What time to dose all for reef

[blakeu21]

So I want to start dosing all for reef in my water box 110 mixed reef that is lps dominant. I got a brs 1.1ml dosing pump and I have an apex system to control it. I was wondering what time should I be dosing from? Should I dose 24/7 or only when the lights are on? Also should I dose hourly or every 2 hours? I know that the answer is probably going to be depends on your tank but if you have any tips it would be much appreciated.

 

[Sophie"s mom]

This is in a 90 gallon tank?

Assuming so, 50 ml of C-balance adds about 0.8 dKh per day. Match calcium demand would be about 5 ppm per day of calcium.

That's not so low that I'd expect minor processes to dominate.

That leaves water changes and accumulating nitrate as possible sinks for alk (or additions of calcium).

To explain away 0.6 dKh of alk demand by rising nitrate, it would need to add about 13 ppm per day. That sounds excessive, and if that is not happening, nitrate is not the cause. No sulfur denitrator, right?

That leaves water changes as the only other in tank process to cause such a mismatch.

Do you do water changes, and if so, how often, how much, and with what?

Outside of tank processes could include test errors, mismeasurement, forgetting to dilute the calcium part when diluting the alk part, dosing pumps not delivering what was expected, or faulty product potency.

Also, my nitrates stay around 20 to 25 ppm. When I do water changes they drop down to many 14 to 17.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Thank you for your help with this Randy. Yes it is a 90 gallon, I do 15 gallon water changes every other weekend. I use instant Ocean reef crystals salt. The tests are done with Hanna . Also, I currently dose manually. I just purchased a dose but have not set it up yet. I am doing a water change tomorrow. I will test all Sunday and let you know what all parameters are.

Have you tested the salt mix compared to your tank with respect to calcium and alk?

 

[Bartanto]

All for reef works a little differently that traditional two part dosing in that it uses calcium formate and it is released over time as bacteria break it down. I dose all at once in the mornings in my 210 gallon system and my alkalinity stays spot on between 9.0-9.2 in a 24 hrs period as measured by my trident. There may be a benefit to continued dosing during the day but calcium formate should not be stripped in our filtration systems, at least not significantly enough where multiple small doses might help. Just my two cents! Good luck, I absolutely love this product!

How much are you dosing daily? Thx.