Manually Dosing: What's your routine?

[R33fDaddy]

Hey Everyone,

I'm currently trying to decide if I want to manually dose, invest in a Neptune System or just get a Redsea dosing pump.

I looked every where online I couldn't find one good example of a manual dosing routine. So what I'm looking for is:

Do you test everything (Alk Cal, Mag) everyday and then dose?
Do you only test Alk and base you dosing off that?
Is there any good calculators or apps that help you determine how much to dose?

I know I have to start dosing because my tank consumes about 1dkh over a 3 day period. I got really busy at work for a few months and ended up losing some corals because water changes just wasn't enough.

I also just discovered a have a lot of deep purple coralline algae that I didn't know I had before.

Any suggestions, comments or advice you can give is much appreciated.

 

[Lavey29]

You base it off daily alk consumption if weekly water changes are not sufficient to maintain stabil parameters. Basically test your alk for 3 days at the same time each day and determine your consumption per day. If it's minimal then water changes suffice. If it is moderate then dosing is required. Typically alk and cal are dosed in the same amount but not at the same time if using 2 part. I use the Red Sea doser and love the ease of use for 18ml per day dosing. Magnesium rarely needs dosing as water changes usually replenish unless you have large heavily stocked system.

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

I test alk everyday calcium every 3-5 days and mag just recently. Hanna kits. I use about 25ml alk daily calcium hovers 400/420 and mag don’t supplement and it’s like 1360. Hanna and Red Sea kits. Use Esv bionic 2 part and I top off w kalk max saturation 2tsp per gal dropped overnite. PH is like 8.1. I don’t mind. Takes a few minutes but keeps me tuned to the needs of the system. Also chk PO4 and NO3 every other day Hanna .08 and 18 test yesterday.

 

[Gtinnel]

For alkalinity and calcium I use a trident and dos, so it adjusts based upon alkalinity and calcium reading. Before getting an apex I would dose with two cheap kamoer x1 pumps, and I would test alkalinity and calcium weekly, then adjust my dosage if needed based upon alkalinity, I always set them to dose the same amount until I got the apex. Before using the kamoer pumps I would just manually dose once a day based upon weekly testing.
I would strongly suggest getting some dosing pumps, doing it everyday becomes monotonous and for me I started skipping days on occasion. You can get some cheap pumps so that you don’t have to spend a fortune on a apex system if you don’t want to. I like kamoer personally but there are other good brands that make a decent cheap pump.

 

[JCM]

I use pickling lime in my ATO. So far its been enough to keep my ALK where I want it.

I wouldn't trust myself to dose manually.

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

I test alk everyday calcium every 3-5 days and mag just recently. Hanna kits. I use about 25ml alk daily calcium hovers 400/420 and mag don’t supplement and it’s like 1360. Hanna and Red Sea kits. Use Esv bionic 2 part and I top off w kalk max saturation 2tsp per gal dropped overnite. PH is like 8.1. I don’t mind. Takes a few minutes but keeps me tuned to the needs of the system. Also chk PO4 and NO3 every other day Hanna .08 and 18 test yesterday.

Oh sry. Dose manually. Like keeping busy. Dont trust automation. I know if I pour a certain amount that’s all the tank is getting til the nxt time.

 

[R33fDaddy]

You base it off daily alk consumption if weekly water changes are not sufficient to maintain stabil parameters. Basically test your alk for 3 days at the same time each day and determine your consumption per day. If it's minimal then water changes suffice. If it is moderate then dosing is required. Typically alk and cal are dosed in the same amount but not at the same time if using 2 part. I use the Red Sea doser and love the ease of use for 18ml per day dosing. Magnesium rarely needs dosing as water changes usually replenish unless you have large heavily stocked system.

How often do you test Calcium?

 

[R33fDaddy]

Here is my typical Parameters over a three day span and why I believe I need to start dosing.

What do you'll think? I also just recovered from running 0 Nitrates and 0 Phosphates.

June 03, 2022 Nitrates 4ppm, Phosphates 0.03ppm, Alkalinity 11.9 dkh, Calcium 400, Magnesium 1485
June 04, 2022 Nitrates 4ppm, Phosphates 0.03ppm, Alkalinity 11.4 dkh, Calcium 450, Magnesium 1485
June 05, 2022 Nitrates 6ppm, Phosphates 0.03ppm, Alkalinity 11.2 dkh, Calcium 470, Magnesium 1500
June 6, 2022 Alkalinity 10.9 dkh dosed 32ml and it brought the dkh up to 11.8 dkh

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

Why are u running a high alk ?

 

[shakacuz]

i test weekly(on sundays: SG, PH, NO3, PO4, ALK, CAL, MAG). but when i dose ALK/NO3/PO4, i will test 24hrs later to see if it reached the desired level(s). i have been monitoring ALK closely these last few weeks...i can't for the life of me dial in my ALK consumption vs. how much alkalin8.3 to dose(made a 200g alk8.3-p to 1gallon of RO mix)...

with ALK you need to make sure you do not raise it more than .05-1dkh per day to avoid any shock to the corals. with NO3 try not to raise it more than 2ppm, and for PO4 try not to raise it more than .02ppm. CAL/MAG generally never need much dosing, especially if you do water changes. you'll need to test daily to find out how much the tank is consuming per week, then adjust your dosing to match that to keep levels stable.

 

[R33fDaddy]

For alkalinity and calcium I use a trident and dos, so it adjusts based upon alkalinity and calcium reading. Before getting an apex I would dose with two cheap kamoer x1 pumps, and I would test alkalinity and calcium weekly, then adjust my dosage if needed based upon alkalinity, I always set them to dose the same amount until I got the apex. Before using the kamoer pumps I would just manually dose once a day based upon weekly testing.
I would strongly suggest getting some dosing pumps, doing it everyday becomes monotonous and for me I started skipping days on occasion. You can get some cheap pumps so that you don’t have to spend a fortune on a apex system if you don’t want to. I like kamoer personally but there are other good brands that make a decent cheap pump.

For the Apex can you have the Neptune doser automatically adjust the dosage based on Trident tests or do you have to adjust the dosage amount manually?

 

[R33fDaddy]

Why are u running a high alk ?

I use Redsea Coral Pro salt mix and for 8 months I ran 12 - 12.4dkh and my tank looked very happy. I took someone's advice and slowly dropped it to 9 over a four month period. The next 6 months everything just went down hill. So I'm going to stick with what makes my tank happy and stay somewhere between 11 - 12dkh.

 

[R33fDaddy]

i test weekly(on sundays: SG, PH, NO3, PO4, ALK, CAL, MAG). but when i dose ALK/NO3/PO4, i will test 24hrs later to see if it reached the desired level(s). i have been monitoring ALK closely these last few weeks...i can't for the life of me dial in my ALK consumption vs. how much alkalin8.3 to dose(made a 200g alk8.3-p to 1gallon of RO mix)...

with ALK you need to make sure you do not raise it more than .05-1dkh per day to avoid any shock to the corals. with NO3 try not to raise it more than 2ppm, and for PO4 try not to raise it more than .02ppm. CAL/MAG generally never need much dosing, especially if you do water changes. you'll need to test daily to find out how much the tank is consuming per week, then adjust your dosing to match that to keep levels stable.

I found this calculator online which is somewhat helpful.

Reef Chemistry Calculator

I had a huge issue where my tank always was running at Nitrates 0 and Phosphates 0. I solved this by feeding 1 Cube of fish eggs, 1 Cube of Plankton and a quarter sheet of seaweed a day.

I don't know if I can get away with testing only once a week since my tank is consuming 1dkh every three days. What do you think?

 

[JCM]

Here is my typical Parameters over a three day span and why I believe I need to start dosing.

What do you'll think? I also just recovered from running 0 Nitrates and 0 Phosphates.

June 03, 2022 Nitrates 4ppm, Phosphates 0.03ppm, Alkalinity 11.9 dkh, Calcium 400, Magnesium 1485
June 04, 2022 Nitrates 4ppm, Phosphates 0.03ppm, Alkalinity 11.4 dkh, Calcium 450, Magnesium 1485
June 05, 2022 Nitrates 6ppm, Phosphates 0.03ppm, Alkalinity 11.2 dkh, Calcium 470, Magnesium 1500
June 6, 2022 Alkalinity 10.9 dkh dosed 32ml and it brought the dkh up to 11.8 dkh

Why is your Alk dropping while calcium is increasing? I'd figure that out before making any moves.

 

[Gtinnel]

For the Apex can you have the Neptune doser automatically adjust the dosage based on Trident tests or do you have to adjust the dosage amount manually?

You can set it up to automatically adjust the dosage based upon trident reading, it’s called “trident controlled dosing”

 

[R33fDaddy]

Why is your Alk dropping while calcium is increasing? I'd figure that out before making any moves.

Maybe user error lol.

I use the Redsea Calcium Test kit and it has that dropper where you have to check for color after each drop. The change from deep purple to blue sometimes sneaks up on you lol.

I may get a different test kit for calcium but first I need to decide if I'm going to continue to manually dose or got the Neptune route. Which is why a made this thread.

 

[shakacuz]

I found this calculator online which is somewhat helpful.

Reef Chemistry Calculator

I had a huge issue where my tank always was running at Nitrates 0 and Phosphates 0. I solved this by feeding 1 Cube of fish eggs, 1 Cube of Plankton and a quarter sheet of seaweed a day.

I don't know if I can get away with testing only once a week since my tank is consuming 1dkh every three days. What do you think?

i believe once you figure out what your daily consumption rate is, and dose that daily, you should be fine to dose 1x/week. for redundancy/safe guard perhaps every 3 days could give you some peace of mind?


in regards to that dosing calculator. i use it, actually. but what it doesn't help with is with my current mixed batch of alkalin8.3-p. i mixed 200g of it with 1 gallon of RO. i need to figure out on my own how much of my mix(because that calculator just tells you how much of the liquid to use or powder mix you need to make in the moment) raises ALK by whatever number.

 

[R33fDaddy]

You can set it up to automatically adjust the dosage based upon trident reading, it’s called “trident controlled dosing”

Can I use the Redsea Foundation Elements or is it a specific Alk, Calcium and Mag Brand I'd have to use?

 

[mindme]

I don't really have a routine. I'll check alk about every 2 weeks or so. I just dose calcium at the same rate as alk, and the hanna tester I have for calcium is a PITA, so I don't even test it. I get calcium numbers back on ICP tests and it's always in a good range this way.

I don't know why, but I rarely seem to need magnesium. I quit testing it and just wait for ICP results.

Getting started I used a calculator to get my initial dose. But honestly I just add a little to the dosing when it starts getting consumed more. I'll do a few seconds manual on the pumps if needs some bumping.

 

[R33fDaddy]

i believe once you figure out what your daily consumption rate is, and dose that daily, you should be fine to dose 1x/week. for redundancy/safe guard perhaps every 3 days could give you some peace of mind?


in regards to that dosing calculator. i use it, actually. but what it doesn't help with is with my current mixed batch of alkalin8.3-p. i mixed 200g of it with 1 gallon of RO. i need to figure out on my own how much of my mix(because that calculator just tells you how much of the liquid to use or powder mix you need to make in the moment) raises ALK by whatever number.

Yes, this is exactly why I decided to go with Redsea Foundation Elements to make it easier. I know mixing two part is easier but I just don't trust myself to get it right at the moment lol.