I'm curious why people dose and why you feel it is necessary? What would happen if people didn't dose and just let the tank do its thing without dosing?
Dosing?
- Thread starter Kathy Floyd
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You generally dose the big three. Alkalinity, Calcium and Magnesium.
These are essential in a lot of coral/tank inhabitants growth and health. When these drop below or go way above the normal parameters, it's very common to see things do poorly or even perish.
Depending on what type of corals/inhabitants you keep, water changes can restore these necessary components for reef life but when the corals/inhabitants are consuming these at a faster pace than water changes can restore, you need to dose these in yourself as water changes are no longer enough to restore these or the amount of water changes to restore these becomes unreasonable.
These are essential in a lot of coral/tank inhabitants growth and health. When these drop below or go way above the normal parameters, it's very common to see things do poorly or even perish.
Depending on what type of corals/inhabitants you keep, water changes can restore these necessary components for reef life but when the corals/inhabitants are consuming these at a faster pace than water changes can restore, you need to dose these in yourself as water changes are no longer enough to restore these or the amount of water changes to restore these becomes unreasonable.
OP
OP
Thank you for the explanation. Now I know.
MaxTremors
2500 Club Member
If you have even the slightest amount of stony coral growth, water changes (unless they are 100%) will not be adequate to replenish Alk, Cal, Mag, you may at first not immediately notice the diminishing returns, but over time those three will continue to get lower and lower.
ZoWhat
10K Club member
Best way to dose is to do a WC with a great salt. dosing will eventually screw your tank up given enough time
Crustaceon
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I’m going to be the nicest person to respond. I see where you’re going in some ways but I think if done correctly, dosing can be safe. Yes, accidents happen where too much kalk can be added at once….or two part….which can screw your tank up. These are risks we all take when dosing to our systems. No doubt about it, you’re right there. This is why we have safeguards, including frequent testing. So i’ll add a disclaimer: If you dose and do not do followup testing and adjustments, you COULD screw your tank up.
DE FISH
Valuable Member
Agreed but if you have a tank with a high uptake you would need to do a wc everyday and even then it may not keep up with demand unless your doing 100% water changes every single day
Even if you did the swings between wc could be extreme and have a negative impact on your corals. It all depends on the demand on your system. Stability is key
Crustaceon
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Of course and many of us here (myself included) don’t consider water changes as “dosing” as we’re typically not doing water changes for that purpose. For the uninitiated, you’ll usually do water changes to address excessive nutrients, to try to bring alk/cal/mg back into balance depending on the salt mix or to replenish trace elements. If your tank is at the point where dosing is needed, even a large daily water change isn’t going to keep up as Randy commented on long ago.
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