Redseadragon12
New member
What is the best method to keep alkalinity stable in a small 15 gallon tank that has large SPS colonies?.
Dosing in a small tank!
- Thread starter Redseadragon12
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Joke
New member
You will need to be dosing more than Alkalinity, you will also need to dose Calcium and Magnesium, IMO the best way to keep these up is using dosing pumps and water changes every 1-3 weeks, nice and simple!
Others use kalk in ATO but it is usually used to supplement dosing systems.
There are also Calcium Reactors, though they can be hard to tune in.
Just remember dosing is not a replacement for water changes!
whiteshark
Active member
Keeping it stable is going to require frequent testing to get a daily rate of usage, then dosing based on that usage. IMO, you need a dosing pump for this. Either a peristaltic pump with a known flow rate programmed via a controller like an Apex, or a dedicated dosing pump like a bubble magus. You program the pump to add the amount of each supplement that is used per day in small increments over the entire day.
Redseadragon12
New member
Maybe in combination with dosing. From my calculation the dkh would fall at least .5 per day so unless doing daily small water changes that would never work.
Redseadragon12
New member
So I would need to dose either bicarbonate, carbonate or kalkwasser. Anyone know which is best to use?
Redseadragon12
New member
Twoface14
New member
The only problem with dosing in a small tank is the fact that you have to get it 100% accurate. You can overdose something at the drop of a hat. With a nano tank there is no room for error. To be honest, I'd get a bucket and mix up some salt and just change out a gallon a day. Doesn't even have to be cleaning the sand. If your worried about keeping levels up, doing a gallon a day should do that for you and it's quick and cheap. No worries about overdosing. In an sps dominate tank, they do require more calcium but it will be replenished with water changes. If you did a gallon a day it would only take about 5 min and your done. And it would give you peace of mind that your not overdosing
ssick92
New member
I am running a 10g nano, and I can tell you it is much easier to dose daily and test every other day (every day for a week or so until it is figured out) instead of a water change every day. I just use the syringe that came with my salifert Mg test to dose 1.2ml daily which keeps my alk right at 7.9 and calc at 420, exactly where I want them. If I want it to be higher, I simply dose 1.5ml, if I want it lower I dose less 1.0ml. Much easier than using water changes to maintain my alk, calc, and mg. In a small tank it is very easy to find the daily usage and that amount won't fluctuate very much.
That being said, water changes are extremely important in these small tanks, so I do 2g every weekend.
Twoface14
New member
And in return you end up wasting more money on water tests too. I kept a 10 gallon for a year and found it very easy to just change out water every other day. But everyone has their preferences. I just find it easier to make a batch of water and remove and add one gallon of water. Now in my 75, I would rather dose and will when it comes down to it. I'm sps dominate so I'm sure it will happen. But for now biweekly waterchanges add enough back
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