New too doseing anything

[Zane08]

I been reefing for about 2 years now but allways had smaller tanks thats been around 40 gallons max. I never had too dose or add trace elements too my tank all i did was weekly water changes and my corals stayed happy and healthy.Well I recently moved bought a redsea 425 xl and everything has been fine the corals I have been doing well but last few weeks I noticed they ain't as fluffy or as happy so I started testing and notice even with my bi weekly water changes that my alk and calcium are kinda low and my ph is super low so I started doing some digging and found out about dosing kalkwasser with a dosing pump and it would help with my ph, cal and alk levels but idk where too even get started. My wife bought me a redsea doser like 6 months ago but I been kinda scared too use it and mess something up. I know they say start slow so what would be a good amount of kalkwasser too dose per day for a red sea 425xl size tank. And would my redsea doser work for dosing kalkwasser or should I buy a cheaper smaller dosing pump just for this.

 

[Cory]

I been reefing for about 2 years now but allways had smaller tanks thats been around 40 gallons max. I never had too dose or add trace elements too my tank all i did was weekly water changes and my corals stayed happy and healthy.Well I recently moved bought a redsea 425 xl and everything has been fine the corals I have been doing well but last few weeks I noticed they ain't as fluffy or as happy so I started testing and notice even with my bi weekly water changes that my alk and calcium are kinda low and my ph is super low so I started doing some digging and found out about dosing kalkwasser with a dosing pump and it would help with my ph, cal and alk levels but idk where too even get started. My wife bought me a redsea doser like 6 months ago but I been kinda scared too use it and mess something up. I know they say start slow so what would be a good amount of kalkwasser too dose per day for a red sea 425xl size tank. And would my redsea doser work for dosing kalkwasser or should I buy a cheaper smaller dosing pump just for this.

This is what i do. Fill your kalk container up. Test your tanks alk. Then start a dose of say 50ml per day. Next day test your alk again. If it dropped, raise your dose a little, if it raised lower your dose a little.

 

[Zane08]

This is what i do. Fill your kalk container up. Test your tanks alk. Then start a dose of say 50ml per day. Next day test your alk again. If it dropped, raise your dose a little, if it raised lower your dose a little.

Thanks for that tip and would the redsea doser I have work for this since I heard certain dosing pumps aint meant too run constantly nonstop at slow rates I tried too look it up but can't find that info anywhere

 

[Cory]

Thanks for that tip and would the redsea doser I have work for this since I heard certain dosing pumps aint meant too run constantly nonstop at slow rates I tried too look it up but can't find that info anywhere

Not sure but one single dose is fine or many doses split up per day is better. The key is not to raise ph too quickly at one time.

 

[Zane08]

Not sure but one single dose is fine or many doses split up per day is better. The key is not to raise ph too quickly at one time.

See I check my alk and it drops a lil but my ph still at a 7.2 which is super low which is why I wanted too too does kalwesser just didn't want too mess up my calcium and alk levels up so wanted too start off slow

 

[Cory]

See I check my alk and it drops a lil but my ph still at a 7.2 which is super low which is why I wanted too too does kalwesser just didn't want too mess up my calcium and alk levels up so wanted too start off slow

What is your alkalinity? Ph of 7.2 isnt possible if anything is alive in your tank.

 

[Zane08]

What is your alkalinity? Ph of 7.2 isnt possible if anything is alive in your tank.

Just teste alk and its showing at 11 and yeah ph shows 7.2 or 7.4 useing the hanna checker pen read that good level is from 8 too 8.4 on ph so didn't think mine was that off and everything looks good except torches aint as fluffy as they normally are. I calibrated the pen and everything too double check you think it might be messing up I might try a different oh test too make sure its reading right

 

[Zane08]

Just teste alk and its showing at 11 and yeah ph shows 7.2 or 7.4 useing the hanna checker pen read that good level is from 8 too 8.4 on ph so didn't think mine was that off and everything looks good except torches aint as fluffy as they normally are. I calibrated the pen and everything too double check you think it might be messing up I might try a different oh test too make sure its reading right

 

[Cory]

Just teste alk and its showing at 11 and yeah ph shows 7.2 or 7.4 useing the hanna checker pen read that good level is from 8 too 8.4 on ph so didn't think mine was that off and everything looks good except torches aint as fluffy as they normally are. I calibrated the pen and everything too double check you think it might be messing up I might try a different oh test too make sure its reading right

11 dkh? Which test kit for alkalinity are you using? A ph of 7.2 is a test error.

 

[Zane08]

11 dkh? Which test kit for alkalinity are you using? A ph of 7.2 is a test error.

Useing both the blue hanna checker for alk and the red automatic ph pen from hanna and yes thats what made me want too look into raiseing ph since its super low. But maybe it is the ph pen that's not working properly since none of my corals or fish are dieing

 

[Lavey29]

The red sea doser is simple to set up. Took like 15 minutes total from the box. Get the reef beat app to and its simple to make adjustments.

 

[Cory]

Useing both the blue hanna checker for alk and the red automatic ph pen from hanna and yes thats what made me want too look into raiseing ph since its super low. But maybe it is the ph pen that's not working properly since none of my corals or fish are dieing

The ph is an error ignore it. Its likely at least 7.8 and up with 11dkh alkalinity. If your dkh is 11 then you dont need to add any kalkwasser until it lowers to a set dkh you want. Most go for 8dkh. 11dkh is the upper limit. Wait until it drops.