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I'm new to automated dosing, as I have always added either kalkwasser (via gravity fed ATO which would clog all of the time, or via a manual dripper which was way too variable and imprecise for my tastes) or 2-part (added manually to the sump) for the most part. I've always considered dosers to be "really complicated stuff for really advanced reefers" (SPS?), and between that, the price tag, and lack of space under my tank, I've never seriously considered a dosing pump.
Several months ago, that changed with 2 separate products: 1) Tropic Marin's calcium formate one-part additive, and 2) Kamoer's relatively very cheap Bluetooth X1 dosing pump. I was also pushed in this direction by my laziness in letting my alkalinity drop repeatedly (leading to some coral losses) and a tank partial crash due to adding 2-part quickly right over the return pump leading to precipitate landing all over many coral frags, which killed many of them (and some of the rest dying after an ill-advised change to my LED lighting spectrum towards whites which increased my PAR far more than I expected and bleached much of the rest).
My goals: a very simple (and therefore more reliable) dosing setup to maintain Ca/Alk/Mg for a 43 gallon system (Red Sea Reefer 170). I'm hoping that between this doser, Tropic Marin's one part, and a DIY dosing container, that my reef supplementation needs will be "better" (fewer mishaps due to my forgetfulness, less need to fiddle with stuff).
Kamoer X1 doser: (bought used; it didn't come with the graduated cylinder for calibrating so I bought 10 and 25 ml plastic graduated cylinders from Amazon.com)
It's quite small and light, with a simple plug and some clear tubing (not shown). Bluetooth, so it's controlled by a downloadable app (iTunes has it, and my understanding is that Google's equivalent has it as well). It also has a daisy chain cord, so you can daisy chain multiples with only 1 power cord.
The online video by CoralVue is pretty clear, and I was running it with one end dipped in a cup of vinegar to clean it out within a few minutes. The app is pretty straightforward. I can't yet comment on reliability or precision, but it certainly looks good from my perspective.
My only gripes are that the tubing is 3/16" rather than standard 1/4" push-to-fit tubing. Later this week, I have a Bulk Reef Supply package with https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/ozone-resistant-kynar-straight-male-npt-x-barb.html (3/16" barb to 1/4") , https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/mur-lok-1-4-female-npt-x-1-4-push-connect.html, and their 1/4" clear push-to-fit RO/DI tubing so hopefully that solves the connection problem. Special thanks to @Mark Bianco for his post (#2) at https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/c...h-connects-to-barb-style-dosing-pumps.400322/ which answered my adaptor questions (for some reason, his username isn't activating)
Tropic Marin All-For-Reef: (on bottle #2) calcium formate, in one of 3 options. I remember seeing several threads on this (https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/has-anyone-tried-tropic-marin-bio-calcium-or-carbo-calcium.410153/), but it's essentially one part plus magnesium and trace elements. CarboCalcium is pure calcium formate (power or liquid), which are your other 2 options. My understanding is that it's similar to calcium acetate (calcium is consumed directly; acetate is metabolized into bicarbonate so it "turns into" alkalinity) but with less carbon dosing from formate than, say, Salifert's calcium acetate one part.
It's certainly more expensive than DIY 2-part, but I figure that for a smaller tank, the convenience is worth it. I could switch to powdered CarboCalcium in the future (which looks like the cheapest option) if desired.
It comes in a Bettix bottle, which is great for measuring out 10/15/30 mL with a squeeze and pour. I highly recommend Tropic Marin's dosing calculator, as it prevents errors like mine (I was off by a factor of 4 leading to an alk crash, as I may have not converted from Liters to Gallons :-( ): https://www.tropic-marin-smartinfo.com/en/minerals/all-for-reef.html#open-5
I've been using this for a month or two, and (when I remember to dose it!) it works as expected - it replaces alkalinity, and presumably calcium (I haven't been very diligent about following that). It doesn't cause any precipitate, and when I add it next to my return pump I don't notice any tank inhabitants reacting to it at all. I also didn't see any precipitate problems when added to an open ATO reservoir like I had with kalkwasser.
My one question is this: for All-For-Reef, it contains one of Tropic Marin's additive formulas as well (their A- product) but not their K+ additives, so I just bought a bottle of the K+. Presumably, that covers my trace element needs (although I do need to check if silica is present in either product or if I have to add that separately). I have an email out to Tropic Marin on this question (do you need K+ with All-For-Reef?). I think that I also asked if you could mix the products; I'm assuming not, otherwise why wouldn't they simply add everything? Addendum 5/11/2019: I missed @Lou Ekus 's email (thanks!) - All-For-Reef apparently contains both Trace A and Trace K elements, so I didn't need the bottle of Trace K after all. So, another reason to stick with All-For-Reef for simplicity.
VOSS water bottle doser: (based on multiple threads on here and elsewhere, including a video online) there's a slightly more than 3" wide space between my sump side and the side of the tank stand, so if I wanted a dosing container that didn't sit inside the sump (which I thought about, but decided that putting the doser on the side with the gap/outside the tank allowed more space to move the ATO whenever I need to fiddle with that) then I needed a narrow one. I have some Bulk Reef Supply Mur-Loc push-to-fit adaptors, so I drilled a 3/4" hole for that and a 1/16" hole separately to prevent a vaccuum forming in the bottle. I think it looks quite slick!
Once I get my clear 1/4" tubing and my adaptors (3/6" barb to 1/4" push-to-fit) up and running, I'll see where we are at.
Hope this was helpful!
Several months ago, that changed with 2 separate products: 1) Tropic Marin's calcium formate one-part additive, and 2) Kamoer's relatively very cheap Bluetooth X1 dosing pump. I was also pushed in this direction by my laziness in letting my alkalinity drop repeatedly (leading to some coral losses) and a tank partial crash due to adding 2-part quickly right over the return pump leading to precipitate landing all over many coral frags, which killed many of them (and some of the rest dying after an ill-advised change to my LED lighting spectrum towards whites which increased my PAR far more than I expected and bleached much of the rest).
My goals: a very simple (and therefore more reliable) dosing setup to maintain Ca/Alk/Mg for a 43 gallon system (Red Sea Reefer 170). I'm hoping that between this doser, Tropic Marin's one part, and a DIY dosing container, that my reef supplementation needs will be "better" (fewer mishaps due to my forgetfulness, less need to fiddle with stuff).
Kamoer X1 doser: (bought used; it didn't come with the graduated cylinder for calibrating so I bought 10 and 25 ml plastic graduated cylinders from Amazon.com)
It's quite small and light, with a simple plug and some clear tubing (not shown). Bluetooth, so it's controlled by a downloadable app (iTunes has it, and my understanding is that Google's equivalent has it as well). It also has a daisy chain cord, so you can daisy chain multiples with only 1 power cord.
The online video by CoralVue is pretty clear, and I was running it with one end dipped in a cup of vinegar to clean it out within a few minutes. The app is pretty straightforward. I can't yet comment on reliability or precision, but it certainly looks good from my perspective.
My only gripes are that the tubing is 3/16" rather than standard 1/4" push-to-fit tubing. Later this week, I have a Bulk Reef Supply package with https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/ozone-resistant-kynar-straight-male-npt-x-barb.html (3/16" barb to 1/4") , https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/mur-lok-1-4-female-npt-x-1-4-push-connect.html, and their 1/4" clear push-to-fit RO/DI tubing so hopefully that solves the connection problem. Special thanks to @Mark Bianco for his post (#2) at https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/c...h-connects-to-barb-style-dosing-pumps.400322/ which answered my adaptor questions (for some reason, his username isn't activating)
Tropic Marin All-For-Reef: (on bottle #2) calcium formate, in one of 3 options. I remember seeing several threads on this (https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/has-anyone-tried-tropic-marin-bio-calcium-or-carbo-calcium.410153/), but it's essentially one part plus magnesium and trace elements. CarboCalcium is pure calcium formate (power or liquid), which are your other 2 options. My understanding is that it's similar to calcium acetate (calcium is consumed directly; acetate is metabolized into bicarbonate so it "turns into" alkalinity) but with less carbon dosing from formate than, say, Salifert's calcium acetate one part.
It's certainly more expensive than DIY 2-part, but I figure that for a smaller tank, the convenience is worth it. I could switch to powdered CarboCalcium in the future (which looks like the cheapest option) if desired.
It comes in a Bettix bottle, which is great for measuring out 10/15/30 mL with a squeeze and pour. I highly recommend Tropic Marin's dosing calculator, as it prevents errors like mine (I was off by a factor of 4 leading to an alk crash, as I may have not converted from Liters to Gallons :-( ): https://www.tropic-marin-smartinfo.com/en/minerals/all-for-reef.html#open-5
I've been using this for a month or two, and (when I remember to dose it!) it works as expected - it replaces alkalinity, and presumably calcium (I haven't been very diligent about following that). It doesn't cause any precipitate, and when I add it next to my return pump I don't notice any tank inhabitants reacting to it at all. I also didn't see any precipitate problems when added to an open ATO reservoir like I had with kalkwasser.
My one question is this: for All-For-Reef, it contains one of Tropic Marin's additive formulas as well (their A- product) but not their K+ additives, so I just bought a bottle of the K+. Presumably, that covers my trace element needs (although I do need to check if silica is present in either product or if I have to add that separately). I have an email out to Tropic Marin on this question (do you need K+ with All-For-Reef?). I think that I also asked if you could mix the products; I'm assuming not, otherwise why wouldn't they simply add everything? Addendum 5/11/2019: I missed @Lou Ekus 's email (thanks!) - All-For-Reef apparently contains both Trace A and Trace K elements, so I didn't need the bottle of Trace K after all. So, another reason to stick with All-For-Reef for simplicity.
VOSS water bottle doser: (based on multiple threads on here and elsewhere, including a video online) there's a slightly more than 3" wide space between my sump side and the side of the tank stand, so if I wanted a dosing container that didn't sit inside the sump (which I thought about, but decided that putting the doser on the side with the gap/outside the tank allowed more space to move the ATO whenever I need to fiddle with that) then I needed a narrow one. I have some Bulk Reef Supply Mur-Loc push-to-fit adaptors, so I drilled a 3/4" hole for that and a 1/16" hole separately to prevent a vaccuum forming in the bottle. I think it looks quite slick!
Once I get my clear 1/4" tubing and my adaptors (3/6" barb to 1/4" push-to-fit) up and running, I'll see where we are at.
Hope this was helpful!
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