Dosing using bulk reef supply calculator

[aus1230]

When using the calculator for supplementing my calcium the calculator said to use 87.50mls is that a day or a week? I’m assuming in a week?

 

[Doctor Derp]

Thats the dose you need to add to bring your calcium from its current level of 365ppm to your target of 400ppm.
This isn't any sort of calculation to tell you how much to dose every day. You need to test and determine your daily consumption for that.

 

[aus1230]

Thats the dose you need to add to bring your calcium from its current level of 365ppm to your target of 400ppm.
This isn't any sort of calculation to tell you how much to dose every day. You need to test and determine your daily consumption for that.

Got it. So with something like Brightwell reef code it would be safe to start with 1 ml a day in the morning and test in the afternoon to see how it changes?

 

[Danjoethepirate]

No, you should dose up to that amount fully and then test from there. I.e. test tomorrow and see what your calcium is, then calculate again, then dose that amount. Then test again the next day and calculate again until you find it holding a steady rate of drop in calcium and that is your daily dose.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Is alkalinity low now, indicating that dosing is needed?

You should not need to dose calcium if alk has not declined, and a low calcium test may be test error or low salinity.

 

[aus1230]

Is alkalinity low now, indicating that dosing is needed?

You should not need to dose calcium if alk has not declined, and a low calcium test may be test error or low salinity.

Alk has been consistently under 8 but hasn’t fallen that low.

 

[aus1230]

Alk has been consistently under 8 but hasn’t fallen that low.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

What salt mix are you using? What salinity?

 

[FishTacos2]

That is a one time dose to get you from point A to point B.

Once your numbers are at the desired levels than you can watch without dosing anything for a few days, then calculate your dose based on how far it dropped

For. Make believe chemical, If your at 400 today and 5 days later you are at 300.

You would plug in 300 and 400 to the calculator which will tell you how much to dose to bring you from 300 to 400. You would decide that total dose by 5 to get your daily dose.


But what Randy is getting to, you may not need to dose anything. Your alk level is pretty flat.

 

[aus1230]

What salt mix are you using? What salinity?

I am currently using Red Sea blue bucket. Salinity is reading 1.025 on both Hannah checker and Milwaukee refractometer.

 

[aus1230]

That is a one time dose to get you from point A to point B.

Once your numbers are at the desired levels than you can watch without dosing anything for a few days, then calculate your dose based on how far it dropped

For. Make believe chemical, If your at 400 today and 5 days later you are at 300.

You would plug in 300 and 400 to the calculator which will tell you how much to dose to bring you from 300 to 400. You would decide that total dose by 5 to get your daily dose.


But what Randy is getting to, you may not need to dose anything. Your alk level is pretty flat.

I’m still learning but the calcium is the only one that’s dropping through out the week.
Here’s my print out for calcium.

 

[aus1230]

2/14 at 415 ppm was after my 10% water change.

 

[FishTacos2]

What kind of coral are you stocking. If just softies and LpS, you probably are OK not checking levels and just doing weekly water changes. Make it easier for you. If you’re into SPS you probably should work at keeping steady levels as things get consumed.

If you like testing and doing the fine tuning by dosing then that’s ok too.

Or you could change salt to one with the alk calcium levels you want and just do weekly water changes w that.

Just have fun w it.

 

[aus1230]

What kind of coral are you stocking. If just softies and LpS, you probably are OK not checking levels and just doing weekly water changes. Make it easier for you. If you’re into SPS you probably should work at keeping steady levels as things get consumed.

If you like testing and doing the fine tuning by dosing then that’s ok too.

Or you could change salt to one with the alk calcium levels you want and just do weekly water changes w that.

Just have fun w it.

I am currently stocking LPS (hammers and my first torch) but as of now I would like to start really adding some LPS to the tank (slowly) of course.

After a recent discovery in my unstable parameters due to my work schedule which caused a bad fight with Dinos for awhile and finally beating that you could say that I'm just trying to make sure I have a plan in place and make sure that I'm watching my levels and doing my best to keep that "stable" since I'll be adding as much LPS as I can.

But if I can avoid spending money on a dosing system which I would need due to my work then I would also be happy about that and would just spend that money on some more LPS to my tank.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I’m still learning but the calcium is the only one that’s dropping through out the week.
Here’s my print out for calcium.

Calcium cannot drop without alkalinity being consumed, unless the salinity is declining.

If alk is stable, I’d ignore calcium.

 

[aus1230]

What kind of coral are you stocking. If just softies and LpS, you probably are OK not checking levels and just doing weekly water changes. Make it easier for you. If you’re into SPS you probably should work at keeping steady levels as things get consumed.

If you like testing and doing the fine tuning by dosing then that’s ok too.

Or you could change salt to one with the alk calcium levels you want and just do weekly water changes w that.

Just have fun w it.

I was already considering switching to NYOS salt. Not sure what your take is on that salt?

 

[aus1230]

Calcium cannot drop without alkalinity being consumed, unless the salinity is declining.

If alk is stable, I’d ignore calcium.

Fair enough. I will keep watching my Alkalinity weekly as I add more coral and then will also do some more digging on my Salinity. What do you personally use to check your salinity because I ran into an issue with my Milwaukee refractometer acting weird until I realized there was some debris in the glass.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Fair enough. I will keep watching my Alkalinity weekly as I add more coral and then will also do some more digging on my Salinity. What do you personally use to check your salinity because I ran into an issue with my Milwaukee refractometer acting weird until I realized there was some debris in the glass.

There are many fine options for salinity measurement, but all should be checked with a high quality standard (most commercial hobby ones do not seem reliable enough).

I use a conductivity meter.

 

[aus1230]

There are many fine options for salinity measurement, but all should be checked with a high quality standard (most commercial hobby ones do not seem reliable enough).

I use a conductivity meter.

Can you link one?

 

[rishma]

Can you link one?

The one I (and others)recommend is the tropic Marin floating glass hydrometer. Still needs to be checked once but never requires calibration. I think they are $35-40.

I also use a conductivity meter but I purchased a lab grade one that is far too costly to recommend.

As for calibration solutions, diy with table salt and a good scale is the best route. Scales accurate to 0.01grams are cheap these days.

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