Dosing Once a Week for Softies

[Joe.S]

Hey everyone,

Is it possible to dose alk and cal once a week say at the end of the week instead of 10% water changes once a week?

 

[Spare time]

Yes that is definitely possible (and the best way to replace alk and calcium in many tanks). I would check out all for reef. It is a nice all in one liquid (major, minor, and trace) that could be handy for a tank like yours where you are not needing to dose massive amounts.

Dosing is far more cost efficient than water changes for things like alk and calcium.

 

[Rmckoy]

You would be replenishing cal and alk. .
But what if other essential elements are used ?

Dosing depends on demand

dosing and water changes are completely different IMO

 

[Joe.S]

Yes that is definitely possible (and the best way to replace alk and calcium in many tanks). I would check out all for reef. It is a nice all in one liquid (major, minor, and trace) that could be handy for a tank like yours where you are not needing to dose massive amounts.

Dosing is far more cost efficient than water changes for things like alk and calcium.

What would be the best way to start this? Should I test alk and cal everyday for a week? What should I do?

 

[Uncle99]

Your title says softies. They have no demand for Alk/CA.
Water change should be more than sufficient.
But sure, test, it will tell you where your water change gets you in terms of levels.

 

[Joe.S]

Your title says softies. They have no demand for Alk/CA.
Water change should be more than sufficient.
But sure, test, it will tell you where your water change gets you in terms of levels.

But I have seen dips in my alk levels when testing. So I was just curious if dosing would be more efficient than water changes. Specifically cost.

 

[Uncle99]

I’m not sure what’s pulling your ALK, softies don’t build Stoney Skelton.

If the “dip” continues downwards every 24 hours without stop, somebody is using it.

I dose only because my weekly 10% change won’t keep up.

WC is always the safest because the elements are already in correct levels, just add RODI mix and deliver.

If you overdose Alk, that itself can upset or kill corals.

 

[Joe.S]

I’m not sure what’s pulling your ALK, softies don’t build Stoney Skelton.

If the “dip” continues downwards every 24 hours without stop, somebody is using it.

I dose only because my weekly 10% change won’t keep up.

WC is always the safest because the elements are already in correct levels, just add RODI mix and deliver.

If you overdose Alk, that itself can upset or kill corals.

It’s not a massive drop, maybe about .2 dkh to .4 dkh per day at the most. So that’s not worth dosing? Is the 10% water change just the way to go?

 

[Rmckoy]

It’s not a massive drop, maybe about .2 dkh to .4 dkh per day at the most. So that’s not worth dosing? Is the 10% water change just the way to go?

Is that a drop or just fluctuate up and down ?
If it drops and raises again throughout the day that could have something to do with ph , lighting etc .

 

[mdb_talon]

It’s not a massive drop, maybe about .2 dkh to .4 dkh per day at the most. So that’s not worth dosing? Is the 10% water change just the way to go?

If it is consistently dropping an average of .3 dkh a day then you need to dose...and more often than weekly. That is 2.1 dkh swing in a week and then dose to get it back all at once is not good.

Test calc and alk daily at the same time for at least a week to make sure you really know what consumption is. While softies dont really normally need dosing other things in the tank can consume calc/alk(coralline algae for example.

 

[mdb_talon]

Also i forgot to add if it is purely a softy tank you may just want to stick with a lower dkh. As it goes down generally it stabilizes and does not fluctuate so much. If you were to do that though make sure to use a lower dkh salt that matches more closely to your stable levels

 

[Dkmoo]

Do you have coraline? That sucks up alk.

Is your cal also decreasing? Is it an approx rate of 10ppm CA per 1.4 dkh? If so then that def some kind of calcification going on or precipitation

If some other ratio then likely other stuff happening. Randy mentioned the N cycle can also affect alk but I don't remember the exact mechanism. Might want to check out his articles like this one. http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-12/rhf/index.php

 

[1guydude]

With out a pic im gonna say ur purple coraline might be forming on the rock or glass.
I didnt see alk problems until i starting with lps corals. It was a hammer or frogspawn. Stony skeleton coral are more likely to cause alk issues. Your alk swings could just be the wcs too.
Your softies should be fine with just the wcs. I would not dose alk cal and mag to a softy tank.
D

 

[Joe.S]

Is that a drop or just fluctuate up and down ?
If it drops and raises again throughout the day that could have something to do with ph , lighting etc .

It does fluctuate up and down yes. That’s what I did notice when I was testing everyday for a few days.

 

[Joe.S]

With out a pic im gonna say ur purple coraline might be forming on the rock or glass.
I didnt see alk problems until i starting with lps corals. It was a hammer or frogspawn. Stony skeleton coral are more likely to cause alk issues. Your alk swings could just be the wcs too.
Your softies should be fine with just the wcs. I would not dose alk cal and mag to a softy tank.
D

I have very little coraline so far. The tank is almost 9 months old. But I do see some forming on the rocks yes.

 

[Joe.S]

Do you have coraline? That sucks up alk.

Is your cal also decreasing? Is it an approx rate of 10ppm CA per 1.4 dkh? If so then that def some kind of calcification going on or precipitation

If some other ratio then likely other stuff happening. Randy mentioned the N cycle can also affect alk but I don't remember the exact mechanism. Might want to check out his articles like this one. http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-12/rhf/index.php

I’ve had issues with calcium. It’s always been really high. Around 490.

 

[Joe.S]

Also i forgot to add if it is purely a softy tank you may just want to stick with a lower dkh. As it goes down generally it stabilizes and does not fluctuate so much. If you were to do that though make sure to use a lower dkh salt that matches more closely to your stable levels

My alk is on the higher side because I use Red Sea pro. Last alk test was at 10.1

 

[Rmckoy]

It does fluctuate up and down yes. That’s what I did notice when I was testing everyday for a few days.

Before dosing . As said above .
test the same time ever day for a week to determine if your system is using anything and to calculate the consumption rate .
that will help with how much to dose .
How long has your tank been running ?

I’m only assuming but perhaps a relatively newer and immature system .

 

[Joe.S]

Before dosing . As said above .
test the same time ever day for a week to determine if your system is using anything and to calculate the consumption rate .
that will help with how much to dose .
How long has your tank been running ?

I’m only assuming but perhaps a relatively newer and immature system .

Next month will be month 9.

 

[Uncle99]

It does fluctuate up and down yes. That’s what I did notice when I was testing everyday for a few days.

If you measure at the same time daily and have not done a WC, then Alk should not be fluctuating, down maybe, up nope.

Either you have testing error flux or your MG is not in the normal range of 1260-1360ppm and ALK and CA are precipitating out of the water.

Im 180g packed mixed reef including 5 clams and I only use .5dkh per 24 hours, so you with softies using .2dkh daily seems weird.

Just check MG and ensure it’s in the range, if so, try another test.