What all do you dose?

[Jcr's Reef]

I question all forms of dosing, whether it be additives, carbon, 2-part, whatever. I know all tanks are different, but maybe someone has a tank similar to mine that I can learn from. I figured this would be a good way for all of us (including me) to see what is being added to our tanks and why. Even if someone has already stated it I would like your to hear your opinion.....

Please explain.....
What "ALL" exactly do you dose your tank for? (or feed for that matter)
How much are you dosing?
How often do you dose for a certain thing?
Do you dose everything all at once?
What time of day do you dose and why?

Please share what works for you or if you have found better results dosing or adding things a certain way.

 

[Jcr's Reef]

Alright. I'm all for constructive criticism if you see somethings a miss, so please let me know. I use to just change out my water weekly but now I find myself "tweaking" my system all the time and trying new stuff to see what works. My total water volume is roughly 140g. Change out about 15g of water every 2 weeks. Most of my dosing takes place in the morning just because its the most convenient time for me.

Daily (pretty much all at the same time of day)
2 drops Lugols/day
BRS 2 part (Alk, Ca, Mag) Alk=100ml/day, Ca=100ml/day, Mg=15ml/day (still experimenting with amount) Alk is the only thing I dose at night to help keep Ph up.
5ml MB7/day
2mL Potassium/day

Night
Alk- 100mL mixed in a gallon of RO water then gravity fed in the return area of my sump
MB7= Occasionally I might add another 5mL just to help clear the water up if I have been feeding heavy

Weekly
1500mg of Vitamin C tablets. I think it has some benefits for my corals and filter feeders
Brightwell Aquatics Trace Elements 5ML if I don't do a water change that week

What I feed my livestock
Liquid Life- Bio Plankton and Marine Plankton w/cyclopeeze
Frozen Mysis, Brine, Roe
Nori
Spectrum Pellets
Sea-Weed flakes
Herbivore Pellets
Most of the food is pre-soaked in Selcon and Garlic more than a few times a week, otherwise their staple diet is the spectrum pellets & sheets of Nori if I'm pressed for time.
I try to spot feed my corals but my fish hogs.

Occasionally
2-3ml of Vodka and 1mL of vinegar depending how my SPS are looking. I may also dose every once in a while if I have been feeding heavy to keep algae in check as well

I usually don't test for anything either other than Alk, CA, Mg, and S.G. unless something is really off and my corals aren't looking too happy.

What works for you?

 

[mikesin]

Hi, we have a 75G reef - total of 105G with the sump and fuge. 18G Water change every two weeks - dose Mag at this time as well to achieve 1400-1450 mag,. auto dose 1G of kalk during lights out (per day), this equals the evaporation rate. Also auto dose 70ml of BRS 2part alk, cal. pH is between 8.1 & 8.2. dkh = 9 and cal = 440. I may have to adjust the 2part down, just added a kangaroo 2 part dosing pump and I don't seem to have the precip like there was with manual dosing. Like you said, constant "tweaking"

Feed spectrum pellets
frozen mysis
frozen plankton
frozen Ocean Nutrition formula one and two.
3-4 times a week their food is pre-soaked in selcon.
a small pinch of freeze dried cyclopeeze once in while.
I use to feed my corals coral frenzy, however, I added 4 disbar anthias about 2 months ago and am starting to see hair algae so I'm really trying to limit food till a balance is found.

 

[Jcr's Reef]

Thanks for sharing Mike.
Any problems keeping your Ph up & stable with 2-part?

 

[Aquaph8]

125 gallon with 30 gallon sump

Vodka/Vinegar-----4ml/6ml daily (was a lot higher but recently cut it back)
BRS Calcium----60ML daily
BRS ALK-----50ML daily
Lugols-----1 drop daily
MB7-----6 drops daily
Brightwells AA's-----usually 5-8 drops around twice a week.

I feed spectrum pellets once or twice a day. Frozen mix with homemade food once a day and one sheet of nori.
Water changes are biweekly 25 gallons. Everything is dosed during the day except for two part which is dosed at night about an hour a part. My PH does seem to stay a little on the low side but not too bad. I try to open the window next to the tank on nice evenings. I plan to run kalk in the future if I ever get my ATO going. Jcr, your dosing is pretty close to mine, how about some pics.

 

[Brad Syphus]

Mine is pretty basic.
270 gallons total. I try to do a 25 gallon w/c every other week.
At that time I also add about a half a cup of BRS high purity magnesium chloride to the new water.
I use Oceanic salt so I also add Seachem reef builder to bump up the alk.
Also at this time I add about 12 drops of lugals.
There is no other dosing as I run a very big calcium reactor (Deltec PF601s) and all of my top of water is run thru a DIY 4ft kalk stirrer.
Coral is fed by my fish and I feed my fish 3-4 times a day, mainly spectrum pellets and then spirulina flakes, PE mysis and a variety of frozen foods.
Just took tests
Mag----1900
Alk-----10.2 DKH
Calc----480
My mag is high because I've been dosing Tech M to get rid of bryopsis again.
All tests done with salifert test kits.

 

[AZDesertRat]

RO/DI water and Oceanic Salt, thats it for my smaller tanks.

For the 100G SPS Reef is RO/DI water, Oceanic salt and a calcium reactor, and I monitor the magnesium and add a two part magnesium mix if and only if testing shows its low. Additives and supplements in general are akin to snake oil and are best left on the LFS shelf.

 

[Jcr's Reef]

AquaPh8- Pretty similar. I'm not religious with my carbon dosing right now though. I still add to it every once in awhile as I feel it does have some benefits, but the tank will be soon coming down to move to our new home. I have tons of pics in my build thread. Check it out

I'm also going to be switching over to a kalk stirrer (ATO) for more stability. Forgot to add that in there

Brad- you fight algae often? Thats why I love my tangs, otherwise I would be overgrown with it bc I feed extremely heavy. When I'm bored, I feed my fish instead of feeding my face hahahaha

AZ- I can respect that with the addivites. What do you run your levels at? Is simply changing the water enough to keep them stable?

 

[Brad Syphus]

Brad- you fight algae often? Thats why I love my tangs, otherwise I would be overgrown with it bc I feed extremely heavy. When I'm bored, I feed my fish instead of feeding my face hahahaha

Regretably yes. But you have to pay the price somewhere keeping all the fish I have and the amount of food I throw in.
But it's a small price to pay. If I stay on top of it. It's not a problem at all.
I forgot to mention I also have a carbon bag I throw in my sock and change it out every 2 weeks also.
I run ozone as needed and also have a bio denitrator running 24/7

 

[AZDesertRat]

I honestly have not checked my 100G reef levels in awhile so I'll have to get back to you on that one. On my 16G nano water changes alone keep things happy, the palythoas, mushrooms and Sebae anemone in it are all 21 years old or older.

 

[fsu1dolfan]

I question all forms of dosing, whether it be additives, carbon, 2-part, whatever. I know all tanks are different, but maybe someone has a tank similar to mine that I can learn from. I figured this would be a good way for all of us (including me) to see what is being added to our tanks and why. Even if someone has already stated it I would like your to hear your opinion.....

Please explain.....
What "ALL" exactly do you dose your tank for? (or feed for that matter)
How much are you dosing?
How often do you dose for a certain thing?
Do you dose everything all at once?
What time of day do you dose and why?

Please share what works for you or if you have found better results dosing or adding things a certain way.

I have a 29g Biocube - I do 20percent water changes monthly plus skimmer and carbon/GFO (monthly)

Feed - Mysis with 8-10 drops of Brightwells Vitamarin C - every other day or longer. Thawed rinsed and soak in tank water with Vit C. *after work after dosing chemicals 5-6pm

Dosing - Brightwells Reef code A&B - two caps each daily - Bottle A first then 20 mins later Bottle B. Kent Tech M - Couple times a week - 3 Caps (All depends on my Magnesium test results before i dose) *Always done after work with lights on 4:30-5:30pm after Reef code A&B

Top off - Distilled water by hand daily anywhere from a cup - 4 cups. *During day after work (when dosing chemicals) or in morning before i leave for work *6:30am

 

[Captain Nemo]

Ihave a roughly 80g total volume, and try to change about 7-10 g every week. I feed my fish when I remember so usually once a day at night. I dont dose anything except for reefbuilder when I feel like the alk is low ( can tell by corals), and I havent dosed in a while since i have been doing my weekly routine water changes. I feed spectrum pellets and ocean nutrition flakes along with some mysis or formula 1&2 cubes. This is what works for me though....

 

[mikesin]

Thanks for sharing Mike.
Any problems keeping your Ph up & stable with 2-part?

No problems at all, the 2 part is auto doses (~3ml per hour) which keep the parameters super stable.

 

[Jcr's Reef]

Regretably yes. But you have to pay the price somewhere keeping all the fish I have and the amount of food I throw in.
But it's a small price to pay. If I stay on top of it. It's not a problem at all.
I forgot to mention I also have a carbon bag I throw in my sock and change it out every 2 weeks also.
I run ozone as needed and also have a bio denitrator running 24/7

You still have an amazing fish collection and a beautiful tank Brad. I can only imagine the struggles I would go through, so your doing something right. Thanks for sharing.

I honestly have not checked my 100G reef levels in awhile so I'll have to get back to you on that one. On my 16G nano water changes alone keep things happy, the palythoas, mushrooms and Sebae anemone in it are all 21 years old or older.

Az- do you make up a fresh batch of saltwater for your 16g or use the old water from your 100g? I find myself "recycling" my 100g tanks water and using it for a water change for my 40g, since its more LPS and softies. I figured since they like dirtier water they could have it:xd:, but its really not that dirty. When I take the water out of my 100g and put it in a white 5g bucket the water is still crystal clear.

I have a 29g Biocube - I do 20percent water changes monthly plus skimmer and carbon/GFO (monthly)

Feed - Mysis with 8-10 drops of Brightwells Vitamarin C - every other day or longer. Thawed rinsed and soak in tank water with Vit C. *after work after dosing chemicals 5-6pm

Dosing - Brightwells Reef code A&B - two caps each daily - Bottle A first then 20 mins later Bottle B. Kent Tech M - Couple times a week - 3 Caps (All depends on my Magnesium test results before i dose) *Always done after work with lights on 4:30-5:30pm after Reef code A&B

Top off - Distilled water by hand daily anywhere from a cup - 4 cups. *During day after work (when dosing chemicals) or in morning before i leave for work *6:30am

Thanks for sharing. How do you like the Brightwells Vit. C? I use tablets Natures Valley 100% Vitamin C and crush them up. I haven't research it, but is the Brightwells real diluted?

Ihave a roughly 80g total volume, and try to change about 7-10 g every week. I feed my fish when I remember so usually once a day at night. I dont dose anything except for reefbuilder when I feel like the alk is low ( can tell by corals), and I havent dosed in a while since i have been doing my weekly routine water changes. I feed spectrum pellets and ocean nutrition flakes along with some mysis or formula 1&2 cubes. This is what works for me though....

Thanks for sharing. I wish I could use the K.I.S.S. method, but my tank consumes way too much Alk & Ca throughout the week. I also think your eyes will tell you more than any test kit once you know your livestock. Although, that could be a double edged sword.

No problems at all, the 2 part is auto doses (~3ml per hour) which keep the parameters super stable.

How many times a day do you have it kicking on? I evaporate about 2 gallons a day ATM, so I think hooking a Kalk stirrer to my ATO will give me more stability with my Ph, but I won't be able to test that theory until we are in our new house. I think there is too much Co2 in the house we are in now and it will be more stable once we move.

 

[fsu1dolfan]

JCR's Reef - Personally i love Brightwells products. I use to use Kents Vit C but made the switch a few years ago. It is probably more diluted than tablets but it gives me the flexibility to add extra drops and not worry.

 

[mikesin]

Jcr, I have a 6g container that holds pre-mixed kalk. Dosing with a sp3000, controlled via controller AC3.
The pump runs 2 minutes every 20 minute or 6 minutes an hour, or 90 minutes in 24hrs. It doses when the lights
are off - 15 hrs (15 X 6 = 90). This works out to be roughly 1g in 24 hrs which is my current evaporation rate.
Hopefully I made sence. We also have an issue with co2, we have an air pump that pulls fresh air
from outside and is plumbed to the skimmed and to the fans that blow across the top of the DT.

I failed to mention that we use carbon as well as phosban in my original post.
The carbon is changed out weekly. Phosban is changed every 6 weeks or so.

 

[Reggie]

Lots of info on what reefers with great tanks dose in the March/April "Trace Elements" issue of Coral Magazine.

 

[viper1972]

All I ever use is seachem reef complete and reef plus. I never have any problems. Is there something out there better or does anyone know anything wromg with these. Also its the only brand my local LFS has.

 

[Electrobes]

I try to keep things simple yet helpful (Obviously) for my tank. Aside from Kalk in my ATO, I dose an extra bit of calcium every now and then for my Monti Caps since they are on a growing rampage right now. I also dose iodide every time I introduce a new coral to the tank.. a slight preventative of bleaching and a helpful thing to help overcome bleaching.

 

[CJO]

I just use kalk in my topoff water and a calcium reactor (with a magnesium supplement mixed in).

CJ