Dosing in an SPS Reef

[Hentz]

Hey guys, I'm looking at buying a doser for my 56 Gallon SPS tank.

While I only had about 5 Acros, I wasn't consuming much Ca or Alk. I just purchased about 9-10 yesterday. So now once those settle in I feel like my intake will start to fluctuate. Running a ZEOvit tank, I want to keep the parameters stable as possible.

I've never owned a doser nor do I know how to run one.

I would assume, I test twice with a 24 hour window in-between to obtain my Ca/Alk usage? Correct me if I'm wrong!

Then how would you go about dosing? I'd assume it's best to dose slow throughout the day.

Help and advice would be much appreciated as I'm a complete noob with Dosers.

 

[mike810]

I have a bubble magus doser which I used for years. I am planning to upgrade to the GHL Doser soon. For sale if you're interested, when I get my new doser. That said, you test one day, don't dose and test again the next day (same time if possible). That should let you know how much your tank is consuming and you set your doser accordingly. Then test again to make sure your doser is keeping up with your tank demand.

 

[downbeach]

There are a few steps I would take, starting with the SG since this is where your adding much of those elements in the first place. I would get it to 1.026(my preference), measured with a properly calibrated device, i.e. refractometer calibrated with a 35ppt solution. Keep a regular WC schedule in terms of both frequency and volume, since this can/will skew your dosing schedule. Using a decent set of test kits, i.e. Salifert, Red Sea Pro, etc., measure your Mg first, making sure its between 1200-1400ppm, then your Alk and Ca. If necessary, add some of the two part you intend to use to get those numbers to a level you're happy with, i.e. Alk @ 8dKH, Ca @ 420. Use this calculator, fill in the numbers for your system and select the appropriate two part from the drop down menu to get your dosage. Once you've established your starting point, as mike mentioned, start to measure and record your readings for a few days to determing the uptake of your system. Keep in mind that this may take some trial an error to get to a final accurate number due to some guess work regarding the net volume of water in one's system.
As far as the type of dosing system, I started with a couple peristaltic pumps controlled with a couple digital timers a number of years ago, and never went to anything more sophisticated.
Depending on your needs, you may find at first that with regular WC's you may not have to dose anything, or maybe just the Alk part, with the WC's being enough to keep up with the Ca and Mg needs. What are you using for an ATO? If it uses a pump that adds your top off slowly enough you might consider using kalk in your top off to help maintain your Ca and alk between WC's.