help me with my dosing regimen.

[bmooney31]

So i've been dosing 2 part in my frag tank since sept. I'm up to 200ml of alk and calc every morning. I test once a week on sunday nights around 10:00 my tests are always 7.6 and 450 which is right where I want to be. well this morning I decided to test before I dosed, and my alk was 6.9 and my calc was 450. So I used the BRS reef calculator and it said if I dose 200ML of alk at 6.9 it should raise it to 9.0, so I dosed like usually and waited an hour and tested and sure enough it was 9. I know realize this is way too high of a swing. So I'm asking is what do I do? I want to keep my alk at 7 range cause I have a ULNS.

 

[CJO]

You may want to look at dosing several times a week. Many people who dose do it daily. You definitely don't want large swings in alkalinity.

CJ

 

[returnofsid]

After taking my CArx offline, due to a crash, a little over a year ago, I started manual dosing again. At first, I tested and dosed, once a week. That resulted in some large swings, weekly. So, I came up with a plan, to figure out a DAILY dosing regime, that worked quite well.

I tested, every 2 days, for 10 days, with no dosing at all. I wrote everything down. From this, I was able to figure out an average daily dosing. At this point, I brought all of my levels up to a specific level and started my daily dosing, based on the average I'd calculated. This actually worked great! Every week, I'd test, and change my average dosing, accordingly. My daily dosing was pretty accurate, only needing small tweeks. In this way, I'm able to keep my parameters more stable, on a daily basis, with minimal changes. Figuring out the "daily dosage," was a bit time consuming. However, once figured out, my daily dosing takes a couple minutes, each day.

In the near future, I do plan on getting my CArx back online. It just hasn't happened yet.

 

[Aquaph8]

I dose daily. Things get out of wack pretty fast if I dont. Like said above it only takes a few minutes day and it great to get into a daily routine. You'd be amazed at how nice your tank can be with just a 5-10 min routine daily.

 

[florida reef]

+1 to what everybody else said. The more often you dose the more stable your params should be. There has been a lot of talk lately about dripping kalk and how it increases stability. Have you considered that?

 

[butts182]

get a doser andhave it dose during the nighttime instead of dosing it all at one time

 

[Lytehouse]

get a doser andhave it dose during the nighttime instead of dosing it all at one time

Using a doser is not only convenient but keeps things right in place once you get it dialed in.

My doser drops in alk, calc, mag every evening. Tank stays consistent no what day I check parameters.

Is there a reason you don't test for mag?

 

[jski711]

Kalk reactor would solve all your problems.

 

[CJO]

Kalk reactor would solve all your problems.

Not necessarily. Kalk is great for calcium, but not so much for magnesium or alkalinity.

CJ

 

[Aquaph8]

Not necessarily. Kalk is great for calcium, but not so much for magnesium or alkalinity.

CJ

Doesn't Kalk have a really high alk which is why we use it. Kalk is great but chances are you'll still have to use other dosing practices wether they be a CR or two part.

 

[Pike614]

Kalk reactors are too risky IMO. I use the drews dosers from BRS and dose 2 part every night...I run mine 6 hours each night and since my corals have never been happier!! It took me about a month to fine tune the time I needed to run them to maintain the levels I needed...some adjustments ned to be made as corals and clams get bigger and need more Ca+, so keep an eye on it and check levels when doing water changes!

 

[CJO]

Doesn't Kalk have a really high alk which is why we use it. Kalk is great but chances are you'll still have to use other dosing practices wether they be a CR or two part.

Sorry, you're right, it does. Not sure why I said it didn't when I said it did several times last week. Must be lack of sleep. Thanks for keeping me honest.

CJ

 

[OMG Corals]

I dose daily as well, as my uptake is great. I test weekly and adjust accordingly. I also did the two week test run and found a baseline.

I also drip about 2.5 gallons of Kalk every 2-3 days. It helps stabilize my ph and alk levels. If I don't they both fall. I plan on having dosing pumps for all three parts - calcium, alk, and magnesium. After I have that set should be a piece of cake.

You should be testing for mag if you are not already. It will be hard to balance calcium and alk if you don't know and adjust your mag level.

 

[DBarsotti]

dosing pumps. run them throughout the night dosing in small amounts.. works like a charm.

 

[bmooney31]

i started dosing half at night and half in the morning. next paycheck i'm getting the bubble magnus dosing pump so that hopefully will solve my problems. thanks for the input guys

 

[Pike614]

DO you guys mostly dump in the Mag all at once, or drip it along with the others? BRS says add it all at once when done with a gallon of Alk/Ca+.....it'd be a lot easier to have some sort of dosing pump turn on once a week and dose the Mag for me!!