dosing calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium

[jacob.morgan78]

How do you guys keep up with these three to keep your system as stable as possible?

I currently have a 125 gallon that I'm able to keep up with by dosing 2-part with dosing pumps. I'm scared with a smaller tank (my new 20 gallon) about keeping it stable. I was thinking about using Kalk but haven't used it before. Would 2 part be safer? I want to go automated to keep things mroe stable if possible. Thanks for your input!

About kalk, do you have to wait until your ATO reservoir is just about empty before you refill it with RODI and Kalk? I'm just unsure about how that process works.

Thanks again!

 

[kalgra]

I use a small amount of kalk (1/2 tbs per gallon) in my ATO and I dose Alk and Ca though a Reef Keeper on my 28G. It took some time to get everything dialed in but now my pH,Alk, and Ca are pretty solid. I only does mag once a week or as needed.

 

[ryeguyy84]

I gave up on Kalk in my 29G because it was hard to keep stable and IMO messy. I have no interest in mixing it and waiting for it to settle. I switched to dosing pumps with 2 part, 7.7ML each per day and it's rock solid.

 

[darkiss]

I put kalkwasser in my new salt mix in order to raise it to the levels of the tank.

Then in the tank I dose two part, but mainly only my alk drops so my part 2( alk ) is being doses more than my part 1 ( ca )

 

[ryeguyy84]

why not just dose 2 part in the new saltwater? that's what I do.

 

[darkiss]

well my idea was that the kalkwasser would raise, alk,ca,ph in the new tank water.

where 2 part would only raise alk,ca

plus I thought I read somewhere that it is not wise to dose two part into the new tank water if you have your new tank water sit around for a week, and putting kalkwasser is better. Not sure if that is true...

 

[kalgra]

The main reason I still use the kalk is to help maintain pH. I live at a high elevation and in the winter and summer months when the house is shut up it can be very difficult to keep pH at a respectable level. I suppose if I did not have this issue I would just be doing two part with a doser.

 

[ryeguyy84]

do you get a scum layer on top of the water and a slurry on the bottom? sorry for so many questions I've just never heard of anyone doing that and I'm intrigued.

 

[kalgra]

do you get a scum layer on top of the water and a slurry on the bottom? sorry for so many questions I've just never heard of anyone doing that and I'm intrigued.

Yep pretty much. I have the pump that feeds the kalk up to the tank sitting in the "sweet spot" so its just pulling from the saturated RO/DI in between the crust and the slury. The ATO reservoir is 2.5 gallons. I keep an extra gallon on the side too that I add to the reservoir about ever 3-4 days. Its not completely hands off but it keeps my levels where I like em for a few days at a time with out having to manually top off everyday.

 

[jacob.morgan78]

So I guess I'll just stick with what I'm already comfortable with and use dosing pumps. Wasn't planning on adding that as equipment but I'll start saving! I would need to add another power bar to my controller too... I guess I could just use timers...

Anybody know of any clever ways to dose safely without pumps? (without doing it manually!)

thanks for the feedback!

 

[darkiss]

@Jacob.Morgan78 - I think you can dose using dripping I have seen several people do it.

@kalgar - What kind of dossing pumps do you use? The cheap 12$ ones or the 85$ ones? Just kind of wondering what the difference was since currently I am just dumping in amounts as they are needed daily, and I do not have a dosing pump hooked up to my reef fusion part1 and part 2

 

[kalgra]

@Jacob.Morgan78 - I think you can dose using dripping I have seen several people do it.

@kalgar - What kind of dossing pumps do you use? The cheap 12$ ones or the 85$ ones? Just kind of wondering what the difference was since currently I am just dumping in amounts as they are needed daily, and I do not have a dosing pump hooked up to my reef fusion part1 and part 2

I use the BRS dosers for my nano and will be using the GHL profilux doser for my big tank. I think the BRS dosers are somewhere around $85 I dont remember I bought the big bundle that has everything including the two part with the mag.

On a side note I switched to the BRS two part that you mix yourself. Its much cheaper than the reef fusion and I kept getting allot of precipitation in the dosing line with the Reef Fusion Alk. I think it just settles in the bottle that way or something. I wasnt sure if it was a problem supplement wise but I was fearful it could clog up the dosing line. The BRS two part has not done this so far.

On another side note please no body take my methods as "the right way" or even remotely close the "the best way". I'm just a marginally successful reefer who just now is really starting to have a grasp of what im doing and why im doing it. Always consider the source. :hmm5:

 

[darkiss]

Sounds good thanks for the reply.

Basically I am getting tired of manually dosing every day in order to keep things in check so I think I will go with:

1) the brs doser around 85$ but then I would need two so around 160$
2) the basic dosing pump at 12$ then with two would be about 25$
3) a dripper, I already have a shelf above the tank and could easy drip two part into the tank all day long at a very slow drip. around 1-2$ a drip controller since I already have tubing.

most likely I am going to try this drip line, since I am not sure that the 85$ dosing pump is worth the money and I am scared that the 12$ dose pump will be too much, since it does 3L/h and if I turn it down to by min that is 15-16ml a min and my tank does not need that much in one min. I does about 5ml at a time of reef fusion ( might be switching to brs two part as well )




On the 85$ pumps you can say only dose 5ml ?

 

[kalgra]

On the 85$ pumps you can say only dose 5ml ?

Yes the BRS dosing pumps run at about 1.1ml/min but they are not programmable themselves you need either a controller or timer to plug them into to control the on off. I run mine off off a controller so I can calculate the exact time I want the pump to run for the requirements of my tank. Right now I am only dosing for 5 minutes each so that about 5.5ml per day.

 

[darkiss]

yea, that has to be the best way to do it, use the 80-85$ pump.... looks like brs is currently out of stock of the 1.1ml per min ones.

I do have a controller, but I also have several spare per min digital light timers that I used to use for my house plants. So I would use that...

Or I could just get a calc reactor and drop two part.....

 

[jacob.morgan78]

The BRS dosing pumps are only 1.1mL per minute. You would need a timer to tell it how long to stay on.

 

[jacob.morgan78]

Yes the BRS dosing pumps run at about 1.1ml/min but they are not programmable themselves you need either a controller or timer to plug them into to control the on off. I run mine off off a controller so I can calculate the exact time I want the pump to run for the requirements of my tank. Right now I am only dosing for 5 minutes each so that about 5.5ml per day.

beat me to it... should have refreshed before replying!

 

[ryeguyy84]

the BRS dosers were 49.99 for black Friday. that's why they are out.

the good part is you can space out the dosing. I run Alk for 1 minute every 1.5 hours from midnight to 9AM (7.7ML) then Calcium for 1 minute every 1.5 hours from noon to 9pm (7.7ML). This way there is no abrupt change in parameters and dosing alk at night keeps your PH up.

since I started using dosing pumps my superman monti went from a light blue and red to a vibrant red and the blue is getting brighter.

 

[kalgra]

the BRS dosers were 49.99 for black Friday. that's why they are out.

the good part is you can space out the dosing. I run Alk for 1 minute every 1.5 hours from midnight to 9AM (7.7ML) then Calcium for 1 minute every 1.5 hours from noon to 9pm (7.7ML). This way there is no abrupt change in parameters and dosing alk at night keeps your PH up.

since I started using dosing pumps my superman monti went from a light blue and red to a vibrant red and the blue is getting brighter.

You don't happen to run yours off a Reef Keeper Elite by chance do you? I would love to spread mine out more but cannot get the multi timer function to work properly.

 

[ryeguyy84]

No I use an apex... Sorry