When to start dosing?

[Max93]

Hello,

I finally got my tank fully ready for acropora and so far so good!

I am running everything to the book and parameters as well:

alk 8.0
Magnesium 1350
Nitrates 5
PO4 - .01
Calcium - 420
Sg - 1.026

I am running Aquaforest and also vodka dosing. I recently acquired 10 sps corals and they are doing awesome, even showing signs of growth on the base with major polyp extension. You have no idea my excitement. This is literally my dream.

I’ve tested all parameters above daily at 9:30pm when my T5s shut down and LEDs run only. They always test the same and it’s been 4 days since I introduced the 10 frags. I haven’t dosed anything (I’m going to dose Aquaforest 1 2 and 3).

I am assuming that for now, just do water changes or manually add components 1 2 and 3 as my test kits tell me until I can no longer keep up and have to run my doser, is that right? If so, how much time do you think has to pass for me to get to that level? I’m getting tired of testing every night haha. But I’ll do it if I have to.

 

[Lavey29]

Hello,

I finally got my tank fully ready for acropora and so far so good!

I am running everything to the book and parameters as well:

alk 8.0
Magnesium 1350
Nitrates 5
PO4 - .01
Calcium - 420
Sg - 1.026

I am running Aquaforest and also vodka dosing. I recently acquired 10 sps corals and they are doing awesome, even showing signs of growth on the base with major polyp extension. You have no idea my excitement. This is literally my dream.

I’ve tested all parameters above daily at 9:30pm when my T5s shut down and LEDs run only. They always test the same and it’s been 4 days since I introduced the 10 frags. I haven’t dosed anything (I’m going to dose Aquaforest 1 2 and 3).

I am assuming that for now, just do water changes or manually add components 1 2 and 3 as my test kits tell me until I can no longer keep up and have to run my doser, is that right? If so, how much time do you think has to pass for me to get to that level? I’m getting tired of testing every night haha. But I’ll do it if I have to.

basically when water changes alone are not enough to sustain alk and cal at stabil levels then you know its time for dosing. I started off hand dosing small amounts of alk and cal and demand increased I got a Red Sea doser which is small and compact and works perfectly for 18ml of each per day now.

 

[Max93]

So like, if my alk and ca drops do a water change OR just dose manually? Either way is fine I imagine?

 

[Lavey29]

So like, if my alk and ca drops do a water change OR just dose manually? Either way is fine I imagine?

Well the key for corals is stability. If you are lightly stocked for corals and your alk and cal drop a little each week then weekly water changes suffice. When you get more corals then you will see daily drops in cal and alk which equal to much of a swing by the end of the week so daily dosing would be appropriate to keep numbers stabil.

 

[Max93]

Well the key for corals is stability. If you are lightly stocked for corals and your alk and cal drop a little each week then weekly water changes suffice. When you get more corals then you will see daily drops in cal and alk which equal to much of a swing by the end of the week so daily dosing would be appropriate to keep numbers stabil.

That makes sense, never thought of it that way.
The drops I’ll likely see for now are .2-.4 per week I imagine, which will hold and be considered stable and a water change will suffice. But once I see those .5 daily swings I’ll have to put it on auto doser.
Thank you for explaining that.

 

[Lavey29]

That makes sense, never thought of it that way.
The drops I’ll likely see for now are .2-.4 per week I imagine, which will hold and be considered stable and a water change will suffice. But once I see those .5 daily swings I’ll have to put it on auto doser.
Thank you for explaining that.

Yes, I did hand dosing of small amounts for awhile only 5ml. But once I got more corals and coraline algae needed a doser. The red sea doser is very compact and simple to set up. I just set it on top of my ATO and have large capacity alk and cal containers in front good for 3 month at a time.

 

[Max93]

Yes, I did hand dosing of small amounts for awhile only 5ml. But once I got more corals and coraline algae needed a doser. The red sea doser is very compact and simple to set up. I just set it on top of my ATO and have large capacity alk and cal containers in front good for 3 month at a time.

Looks great. I did get the new jebao doser, i calibrated it and everything it’s dosing well even when shut off for a period of time (I dosed into a measuring cup). I’ll post a pic of mine in a few

 

[Max93]

 

[Lavey29]

Looks good, you really will only need alk and cal to sustain parameters when the time comes. Magnesium depletes very slowly.

 

[Max93]

Looks good, you really will only need alk and cal to sustain parameters when the time comes. Magnesium depletes very slowly.

That’s something I was reading - but, the balling method for Aquaforest requires I dose all 3 at the same amount so I’m going to go for that.

 

[X-37B]

I hand dose my 45 frag system at 15ml twice a day of esv 2 part to keep alk steady at 7.

On my 20g nano I started dosing in about a week adter startup but I started with heavily encrusted live rock.
Im at 4 months now and dose 11ml of esv once a day to maintain an alk of 7.
Daily testing is the only way to tell consumption. I only do a 2g WC once a month on all my systems and find it keeps thing very stable.
My 20g nano cube.

 

[2_much_junk_in_the_sump]

Not sure how much you want to spend, but If you want to make your life really easy get an Apex, Trident & DOS and it will do all the work for you. It seems pricey, but so are those acros!

 

[Max93]

Not sure how much you want to spend, but If you want to make your life really easy get an Apex, Trident & DOS and it will do all the work for you. It seems pricey, but so are those acros!

I hear that!! My issue is space, I’d need to invest in an additional cabinet, etc

 

[PatW]

So like, if my alk and ca drops do a water change OR just dose manually? Either way is fine I imagine?

You do not want to change your ALK by more than 1 DKH and I think you should shoot for less than that. So if you are getting ALK changes that are appreciable between water changes, you should start dosing. Dosing manually works well until your ALK changes get appreciable (like say a half DKH or more) on a daily basis and then you need to start using a doser.

 

[Max93]

You do not want to change your ALK by more than 1 DKH and I think you should shoot for less than that. So if you are getting ALK changes that are appreciable between water changes, you should start dosing. Dosing manually works well until your ALK changes get appreciable (like say a half DKH or more) on a daily basis and then you need to start using a doser.

Thank you!
So far since last Saturday alk is always at 8.0 without dosing. My acros have developed growth tips and I’m noticing minor encrusting. I’m testing daily, but no changes yet. 10 little frags in a 200 gallon might be a while.

 

[undermind]

I am assuming that for now, just do water changes or manually add components 1 2 and 3 as my test kits tell me until I can no longer keep up and have to run my doser, is that right? If so, how much time do you think has to pass for me to get to that level? I’m getting tired of testing every night haha. But I’ll do it if I have to.

It's not really about adding your Aquaforest components manually vs running a doser. Both accomplish the same thing, and it's personal preference as to which way you like. You have the jebao so that will work if you want to auto dose.

I think it's more about whether you want to replace alk/cal consumption via water changes or dosing your balling method. For me, that answer is dosing the balling method. Replacing consumption through water changes is not an ionically balanced process, but the balling method was literally developed to address that issue. That's the purpose of the part C of the original balling, and component 3 of the Aquaforest. I can provide info/video links on this topic if you're interested.

That said, I think you're probably quite a ways away from absolutely needing to dose. And there's plenty of people that restore their coral's consumption through water changes. But for me, since you asked ( ) my answer is to begin dosing when you can confirm your corals are uptaking alk/cal.

As for testing every 6 params every night at 9:30pm... Yowwwwza. That's the fast track to burn out. And spending lots of cash in test kits.

IMO, I would test alk every few days or every week and skip the rest. Your nutrients (NO3, PO4) will not vary a lot if your feeding and vodka dosing is consistent. Mag doesn't need daily testing at all. SG won't change unless you have an ATO problem. pH similar - it will just be what it is unless you have a disaster. If you see a notable change in Alk, then you could test Cal and see if you can see a relatable dip there. Testing frequency is up to the user. But after a while, many veteran reefers keep a close eye on Alk and a distant eye on everything else. In your situation, I would do Alk every 3 days and the rest every week.

 

[Max93]

It's not really about adding your Aquaforest components manually vs running a doser. Both accomplish the same thing, and it's personal preference as to which way you like. You have the jebao so that will work if you want to auto dose.

I think it's more about whether you want to replace alk/cal consumption via water changes or dosing your balling method. For me, that answer is dosing the balling method. Replacing consumption through water changes is not an ionically balanced process, but the balling method was literally developed to address that issue. That's the purpose of the part C of the original balling, and component 3 of the Aquaforest. I can provide info/video links on this topic if you're interested.

That said, I think you're probably quite a ways away from absolutely needing to dose. And there's plenty of people that restore their coral's consumption through water changes. But for me, since you asked ( ) my answer is to begin dosing when you can confirm your corals are uptaking alk/cal.

As for testing every 6 params every night at 9:30pm... Yowwwwza. That's the fast track to burn out. And spending lots of cash in test kits.

IMO, I would test alk every few days or every week and skip the rest. Your nutrients (NO3, PO4) will not vary a lot if your feeding and vodka dosing is consistent. Mag doesn't need daily testing at all. SG won't change unless you have an ATO problem. pH similar - it will just be what it is unless you have a disaster. If you see a notable change in Alk, then you could test Cal and see if you can see a relatable dip there. Testing frequency is up to the user. But after a while, many veteran reefers keep a close eye on Alk and a distant eye on everything else. In your situation, I would do Alk every 3 days and the rest every week.

Thank you!!!

I definitely feel the burn out and actually started testing alk and phosphates only as of yesterday.
My phosphates actually went up to .03 which is fine I think, but still consistently dosing vodka.

I much prefer to do dosing than water changes . Alk still at 8.0.

 

[undermind]

Thank you!!!

I definitely feel the burn out and actually started testing alk and phosphates only as of yesterday.
My phosphates actually went up to .03 which is fine I think, but still consistently dosing vodka.

I much prefer to do dosing than water changes . Alk still at 8.0.

Of course!
Alk and phosphates are a good 2 to test. Phosphates have a pretty wide range that's acceptable. You're not anywhere close to a bad number. In fact, I like .03 better than .02 because that's further away from 0.0. Bad things happen if you hit zero. Especially if you started with dry rock.

I know you didn't start the thread to talk about phosphate, but I would def consider 0.03 as the lowest acceptable number you want to see.

 

[Max93]

Of course!
Alk and phosphates are a good 2 to test. Phosphates have a pretty wide range that's acceptable. You're not anywhere close to a bad number. In fact, I like .03 better than .02 because that's further away from 0.0. Bad things happen if you hit zero. Especially if you started with dry rock.

I know you didn't start the thread to talk about phosphate, but I would def consider 0.03 as the lowest acceptable number you want to see.

Thanks for pointing that out - I was actually aiming for zero with vodka dosing but I’m content dosing 1.9ml/day forever at this level. I’m thinking of cutting it down to 1ml/day forever so I can automate it.

I hear some people keep their nitrates and phosphates at zero with great success, but I also hear the opposite a lot more. That zero is bad. But then the ocean you can’t detect phosphates but we know they’re there.

 

[undermind]

I hear some people keep their nitrates and phosphates at zero with great success, but I also hear the opposite a lot more. That zero is bad. But then the ocean you can’t detect phosphates but we know they’re there.

I think most people are in agreement these days that keeping both at zero is not a good idea. Even "ultra low" doesn't mean zero.

The best thing is to do is just watch your corals. Note when they look good and when they look bad. See what the correlation is with your nutrient levels at those moments. Over time you will start to get a feel for what your tank wants. And hopefully by then you won't care what the number is, but instead what makes your animals happy