Dosing; is it needed and how to do it?

[Aurori]

Hi there!
To my understanding, if i want to get into more hard corals or even increase the grown of Coralline Algae I will need to start dosing.

I was wondering if dosing is truly a must for sps corals or optional? I have read several forum post where people often have negative opinions about adding this stuff into the tank and i am not to sure why. If it is a must then when should i get into doing it, how do i start , what brand of calcium products is recommended and have had success with? Also what is the simplest way to set things up without hurting my wallet to much? I do not have much room under my display tank (55gallons) to add things like reactors and was curious if there is alternative ways to add this stuff, like in my auto top off?
Oh and at this moment i just have a simple API test kit, what test kits or readers should i look into getting weather i start dosing or not.

Thank you for any advice.

 

[Eric Boerner]

You need to dose 'some' kind of calcium and alkalinity. The methods vary, but the cheapest/easiest way is 2 part liquids. B-Ionic for instance. You dose x amount of part a, then the same amount of part b in 30 minutes, daily.

You can automate that with dosing pumps.

Or if you wanted to, you could do a Kalkwasser reactor on your top off water.
Or a calcium reactor with c02.

But regardless, unless your mixing fresh salt every week, hard corals will suck that calcium carbonate out of the tank pretty quick.

 

[mcozad829]

I was wondering if dosing is truly a must for sps corals or optional?
If you plan on having hard corals adding calcium and alk will eventually be necessary. They pull these out of the water and use them to build their skeletons.

I have read several forum post where people often have negative opinions about adding this stuff into the tank and i am not to sure why.
Sometimes it is unnecessary, only testing your water on a regular basis and monitoring the levels of the big 3 (calcium, alkalinity, magnesium) will tell you if your tank needs it at that time. As colonies get bigger they will require more so at some point you are basically going to need some sort of dosing.

If it is a must then when should i get into doing it, how do i start , what brand of calcium products is recommended and have had success with?
The easiest way to dose is with kalkwasser (imo). Bulk Reef Supply has a good product as well as a couple videoshttp://www.bulkreefsupply.com/video/view/calcium-alkalinity-trace-elements-kalkwasser/ going into detail about adding it to your aquarium. At some point your tank may outgrow the abilities of kalkwasser in which case you would need to start 2 part dosing. That however would not be the case until you have a heavily stocked tank.

Also what is the simplest way to set things up without hurting my wallet to much?
Kalkwasser in your ato

I do not have much room under my display tank (55gallons) to add things like reactors and was curious if there is alternative ways to add this stuff, like in my auto top off?
If you have an ato that fills the tank slowly then you are already set up to dose kalkwasser, all you have to do is mix it with your reservoir.

Oh and at this moment i just have a simple API test kit, what test kits or readers should i look into getting weather i start dosing or not
Before dosing you need to test for calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium. I like the salifert or red sea kits, but that is my preference. If your levels are below acceptable then you know that your tank is ready for cal/alk/mag supplements.

 

[Aurori]

Thank you both mcozad829 and eric for your advice. I will get one of those test kits and see where i stand. I hope that i can just start with the auto top of method at this point in time.