroom sink and once a week I hook it up to my shower spout. I have hooks I can just hang it up on my shower caddy thing while its working

 

[bvanfish]

Yea I store mine under bathroom sink and once a week I hook it up to my shower spout. I have hooks I can just hang it up on my shower caddy thing while its working

What kind of unit do you use? I have well water

 

[52728299]

What kind of unit do you use? I have well water

I use this with their booster pump

 

[bvanfish]

I use this with their booster pump

does it have a TDS meter? I am afraid with well water I will need the TDS meter

 

[52728299]

does it have a TDS meter? I am afraid with well water I will need the TDS meter

No, you could probably add one. I just use a little handheld pen reader

 

[bvanfish]

Has anyone done anything with this?

 

[StatelineReefer]

Has anyone done anything with this?

If you have well water you probably want a sediment prefilter on that one, and a DI cartridge on the outlet, both can be done for under 50 for the set, but that makes it a 5 stage 50gpd, and at that price point, you'd be better with a 5 stage 100gpd about the same size package, but allowing for more volume per hour... there's nothing worse than waiting 3 hours for 5 gallons of RO that you needed six hours ago.

 

[52728299]

I only have experience with the one setup. The booster pump is nice tho, it helps with low water pressure and also makes it run more efficient, less waste water and more gpd. I pump 5g every 45mins

 

[TokenReefer]

Has anyone done anything with this?

I use that . I'm in an apt so it suits me for now. Gives me 0 tds....works...

 

[bvanfish]

Day 1 with Hanna alkalinity checker and salifert for the rest:

Temp: 78.8
SG: 35
Alk: 150 (8.3)
Ca: 395
Nitrate: 5
Phos: 0-0.03
Ammonia: 0

I am surprised the alk doesn’t look too bad. But the calcium is very low and I’m sure magnesium is as well.

 

[TokenReefer]

Ca is in the range I reference... 380-450; why do you say very low?

 

[bvanfish]

Ca is in the range I reference... 380-450; why do you say very low?

@TokenReefer I should say what I thought what low. I always thought you shot for 425-450 so I figured it was low.

but my magnesium is always around 1100 which I think is low correct?

 

[TokenReefer]

Well if you've got the info i'm missing lmk I'm just using a BRS params chart that shows preferred ranges... Yes I could probably parse through a million threads on r2r and then crunch the data down and find the mean average..yada..yada.... they posted a handy table...

 

[bvanfish]

I am beginning to wonder if my real issue is magnesium… I have a hammer doing poorly and my magnesium is consistently low. I just watched a few videos saying euphyllia like 1350+ mag?? If so my 1100 could be why the hammers are the only things not doing so hot?