Dosing pumps - Frequency of dosing for stability?

[Jeffie]

Hello All,

I've been hand dosing my reef for sometime now. Right now my tank is using about 4.4oz of part A and part B daily. Since I have been hand dosing, I have been adding the alk portion in the morning and the ca portion in the evening.

Fast forward to today, I just received my Bubble Magnus BM T-01 3 part doser. I'm not worried so much about the mag, but I would like to spread out my alk and Ca additions so that my numbers stay consistent all the time. What is the best way to set up the intervals so that the alk and ca do not collide and precipitate? Is is best to just set the doser up to dose the alk at night to aid in keeping the ph up and the ca during the day? Or is is best to have the alk and ca spread out hourly?

TIA

 

[rezaktp]

I dose alk at the top of the hour :00, cal at :30, and kalk at :45! works well!

 

[neuro]

i dose ca first, then 5 minutes later i dose alk. this is done by my controller, and have not had problems for the past year i've been doing this. I do this on the hour.

i think you have to watch your ph levels? i don't unless it's doing some super swinging.

 

[MammothReefer]

Best thing to do is to test. I found I would consume more alk and calc when my lights are on then over nite. However I typically just dose on the hour for simplicity

 

[Jeffie]

Thanks for the replies!

So I think I will set it up as you guys have said. So my 4.4 ounces converts to 131 ml per day of part A and part B. If I divide the 131 by 24 hours it comes out to 5.45ml per hour. So my dosing will go like this.

beginning of each hour add 5.45 ml of ca

every half hour add 5.45 ml of alk

Does this sound correct? Anything I am missing?

 

[tektite]

I dose each element once an hour, alk on the hour and cal on the half-hour. But my consumption is pretty high.

 

[cumbeje]

Break it up like 6 times a day. The bubble magnus can delay time of different dosing per channel. That is what I do.

 

[MBMAX]

Thanks for the replies!

So I think I will set it up as you guys have said. So my 4.4 ounces converts to 131 ml per day of part A and part B. If I divide the 131 by 24 hours it comes out to 5.45ml per hour. So my dosing will go like this.

beginning of each hour add 5.45 ml of ca

every half hour add 5.45 ml of alk

Does this sound correct? Anything I am missing?

It sounds good. I have done it that way for 1 1/2 years with good results.

 

[Tek]

I alternate each hour between ALK and CA for a total of 16 doses per day. Consumption happens during lights on as it barely budges from 12am to 8am.

 

[triggreef]

I alternate even hours get alk and odd hours get ca. I also found that I cut way down on how much I use by doing this and it seems to keep each way more balanced than dosing less frequently.

 

[michaelis88]

does anyone realized the bubble magus is not accurate?

 

[jbraslins]

What about dosing CAL once an hour during the day (10am -5pm) and ALK once an hour at night (6pm - 9am) to help with nightly PH swing. Is that not stable enough?

 

[Jeffie]

What about dosing CAL once an hour during the day (10am -5pm) and ALK once an hour at night (6pm - 9am) to help with nightly PH swing. Is that not stable enough?

That was one of my original thoughts.. Would like to hear what people think about this.

Right now I am running the dosers with water to check accuracy. I broke it up to 12 doses each, alternating Ca gets dosed one hour and then the next hour alk gets does, etc.etc.

 

[Dukester]

does anyone realized the bubble magus is not accurate?

This does not matter to most.. It's your levels to ur trying to get stable.. If it's dosing 1ml or 1.3 ml it's still irrelevant.. As your demands increase, you increase your dosing.. Those numbers really mean nothing for cal alk mag, now if your dosing other things like a zeovit regime.. It might matter more.. And for that iirc the bm, like most of the other 3ch pumps are easy to calibrate.

I dose cal and alk hourly with a 10 minute delay in between them both.