Who doses in their nano??

[Haggisman14]

What's up everyone! So In November I"ll be picking up a dosing pump to assist with measured out daily top off for my Deskmate (about 1/8 cup daily).

I plan on getting a 3 or 4 head dosing pump. 1 head will be used for RO/DI top off, and the others give me the option for dosing 2 Part if I feel it's necessary.

Even though I do water changes every 7-10 days, i feel that now that I have 9 different SPS corals in the tank, adding the 2 Part might help speed things up.

What do you guys do?

 

[CasperOe]

Have three nano tanks, all being dosed with All For Reef by a 3-channel dosing pump.

20% water change every week - will be reduced to 10% soon.

Gravity-fed ATO on all three.

 

[BanZI29]

I don't dose, just water changes every week. I have a 1 gal. small in one and the .40 oz from PNW.
honestly, dosing just keeps you from having to change your water so often.
if you REALLY wanna dose, go with all for reef.

 

[Hooz]

Yep. Another vote for All for Reef. Makes things super simple in a nano.

 

[Haggisman14]

Wait a second...there's now a "2-part" that is in 1 bottle....this has got to be too good to be true....

 

[BanZI29]

Wait a second...there's now a "2-part" that is in 1 bottle....this has got to be too good to be true....

They sell the mixing powder that is cheaper than buying pre-mixed

 

[Hooz]

The powder is cheaper, but I buy the premixed 1L bottles, because one bottle lasts me MONTHS dosing 3 nanos. The cost savings isn't worth the inconvenience of mixing my own... yet. I have a large tank build in progress, so that may change.

To the OP: I've been using it for 2+ years now. Definitely not too good to be true. It works as advertised.

 

[Haggisman14]

The powder is cheaper, but I buy the premixed 1L bottles, because one bottle lasts me MONTHS dosing 3 nanos. The cost savings isn't worth the inconvenience of mixing my own... yet. I have a large tank build in progress, so that may change.

To the OP: I've been using it for 2+ years now. Definitely not too good to be true. It works as advertised.

Well, this is definitely getting added to my list! And I would definitely agree, with having a nano tank, the small difference in cost is definitely worth it to have a ready made solution that you just hook up to a doser!

@Hooz what size are your nanos? How much are you adding? Do you do the recommended 5mL per day per 26 gallons? I

 

[Aaron75]

I have a 15 gallon, lightly stocked on coral and I dose 1.25ml of AFR daily.

 

[Hooz]

Well, this is definitely getting added to my list! And I would definitely agree, with having a nano tank, the small difference in cost is definitely worth it to have a ready made solution that you just hook up to a doser!

@Hooz what size are your nanos? How much are you adding? Do you do the recommended 5mL per day per 26 gallons? I

You'll need to do some reading on using AFR as it's a bit different than a traditional 2 or 3 part. The main difference is that you don't see an immediate increase in alkalinity after dosing. AFR is based on calcium formate, so bacteria in the tank have to break it down to release the alkalinity and calcium from the formate. Especially in the beginning, it may take a couple days for the alkalinity to register on your test kits.

When I start a tank, I actually use half the recommended starting dose, dose it at the same time of day for 3 days, then test and see where I'm at. The important thing to note is that I always dose the same amount for 3 days before adjusting or making any changes. Once you've been using it for a while, the alkalinity shows-up sooner, but 3 days is still a good rule of thumb in my experience.

I also try to test at the same time each time for consistency. My lights come on at 8:30am, so it's just an easy reminder to test right before the lights come on.

Once I get an idea of how much I need daily I put it on a dosing pump and split it up into multiple small doses over the 24 hour day. You'll have to do a little fine tuning here too, but it's easier once you have a "base" established. You can absolutely do a single dose per day and call it good, but I've noticed better consistency and stability by putting it on a dosing pump and breaking it up through the day.

In 2 of my tanks I dose less than the recommended amount, but in a 3rd tank, I'm right near the maximum recommended amount. It's all based on coral load and consumption, and will differ with every tank. In my well stocked Nuvo 30L (which holds an actual 21g of water) I'm currently dosing .7ml every 2 hours (i.e. 12 times a day) for a total of 8.4ml.

 

[Sesty22]

I also use a doser to dose my daily All For Reef in my WB 25g.

 

[Haggisman14]

You'll need to do some reading on using AFR as it's a bit different than a traditional 2 or 3 part. The main difference is that you don't see an immediate increase in alkalinity after dosing. AFR is based on calcium formate, so bacteria in the tank have to break it down to release the alkalinity and calcium from the formate. Especially in the beginning, it may take a couple days for the alkalinity to register on your test kits.

When I start a tank, I actually use half the recommended starting dose, dose it at the same time of day for 3 days, then test and see where I'm at. The important thing to note is that I always dose the same amount for 3 days before adjusting or making any changes. Once you've been using it for a while, the alkalinity shows-up sooner, but 3 days is still a good rule of thumb in my experience.

I also try to test at the same time each time for consistency. My lights come on at 8:30am, so it's just an easy reminder to test right before the lights come on.

Once I get an idea of how much I need daily I put it on a dosing pump and split it up into multiple small doses over the 24 hour day. You'll have to do a little fine tuning here too, but it's easier once you have a "base" established. You can absolutely do a single dose per day and call it good, but I've noticed better consistency and stability by putting it on a dosing pump and breaking it up through the day.

In 2 of my tanks I dose less than the recommended amount, but in a 3rd tank, I'm right near the maximum recommended amount. It's all based on coral load and consumption, and will differ with every tank. In my well stocked Nuvo 30L (which holds an actual 21g of water) I'm currently dosing .7ml every 2 hours (i.e. 12 times a day) for a total of 8.4ml.

Thanks so much for the information on this! I think it'll definitely be something that I add to the tank come November!

 

[TheSheff]

What's up everyone! So In November I"ll be picking up a dosing pump to assist with measured out daily top off for my Deskmate (about 1/8 cup daily).

I plan on getting a 3 or 4 head dosing pump. 1 head will be used for RO/DI top off, and the others give me the option for dosing 2 Part if I feel it's necessary.

Even though I do water changes every 7-10 days, i feel that now that I have 9 different SPS corals in the tank, adding the 2 Part might help speed things up.

What do you guys do?

you should look into getting an actual ATO. Using a dosing pump just adds one more thing that you have to adjust constantly as evaporation rates change based off of many factors. There are many cost effective and reliable ATO's nowadays that do all of that work for you!!

 

[Haggisman14]

you should look into getting an actual ATO. Using a dosing pump just adds one more thing that you have to adjust constantly as evaporation rates change based off of many factors. There are many cost effective and reliable ATO's nowadays that do all of that work for you!!

I totally understand what you're saying, and have weighed that option, but for my uses the dosing pump really does seem to be the best way for me.

My tank has a fully enclosed lid, and very consistently loses 1/8 cup per day (been tracking this for over 5 months now. If for some reason it doesn't do enough.

To be honest the way my Deskmate runs the heights in the rear chamber vary based off of the filter floss (how many days it's been in the tank, so using a float valve, or optical sensor would not be a valid way to calculate loss.

As of now I just manually top off myself the same amount every day.