Dosing Issues

[Curraheemedicus]

Hello,

I have a Hydros x4, XP8 and two Hydros simple dosing pumps. I just set up the dosing pumps the other day to dose 5 ml each of Seachem Reef Fusion part 1 and 2. I will be switching to B-Ionic when my 1L runs out. I am using Salifert test kits. My Calcium is showing 500+ and my ALK is at 11. I changed it tonight to do ALK daily and Calcium 3x a week instead of daily. What is the best way to go about figuring out a regimen? Also what is a good way to reduce my calcium in the meantime? I ran out of salt and will have some in two days. My plate coral looks pissed off and is showing a little skeleton, but everything else is super happy. Should I run and buy some premixed water? The tank is a 150 gallon mixed reef, about 4 months old.

Thanks

 

[kharmaguru]

What values are you targeting? 11 dkh is ok in some systems but potentially harmful when combined with low nutrients which I would assume a 4 month old system has. I would target 9dkh as a safe place. Your calcium is high because it's not being consumed at the rate you are adding it.

You need accurate test kits - I prefer Hanna for alkalinity and Salifert for calcium but there are other good kits. Measure your values today, then dose nothing for 24hrs and measure again. This gives you your daily consumption. Then use a calculator like this one to figure out appropriate daily dosages to maintain the values you want.

Reef Chemistry Calculator

Hope this is helpful to you.

 

[kharmaguru]

One more thought. Please verify your salinity is correct before doing anything.

 

[BeanAnimal]

How to figure out dosing...

Use a quality test kit
Measure ALk/Calcium

Do NOT dose - measure Alk/Ca again 24 hours later.

Do this a few times
Record the drop in Alk/Calcium daily, over two days, over 3 days, whatever
This will give you a baseline of what your current system is consuming.

Use the vendor's calculator or any of the various online dosing calculators to determine how much to dose and how often.