Ideal dosing situation for me 2 part or kalk or something else

JohnIsNewToReefKeeping

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Hello I have a 75 gallon tank with a 75 gallon basement sump. Getting back into the hobby and would like start growing coral and have a reef tank. I plan on having a mixed reef with it being a heavy zoanthid and lps tank with a few easy to maintain sps.
I’m trying to figure out what is the best thing to dose my tank. During the early stage I know I don’t need a doser but would like to have things prepared so I don’t have to dose the tank every week manually.

I like two part since I feel like you have more control but I hear that you need to match your Calc increase with your alk increase but if your tank consumes more of Calc than alk then what do you do in the situation.

i really like the idea of kalkwasser but I do not have a ato since I have water coming straight from my rodi unit with a float switch to provide fresh water (I have a rodi shut of sensor if for what ever reason the float switch fails) and I can’t find any information how to dose the kalk with a doser and my doser is the older manual Jebao 4 head doser.

thank you for your time and help.
 

Doctorgori

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I used to couple my ATO with kalk dosing; it’s not accurate or consistent, better off dosing it directly using a set formula or amount, at least until the tank outgrows it…
I’d just dose kalk and figure out some trace strategy, maybe just h2o changes or whatever
I’m gonna try All for Reef on my low demand tanks in combo with Kalk …maybe
 
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JohnIsNewToReefKeeping

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I used to couple my ATO with kalk dosing; it’s not accurate or consistent, better off dosing it directly using a set formula or amount, at least until the tank outgrows it…
I’d just dose kalk and figure out some trace strategy, maybe just h2o changes or whatever
I’m gonna try All for Reef on my low demand tanks in combo with Kalk …maybe
How do you find out how much you have to dose and can you make large batches of kalk like a 5 gallon bucket?
 

Doctorgori

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How do you find out how much you have to dose and can you make large batches of kalk like a 5 gallon bucket?
might be a lil too much material to cover, Randy Holmes has a excellent article on Kalkwasser that’s not hard to find, anyway some highlights on Kalk dosing.

Your solution needs some protection from air, it will form a crust in the container but seal it anyway. Many dosing container diy everywhere …Yeah I just use those 5g buckets with the sides marked and graduated… get some ridged tube and just stick it through the lid and have it terminate about a inch from the bottom …check solution strength using pH probe … solution should stay useable for a while undisturbed

Dosing calculators for kalk are ubiquitous also. Get a baseline consumption rate over several days/week using your favorite alkalinity test.
I try to drip at night for some pH offset benefits. You could just add it to the ATO but kalk trashes pumps like no other and unless you’re tanks are in a humidity consistent place, I wouldn’t advise so
 
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