New to Dosing

SocalS14 · Oct 30, 2023

Although I have had a few multiple multi-year episodes of reefing, believe it or not, I have never dosed my tanks. The most I have done is add some Alk buffer to my ATO - I have also tended to lean more toward softies and a few LPS. I often wonder if my use of continuous automatic water changes (CAWC) as been one reason dosing has never seemed needed. I use Reef Crystals in my SW reservoir and tend to turn over ~40g per month using CAWC in my ~160g system.

Nevertheless, in my newest tank, I want to keep more LPS/SPS corals. I think this may necessitate some added dosing. It appears there are a few camps in this area. Any tips on getting started?

BairCorals · Oct 30, 2023

Personally, I have found that kalkwasser will do about all the dosing needed for most reefers tanks so I'd start there. Get a jebao or kamoer dosing pump and run it into a Kalk stirrer. Does Calc and alk for you as well as raise your ph. Big thing is to know how much your tank is pulling out and how much you're putting in and to not overdose the kalk. Ph controllers help a bunch so you don't go over on that part. Big thing is to measure how far your tank brings your Calc and alk down in a day or 2 and adjust dosing as needed. Kalk is the cheapest, best method imo. The other methods have the same idea behind them just need more bottles and dosers. Kalk only needs one!
So that part is up to you. Whether going kalk or 2/3 part. Could even try all for reef if you'd like.

19Mateo83 · Nov 15, 2023

I am also looking to get started dosing kalk on my 59g system. Is there an idiots guide to kalkwasser dosing anywhere? My tank consumes .3 Dkh daily and I have beef using brightwell code A&B plus mag. I’ve tried to find @Randy Holmes-Farley ’s reef calculator but it seems to be down at the moment t.