Dosing....

There is so many different theories on how to dose your tank... Pumps, reactors, hand dosing, etc... So I'm just wondering how everyone else does it and what they dose with please tell!
And as always, Pictures are always welcome!

Thank you, David

Ps: I don't know if there is a thread about this yet, if there is I have not been able to find it... Sorry for the repost if there is...

 

If you only have a small mix of softies and LPS, you really don't need to dose anything if your doing routine water changes with a good reef-grade salt mix.

 

I'm basically going to repeat what Bill said. I don't dose my tank with anything at all. I use NeoMarine salt mix which claims to contain all of the elements you would find in natural sea water, and in the right amounts.

Regular water change is my method of dosing. That being said, SPS always die in my tank but softies and even LPS do very well. (I'm pretty the SPS are getting eaten instead of dying due to water parameters)

 

i dose by hand and only use b ionic 2 part, if I run out then i dose kalk dripped into my tank

 

Kalk is a key essential in running a stable sps tank. To go along with that, a kalk reactor, pH monitor, dosing pump, and a float valve ensures you that your system is constantly getting the essential supplements that it needs without the risk of overdosing and lowering salinity. Kalk will raise your Calcium and Alkalinity at the same time.

Once your system is established, looking into dosing Calcium, Alkalinity, and Magnesium. Calcium and Alkalinity is best used when dosed with a dosing pump. I run mine for 10 minutes every hour vs trying to run it 24/7. For Magnesium, just dose it when your levels are low but it does not need to be dosed on a regular basis. Magnesium is often replaced with water changes using higher quality salt.

That is pretty much all you need to dose for a sps system. Everything else is for marketing and gimmicks.

 

hand dose BRS 2 part. not my perferred method but the only thing i can do right now.

 

Kalk with vinager mix to boost the potency and add a carbon source. I also top off with a bit of 2-part manually daily as the kalk doesn't quite do it. I also dose some vodka manually daily. And I dose silica manually weekly. For the vodka and 2-part I may get a dosing pump, although, after many years in this hobby, I still don't trust aquarium grade electronics, so, it may just be for when I'm away. For the kalk dosing, I have a lot of fail-safes. The kalk is on an ATO, controlled by a float switch, with a second float switch to turn it off, if the 1st fails. Also, I use a very slow pump, for the ATO, that barley pumps faster than the evaporation rate. And the kalk raises the pH, so, I have a pH monitor to turn it off, if the pH rises to much or too fast.

 

I run seachem fusion 2 part Alk/Calc mix. All automated by 2 separate dosing pump and controlled by a ReefKeeper.

 

hand dose turbo calcium and kalk

 

I started using
Seachem, advantage calcium and Seachem reef builder for Calc and Alk respectively
demand was very low, but above what I could provide using weekly water changes alone
(levels dropped between start and end of the week)

I used a simple distilled water bottle, and mixed 1 teaspoon of Calcium into 330mils of RODI water, using a clamped airline, allowed this to drip into the tank each and every day, whilst lights where on ( with a tight enough clamp, the drip took 3 hours or more)

in a different bottle, I mixed 1 teaspoon of Reef Builder with 330 mils of RODI
and set this one up to drip during lights off period ( Reef Builder increases PH, thus doing it at night off set any naturally occuring PH drops, or at least prevented PH raising to high) again this drip took 3 or more hours to empty

Magnesium - my experience has been identical to Acroholic Reefer, in that with a mag level of 1450 , I could never seem much difference over a week period and any difference was easily compensatable wih a single dose every other week of Reef advantage Magnesium ( now also use Magnession from Brighwell as it contains both Mag chloride and Mag suplhate )

I now use a Bubble Magus TM-01 3 way dosing pump system, which has automated my dosing
I make 2.5 litres of each solution, still using the same ratio of RODI to supplement
as it disssolves almost fully (not much residue in base of storage jars or lines)
I currently
dose 350 mils of each per day, divided between, 1 hour intervals, 12 times per day on each of the 2 pumps for Calc and Alk

as demand increases, I will increase the amount on each timer to compensate

Steve