Do You Dose Topoff Water (alk, Ca)

[FSOL]

hey guys

Do you dose your topoff water w/ calcium, alk, and other essentials before you do topoffs? My tank evaporates 4 gallons/day (wintertime) and w/ this rate I'm sure I lose lots of minerals from the tank through evaporation that the topoff water doesn't have.
So do you think I should bring the alk, Ca, and pH of the topoff water to tank level then add to the sump, or is this overkill?

 

[Dave 32]

watch all you levels if everything is ok then just do more frequent water changes if your levels are off add what you need are you running a calcium reactor if not the two part ca and alk are not a bad idea and you can't go wrong with kalkwasser dosing either IMO.

 

[LivingTropicals]

4 gallons a day in a 180, what's the tank temp at? Do you have a chiller on it? My 180 would evap alot of water until I got the temp down and in control with a chiller. 4x7 = 28 gallons a week of topoff, man you'll be busy or have a HUGE topoff container to keep up! CA, ALK and MG are the only things I would add in topoff water. I run a 24x7 kalk drip (w/ MG) fed off a LM3. Make sure to use RO/DI water!

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

Re: Do You Dose Topoff Water (alk, Ca)

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6596525#post6596525 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by FSOL
I'm sure I lose lots of minerals from the tank through evaporation that the topoff water doesn't have.

"Minerals" in water don't evaporate.
Topoff water is best buffered up with Calcium Hydroxide, IMO.
Aragonite (in it's various forms) can be used to buffer up RO water, but it doesn't supply nearly as much Ca/alk that saturated limewater (kalkwasser) can.