Dosing question

Hurley12

New member
I just set-up my doser finally with Cal, Alk, and Mag. Where is a good starting point for dosing? Right now I have it set at 1ml a day until I figure out what I need to be doing. Here are some specs on my tank right now:

34 gallon (Solanna)
Cal - 400 (want to get up to at least 450)
Alk - 7 (want to get up to 8)
Mag - 1100 (want to get up to 1300)

Just need some feedback on where I should start.
 
if you want to change you levels then change them, not by daily dosing, but daily additions in addition to your dosing

nobody can answer what your tank consmes for you. I suggest getting your levels where you want, and then start dosing, paying attention to what the tank is actually consuming on a daily basis, and keep adjusting until you figure it out

To truly dial your daily dosing in you need to start at less than you actually consume to ever get it dialed in. If you start at more you will never be able to figure it out becasue you will always be having to stop your dosing to let it drop

If you have very few corals, and/or most of them small frags you will probably be more down like 1/2 ml per gallon or even less daily. If your tank was packed with healthy mature colonies you can consume as much as 2-3 ml per gallon

Get your levels where you want and then start at a lower baseline....you dont need to test everything every day. just test alk, the calcium wuill more or less follow and you can test it every few days to a week or so to make sure it is indeed following
 
Testing is the way to verify proper dosing, but, as flyyyguy said, don't test every day. Usually when one converts from manual to automated dosing, one knows how much one is already dosing manually and can start with the dosing that amount. Test every couple days to make sure you're in the ball park and tweak accordingly.

It is often the case that one discovers that a bit less is initially required when dosing automatically as typically when dosing manually consistency suffers (missed / skipped / late doses) and when regular additions are made a slightly smaller amount can suffice.
 
Thanks everybody for the help, Reef Bass as you mentioned my manual dosing was inconsistent at best I really don't how much or how often I was doing it to be honest. I have been workin 70+ hrs a week for the last few months so the tank kind of took a back seat. However, everything seems to be doing fine just not really flourishing or getting much growth, so I am hoping the addition of the doser will get things back in line.
 
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