Still Have Dosing Questions...

RobertTheNurse

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Hey everyone,

I'll try to make this short and to the point.

Mostly LPS and softie 65G tank.
5 fish - 2 clowns, RG, YWG, Benggai Cardinal
1 -- conch
1 -- Cleaner Shrimp

Habits:

USED to perform 20% WC every 2 weeks.
From today gonna perform 10% WC every 2 weeks (low nitrate and phos)

My alk used to be around 8.3 - 8.7.
Have my tank just over 1 year.
Have a little bit of GHA on one last rock...gonna run a toothbrush over it next WC (Just performed FULL maintanence on my cannister filter (no floss, just ceramic, Matrix bio media, and carbon).

I've been adding +++ LPS frags to my system over the last 2 months...I believe my tank is now eating Alk and CA, but not in over abundance. Just to see how much (or little) it's consuming Ca, mg, and Alk I've been monitoring it frequently over thr past 2 weeks.

Alk has remained 7.3 over the last 2 weeks.
CA 440
Mg 1340

I tested the water I prepared for tonight's water change prior to putting into the tank.

Alk 8.3
Mg 1140
CA 450

When I mix at salinity 1.024 (I find with evaporation this mix in salinity maintains my DT salinity at 1.026 with refractomerer)

30 mins after water change, I tested the display tank again...

1.026
Mg 1340
CA 440
Alk 7.3

My plan is to leave it and test water again in 4 days to see if anything has dropped. I used Red Sea and Salifert tests.

So now my question (lol),

I'd like to have a alk at 8.0 - 8.3...I have the 3 Red Sea ABC kit...the instructions say to dose

1. Mg
2. Alk
3. CA

10 mins apart. Now...i want to take this slowwww...and focus MORE on alk and probably CA as well but not as much.

Instructions for Mg say 1 mL (per 25 G) will raise 1 ppm...

Instructions for alk: 1 mL (per 25 G) will raise 0.1 dkH

Instructions for Ca: 1 mL (per 25 G) will raise 2 ppm.

This is the end (I promise),

So im dosing all 3 cuz dosing can cause some imbalances, like, Mg will help seperate Ca and Alk?

I know not to raise 1 Dkh in a day, and to dose in the morning time.

My plan is to try to raise dkh from 7.3 to 7.8 at the beginning. And to not dose too much Mg as well as my levels are decent, so maybe 5 ppm to begin with? And maybe raise Ca up like 6 ppm in the beginning also.

Thanks for reading (if you managed to read this whole post. If you have, enjoy some pics of my tank, and my newest fish in Quarentine, my Midas Blenny!



20210221_212241.jpg 20210221_212230.jpg 20210221_212221.jpg 20210221_212144.jpg
 

Spare time

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They are dosed daily as the three are being used in the tank. However, I find it rare for anyone to does magnesium daily unless they have a pretty packed tank. Normally I would dose once a month as I used about 100ppm of magnesium a month (when I dosed just magnesium and not mag mixed with other things).
 

mdb_talon

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I think your plan to test in three days is good. I cant comment on if dosing amount sounds right cause need to monitor measure how much is used daily first. Then the dose needs to be that plus the small amount you want to raise daily
 

mdb_talon

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Also you did not ask but it stood out to me you are mixing your wc water at a lower salinity in order to balance out the evap. If i understand correctly you will do biweekly wc and between wc the salinity will gradually rise and then you reset it at the next WC. I would recommend instead to topoff pure water daily. Keep salinity where you want it rather than a yoyo that gets reset each WC
 
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RobertTheNurse

RobertTheNurse

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Also you did not ask but it stood out to me you are mixing your wc water at a lower salinity in order to balance out the evap. If i understand correctly you will do biweekly wc and between wc the salinity will gradually rise and then you reset it at the next WC. I would recommend instead to topoff pure water daily. Keep salinity where you want it rather than a yoyo that gets reset each WC
Oh. OK. I did not know I should throw pure RODI water in the tank. But that makes pure sense.

I think unless there is a dramatic drop in alk calcium and mag in 2 weeks...im gonna research more about dosing.

I think im just nervous im gonna crash my tank if I go in blind.

Just love hearing other people's routines.
 

mdb_talon

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Yes it would be a good idea to topoff with rodi freshwater daily. Or if it is in the budget use an auto topoff, but either way you dont want that salinity bouncing up and down.

As for the dosing approach i test daily until i feel comfortable with the daily consumption(around a week). Then i start dosing that amount daily still testing daily to see if it is keeping it stable. If after a week i it is going up too much or dropping then i adjust the dosing appropriately. Does not have to be daily testing to measure consumption that may he overkill, but what i prefer. Once you get the dose set and stable you can test much less frequently, but consumption does change(hopefully increases) so good to occassionally test. Then when you know what dosing is required to keep stable then i would add some extra doses over time to get up to your desired level(realizing this may in fact end up requiring a higher dose to keep stable also)

I use a doser so it simplifies it, but I dose alk 4 times daily(late night to early morning hours). I dose calcium in the afternoon. Dose mg about once a month manually. If manually dosing just make sure you are precise with measurements and with alk ensure dont dose too much at once. Make sure always dosed into a high flow area.

When new to dosing it can seem overwhelming, but really it is pretty simple. Just always error on the side of dosing too little ......easy to add more...harder to take it out lol
 
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RobertTheNurse

RobertTheNurse

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Ya. I've been testing about a week. Almost daily. I haven't seen a change. Always shows me alk 7.3 ca 440 to 450. And mag 1340.

Perhaps my tank is still maturing and not enough growth sucking that much out fast? I'm guessing when I wasn't testing as much a few months ago when it showed me 8.3...I stopped paying attention to it and just kept adding small frags. So maybe it's suckes 1 dkh in 2 months? Lol who knows. I'm not overtly concerned with 7.3 YET. That's why, I'd rather research...and study my levels and get a hold on my balance, which is done in the past, but not this intense.
 
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RobertTheNurse

RobertTheNurse

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That's why I don't want SPS yet, and prolly not for a while. Need to get my feet wet first
 

thatmanMIKEson

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Also you did not ask but it stood out to me you are mixing your wc water at a lower salinity in order to balance out the evap. If i understand correctly you will do biweekly wc and between wc the salinity will gradually rise and then you reset it at the next WC. I would recommend instead to topoff pure water daily. Keep salinity where you want it rather than a yoyo that gets reset each WC
absolutely good advice, plus the "one part" will raise salinity over time
 

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