help with dosing please

hello again 3reef! I am in need of help. What parameters of chemicals should my water be at? is there a digital read out machine that measures this and adds chemicals as needed. if so please send me links. i like when things are automated. currently my lfs guy comes and adds chemicals but all i see him do is poor stuff in my sump without even measuring it. calcium magnesium etc.. please let me know what i can do thanks

 

Ca 380 to 450 ppm
Alk 7 to 12 dKH
Mg 1250 to 1350 ppm.

Not many that are automated to dose when values are out of range that I know of. There are dosers but you have to tell them when and how much to add based on the usage of your tank. That means you have to do testing and math.

 

Get a dosing pump/computer from BRS
Bubble Magus Dosing Pump BM-T01 - English

 

2in10 said it better than I can. All I could add is that the said math involves figuring out what your depletion rates are. That will be the variable you use to solve for "how much to add" of Cal, Mg., and Alk. I buy my mixes at BRS, make them at home and store them in plastic gallon milk jugs.

 

what i am looking for exactly is a unit that has probes that i can put in the sump that reads my parameters and attached to that unit would be my one gallon containers of my chemicals that this unit would just suck out as needed. and there would be a display screen somewhere telling me where my parameters are and where i have them set. i dont know if something like this exists or what it would cost but i am very interested in getting something like this and i dont know how to search for it. hope im not asking too much.

 

Hey, geo284. You might be asking too much at this point in time. (not of the forum, but of technology.) I think that calcium, alkalinity and mg. probes might be off on the horizon a bit. The way some folks put this whole equasion together is to test for the big 3, figure out how much is being depleted and at what rate, and use dosing pumps (mine are 1ml/minute) to replenish to desired levels.

There are salinity, pH, temp, ORP and maybe one or two other probes that are rock solid and reasonably priced today, but that's not exactly in line for what you're asking.

Good luck!

 

appreciate all the feedback on this matter. what exactly do i need to do to get started. i like the more techy stuff. what dosers and how do i measure what i am going to need what test kits. for the last almost 2 years my lfs would do everything and i still dont know much, sorry, any information or point in the right direction would be great. thanks again everyone

 

IMO

You want
test kits for Magnesium, Calcium and Alkalinity (DKH)

I would suggest Salifert - not the cheapest, but generally regarded as a good quality hobbyist grade test kit brand

the parameters listed by 2 in 10 above are a good starting point

test the big 3 (Mg, Ca, DKH) and find out where they fall with regard to the numbers listed

IMHO
there is no difference between a DKH of 8 then 9
there is no difference between a Ca level of 420 then 440

what is important is ensuring that you compensate for whatever your tank uses = stability is key

so if 1st week you test Calcium and its 440, then next week you test and its 420 - this tells you your tank requires 20ppm calcium supplementation per week

and the above situation applies to Mag and DKH also

now
whilst in my example of Calcium that fell from 440 to 420 in the week
means its still within acceptable parameters as listed by 2 in 10
it would not be ideal to just add calcium to increase to 440 again
and then do this each and every week

its far better to dose on a daily or even hourly basis to compensate for demand as its happening

thus in my example above 20ppm calcium used in 7 days = 3ppm Calcium used each day (approx)
thus mixing a solution of your chosen calcium additive and then working out how much to use each day in order to supplement that 3ppm

as the demand increases, as does the amount you need to supplement
eventually in well developed tanks with lots of hard SPS corals and clams
you could be dosing 20ppm - 30 ppm Calcium or more per day

same scenario with DKH - you may start off by finding that your current DKH is 9, and then next week its 8
thus your losing 1 DKH per week
same principle applies
work out how much you need to dose of your chosen Alkalinity solution and divide that by 7 and dose that amount each day

as demand increases the desire for automation increases

dosing 5ppm calcium and 1/4 dkh per day for example is an easy task using a 500mil empty distilled water bottle with your chosen supplement dissolved in it

but dosing 20ppm Calcium and more than 1 DKH per day, is better if it can be divided into several doses over the course of a day

thats when the doser pump systems come into their own

with these you programme them to deliver a qty of liquid supplement divided by a number of doses per day

example
I am dosing 10ppm Calcium and just under 1/2 DHK per day
both those supplements are dissolved into 300 mils of water
and they are delivered by my dosing pumps - seperately
in 12 equal portions of 25 mils each dose

the pump timers are set so that 25 mils of calcium supplement goes in
then 1 hour or so later 25 mils of Alkalinity supplement goes in
next hour its calcium

I make up 2.5 litres of solution every 7 - 8 days to top up my reservoir


Magnesium
the demand for magnesium is typically not as high as the demand for Calcium and Alkalinity or at least its not as easy to recognise as being as high

dkh - Its easy to see a drop from 9 to 8
Calcium - not as easy to notice a drop from 440 to 430
Magnesium - very difficult to notice a drop from 1440 - 1430 ( you would dismiss that as test kit user tolerance )

so Magnensium takes a bit longer to notice any appreciable drop and as such I have continued to dose this manually , every other week about 10ppm is all I can currently measure as being used

hope the above is some help

Steve