To dose or not? All for reef.

[HP Reef]

I have a 7 month old 170 gallon FOWLR and looking to add a few chalices and mushrooms. My current dKH is 6.8 with just monthly water changes, and I want to sustain a dkH of 7-7.5 for the chalices and mushrooms only. Do you think monthly water changes alone will be sufficient? Or should I dose all for reef? How much should I dose? Thank you for listening and I look forward to the responses!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Water changes may be fine, but I think starting a low dose of AFR could be useful for a variety of reasons, including alk and the added trace elements.

I'd start by adding an amount to add 0.1-0.2 dKH per day and see where you stand after a week. No need to test every day. :)

In 170 gallons of total water, I'd add about 16 ml per day, boosting alk by about 0.15 dKH.

 

[HP Reef]

Water changes may be fine, but I think starting a low dose of AFR could be useful for a variety of reasons, including alk and the added trace elements.

I'd start by adding an amount to add 0.1-0.2 dKH per day and see where you stand after a week. No need to test every day. :)

In 170 gallons of total water, I'd add about 16 ml per day, boosting alk by about 0.15 dKH.

Thank you Randy for the quick response! I appreciate the info. I too was leaning towards some minimal dosing, which should only help I feel. I just wanted a little reassurance from our chemist! :)

Thanks again!

 

[HP Reef]

@Randy Holmes-Farley what about for a mixed reef, would that start of 16 ml per day still warrant or would that change things? How much would you tweak? Thank you.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

@Randy Holmes-Farley what about for a mixed reef, would that start of 16 ml per day still warrant or would that change things? How much would you tweak? Thank you.

I'd suggest trying to understand the current alk demand and dose for that. It's similarly potent to my DIY two part (BRS two part uses that recipe). If you know how much of that two part, start with 12% less than the alk part of that two part if that two part meets your current demand.

If you do not know it, then it depends on the actual alk and your target alk. If they are close, start very slow.