Dosing

[austin_socal]

Hi everyone!
I am going to start dosing my tank and just have some questions for all of you.

1. Are the bottles of Red Sea alk, cal, and mag good to use? I haven’t seen reviews of them online.

2. Is the “simplicity 4-head dosing pump” any good for its money?

3. Anything other than alk, cal, and mag that I should dose?

TIA :)

 

[bossman818]

I have a Red Sea 4 head dosing pump and I love it. The Red Sea bottles are good to use but more on the pricy side. I buy seachem bottles and they work just as well with minor modifications. How big of a tank do you have?

 

[austin_socal]

I have a Red Sea 4 head dosing pump and I love it. The Red Sea bottles are good to use but more on the pricy side. I buy seachem bottles and they work just as well with minor modifications. How big of a tank do you have?

A 25gal lagoon- thank you so much btw

 

[backbayreef]

Given the tank size, why not just dose All-for-Reef? Only one pump is required.
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/all-for-reef-tropic-marin.html

 

[austin_socal]

Given the tank size, why not just dose All-for-Reef? Only one pump is required.
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/all-for-reef-tropic-marin.html

Never heard of that. Thank you!!

 

[bossman818]

Going to be honest. You don’t need a dosing pump. Water changes weekly will fix all your problems. Save your money and get more coral. I had a 28 with tons of coral and water changes did the job. I now have a larger tank a it is definitely needed because you can add more coral.

 

[austin_socal]

Going to be honest. You don’t need a dosing pump. Water changes weekly will fix all your problems. Save your money and get more coral. I had a 28 with tons of coral and water changes did the job. I now have a larger tank a it is definitely needed because you can add more coral.

Thanks man, really appreciate the help

 

[backbayreef]

I’m bias — too lazy and especially with a bad back, I prefer dosing vs WC but that’s just me. When you get to 500g, WC can also be a real pain! lol

 

[bossman818]

I’m bias — too lazy and especially with a bad back, I prefer dosing vs WC but that’s just me. When you get to 500g, WC can also be a real pain! lol

Yeah once you have a large tank water changes are the worse. On small tanks I used to change two cups a day. Took me 5 minutes. Life was easy. Now I have a larger tank and I dread water changes lol.

 

[Lavey29]

Going to be honest. You don’t need a dosing pump. Water changes weekly will fix all your problems. Save your money and get more coral. I had a 28 with tons of coral and water changes did the job. I now have a larger tank a it is definitely needed because you can add more coral.

Exactly

 

[austin_socal]

Yeah once you have a large tank water changes are the worse. On small tanks I used to change two cups a day. Took me 5 minutes. Life was easy. Now I have a larger tank and I dread water changes lol.

lol thank you man

 

[austin_socal]

Going to be honest. You don’t need a dosing pump. Water changes weekly will fix all your problems. Save your money and get more coral. I had a 28 with tons of coral and water changes did the job. I now have a larger tank a it is definitely needed because you can add more coral.

If I were to dose with All for Reef, do you think the liquid or powder is the better option

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

If I were to dose with All for Reef, do you think the liquid or powder is the better option

powder is cheaper, typically, but you don't dose the powder, you have to make your own liquid.

 

[austin_socal]

powder is cheaper, typically, but you don't dose the powder, you have to make your own liquid.

If the money wasn’t in question though, is the liquid better?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

If the money wasn’t in question though, is the liquid better?

Less work, same chemicals.

FWIW, AFR is a fine way to go and is among the easiest methods, but there are reasons that folks often choose other methods besides it being somewhat costlier than most methods. The pH effect is one of those issues.

 

[bossman818]

If I were to dose with All for Reef, do you think the liquid or powder is the better option

I have always done liquid. It is much easier to dose with same results as powder.