Dosing or ATO

AquaNanoNZ · Nov 27, 2024

Hey All,

I have a pretty old tank as far as nanos go, coming up to 10 years old soon. It's a Aquaone Aquanano 40 - around 45L total volume with mostly LPS hammers and a couple softies and one Monti cap

I had always kept things pretty simple, only doing water changes and topping off manually - no dosing. I have recently started adding kalk to my top off water and have noticed a huge increase in coral health and overall looking better.

My question is though, after seeing a video of WWC and seeing that they run all their kalk top off through a Versa dosing pump. Should I add the same approach using a Versa pump for kalk and top off?

Or should I set up a separate ATO system and dose a fully saturated solution to meet alk/calc needs?
I have a cheap coral box ATO which I bought but never set up because the float switch doesn't actually fit in the rear baffles of my tank.

Any advice or opinions would be great

KrisReef · Nov 27, 2024

I’m not sure what you have been doing and how you have changed it recently but I would set up either a doser or ato(with kalk) to do what works but automatically. Be slow with upgrading and once you have it working you will be better off going forward, ime. GL

bradreef · Nov 27, 2024

I think Kalk is a great first step until it doesn't keep up. It's easy, cheap, effective.

mpatterson42 · Nov 28, 2024

I just watched this BRS video on Kalkwasser and it seems to have some really good information.

AquaNanoNZ · Nov 29, 2024

KrisReef said:
I’m not sure what you have been doing and how you have changed it recently but I would set up either a doser or ato(with kalk) to do what works but automatically. Be slow with upgrading and once you have it working you will be better off going forward, ime. GL

I think what I will start is mix up my kalk as I am doing now but set up the Versa to a continuous dose which is close to my evaporation rate. I just worry a bit that evaporation amounts may change with the seasons etc.

bradreef said:
I think Kalk is a great first step until it doesn't keep up. It's easy, cheap, effective.

I agree, and my tank is pretty low demand. I have seen a huge improvement since starting it, I had some challenges with 2 part options and I put it down to the fact I am dosing it all manually.