Which brand to start dosing with?

[Shilpan Patel]

Hey guys! I have a 100 gallon softie tank with refugium and some fish. I’m going to start adding some LPS now so I’ve started testing my elements. I drop about 1-2 points of Alk a week, about 10 points of calcium and magnesium stays relatively constant. I think most of this drop comes from my coralline hahaha...(I’ve been monitoring this for the last few weeks because my fortnightly water changes are not able to keep up with replacement anymore). Currently my Ca= 350, Alk= 5.6, Mg= 1240.

I’ve decided simply dosing what I need by hand each week will be fine for now, because I can always add dosing pumps later in future once coral demand increases significantly.

Any suggestions on which brand or system to use for this? I live in Auckland New Zealand. My brand options include: Red Sea ABC+ program, seachem dosing system (like seachem fusion, kalkwasser etc...), aquaforest and dupla Marin.

Do you guys have any suggestions? How do I choose a system/brand from those above?

 

[Hemmdog]

Hey guys! I have a 100 gallon softie tank with refugium and some fish. I’m going to start adding some LPS now so I’ve started testing my elements. I drop about 1-2 points of Alk a week, about 10 points of calcium and magnesium stays relatively constant. I think most of this drop comes from my coralline hahaha...(I’ve been monitoring this for the last few weeks because my fortnightly water changes are not able to keep up with replacement anymore). Currently my Ca= 350, Alk= 5.6, Mg= 1240.

I’ve decided simply dosing what I need by hand each week will be fine for now, because I can always add dosing pumps later in future once coral demand increases significantly.

Any suggestions on which brand or system to use for this? I live in Auckland New Zealand. My brand options include: Red Sea ABC+ program, seachem dosing system (like seachem fusion, kalkwasser etc...), aquaforest and dupla Marin.

Do you guys have any suggestions? How do I choose a system/brand from those above?

I would go with Red Sea. I would start right away, 5.6 alk is very low. You don’t want your coraline to die if it’s starting to take off.

 

[infinite0180]

Is ESV Bionic available where you live?

 

[Shilpan Patel]

Hello!
Yes it is, I’ve just checked. There’s a part 1 and part 2 bottle which is sold together that’s available. There’s one store which sells it and I can go pick it up tomorrow. This store also sells Red Sea. Why do you recommend it?
The other brand available is Kent marine.

 

[Hemmdog]

Hello!
Yes it is, I’ve just checked. There’s a part 1 and part 2 bottle which is sold together that’s available. There’s one store which sells it and I can go pick it up tomorrow. This store also sells Red Sea. Why do you recommend it?
The other brand available is Kent marine.

Go with esv, Red Sea is good to but I prefer esv due to it being less concentrated.

 

[Shilpan Patel]

Ahh ok thank you!
Isn’t concentrated better? Because you don’t have to buy as much?

Or is it that concentrated makes it harder to dose?

 

[Shilpan Patel]

Ahh ok thank you!
Isn’t concentrated better? Because you don’t have to buy as much?

Or is it that concentrated makes it harder to dose?

 

[Shilpan Patel]

Ahh ok thank you!
Isn’t concentrated better? Because you don’t have to buy as much?

Or is it that concentrated makes it harder to dose?

 

[Hemmdog]

Ahh ok thank you!
Isn’t concentrated better? Because you don’t have to buy as much?

Or is it that concentrated makes it harder to dose?

Yea both are pros and cons. If your manual dosing less concentrated is better Incase you over pour or anything like that. You will also be adding more in per dose (10ml) than a auto doser would add (1ml 10x daily) making the less concentrated brand more readily acceptable to mix with your tank water.

 

[cracker]

Many differing brands out there . Choose one & work with that. They all have differing strengths/concentrations . I use Oceans Blend just because it's readily available . I find dosing myself better at controlling Alk & Ca levels.

 

[Shilpan Patel]

Ok thanks team!
ESV Bionic is on special currently so I’ll try that first and see how it goes.

Thanks guys!

 

[infinite0180]

Ok thanks team!
ESV Bionic is on special currently so I’ll try that first and see how it goes.

Thanks guys!

Esv has been around forever and many people use it with great success. Including myself! I tried red sea when i first started dosing but unfortunitely its not designed to be dosed in equal parts so i was having a very hard time. Esv is 2 parts that are dosed equally based off your alk, ita very easy!

 

[B-SMOOTH]

ESV>

 

[Flippers4pups]

You can adjust alkalinity with baking soda, not baking powder!

Using sodium bicarbonate in solution of RO/DI water, I make it into a gallon jug. 1 1/8 cup of sodium bicarbonate to a gallon and mix well.

Using this calculator for dosing:

http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html

Adjust no more than 1 dkh per day till you hit your target.

 

[Shilpan Patel]

Ahh thank you I’ll keep that 1dKh per day limit in mind. Don’t wanna upset everything by changing the parameters too quickly.

I’m also getting new lighting so I’ll need to take everything slowly.

 

[Shilpan Patel]

Ahh thank you I’ll keep that 1dKh per day limit in mind. Don’t wanna upset everything by changing the parameters too quickly.

I’m also getting new lighting so I’ll need to take everything slowly.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Your welcome!

 

[artieg1]

I use Brightwell.

 

[Firemanreefkeeper]

This is what redsea leaves behind in my dosing container. I'd go with something else. I don't use it anymore because of this.

 

[roberthu526]

ESV is what I recommend.