Dosing Question

[Bill_Moorman]

Hello friends!

I recently set up an Apex and BRS dosing pumps to automate my two part dosing. Really excited about this!

My question: When initially setting up, should I manually dose Alk to get to my desired level, and then begin the dosing schedule?

For example, this morning I manually dosed to get to 9.0 from 8.7, and my tank uses .3 alk per day. I have the schedule set up to dose 8.5ml/day, 24/7, every 30 minutes with a 10 minute adjustment each hour. We are talking maybe 3 drops each dose.

Since my alk is where it needs to be, my logic is that the dosing will maintain that level, rather than trying to play catch up.

Is this right?

I haven't yet began automatically dosing calcium as my usage is very small, it doesn't drop much from 450 day to day. As corals and coralline develop, I am sure that will change, but currently I am pretty stable, week to week.

Once the need arises, I plan to dose each 30 minutes apart, so alk on the half hour and Calcium in the hour.

Thanks in advance!


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[mcgyvr]

Correct.. Manually dose up to the levels you wish to maintain (do not go too much too fast if the difference is substantial) then dose automatically to maintain that level..
Frequent monitoring of the levels is required at the beginning to ensure all is working as planned then you can slack off on the testing as the levels should be maintained fairly accurately.. Testing every month or so after that isn't bad.. But every few days when you start is good..

You can mix up a higher concentration solution for the manual dosing to get to the levels if needed..


Also (just so its been stated).. Only dose when your current water change amount/schedule is not keeping levels stable and you don't want to increase that.. You do not need to start dosing in a new tank or one with few corals..

 

[Bill_Moorman]

Thanks for the reply!

I have a moderate amount of LPS and some SPS, so I lose .3 alk in a 24 hour period, so dosing is definitely needed for me. I like to keep my alk at 9 and stable.

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[hkgar]

I think you will like this. I use to create the program for my carbon dosing. Will work jus a well for your application

https://www.reeftronics.net/adpg/dosingcalc.php

 

[Bill_Moorman]

Love it!


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