Dosing questions

[swayd]

Hello everyone,

So I finally got around to testing my 56g mixed reef and i got a dosing pump for Christmas. I started off by testing for cal, alk and Mg and this is what I got.


I did a water change and tested 2 hours later, the results were good:
Cal - 450
dkh - 8.3
Mg - 1320

48 hours later I tested again, I did not do any water changes, I did not add any supplements and the only thing going on was feeding fish and fresh water top off:
Cal - 385
dkh- 8
Mg - 1290

Each time I tested I tested each element 3 times each and the results were spot on each time.

Now my question is, how should I start dosing? I looked up the reef calculator and its telling me +/- 200ml of cal and +/- 100ml of alk. I have already purchased the b-ionoc 2 part and have my doser ready to go I just need to go get the tubing.

I was thinking of starting off real slow at about 4ml component no.1(alk) and 10ml component no.2(cal) over a 24 hour period for 3-4 days meanwhile testing twice a day.

Please let me know if Im starting too slow or if I should lower it even more. I used to dose on my 180 but that was way easier. With this tank only being a total of 56g including sump its a bit more delicate.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, have a great day.

 

[vhuang168]

Too slow. You have your uptake rate. To be safe you can start just under that. Maybe 1/2-3/4 of recommended.

So 75ml of alk n 150 ml of Ca then test over the next few days and adjust.


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[swayd]

Too slow. You have your uptake rate. To be safe you can start just under that. Maybe 1/2-3/4 of recommended.

So 75ml of alk n 150 ml of Ca then test over the next few days and adjust.


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So your saying 75ml and 150ml per day? I was also thinking of water change days. Do I stop dosing the days I do water changes then proceed the following day? I was doing 10% WCs every other day, that's why I got a dosing pump lol.


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[vhuang168]

Oops, cut that in half since that was over a 48hr period.

Depends on your salt. Only way to find out is to do the dosing as normal then do a water change and check right after and then 24hrs later to see the change if any.


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[DivingTheWorld]

Yep, depends on what salt you use and whether you adjust it or not. I adjust my Alk/Cal to match my tank so there is no fluctuation during a water change. I boost the Mag in my water change so I never need to dose that.

The BRS Calculator will get you started, then you just make small adjustments from there until you're balanced.

 

[NewJack]

i don't think the brs calculator includes Bionic as one of the options for dosing. You'll have to use one of the other dosing calculators on the net.
B ionic is much more concentrated than BRS' alk and cal. dry mixes.

 

[swayd]

So I did use a calculator for the B ionic and it's still telling me I need to dose about 176 cal and 90 something for alk to reach my desired levels.
I'm about to hook it all up and get it dialed in today. I think I'm going to start off at about 25ml Cal and 8ml doh and bump it up every couple days until I get to the desired levels. I just feel like what the calculators are statin are ridiculous amounts to start off with.
I use IO so the levels are as stated above and are pretty good IMO now I just need to work on keeping it consistent. Other than that this tank is growing all corals like crazy and I have great coloration. Hopefully dosing doesn't affect the corals too bad.

Thanks everyone I'll keep this thread updated.


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[swk]

Is b-ionic not a balanced additive? Why are you dosing so much more calcium than alkalinity?

 

[Meshmez]

Thats a surprisingly high cal drop for such a small alk drop. I would test a few days in a row before dosing a ton.

you should manually dose up to your desired levels. then test to get a baseline starting point. then test exactly 24 hours after that, record your results but dont dose anything. test again after another exact 24 hours and record. if the levels havent dropped enough to be dangerous, i would wait another 24 hours and test a third time.

at this point you will have a starting point and 2-3 data points 24 hours apart. calculate the difference between each measurement, and then take the average. this will give you your daily usage. plug your daily usage into the calculator, and that will tell you how much to dose each day. you will then want to manually dose back to your desired levels and then let the doser do its thing.

Generally speaking you should only have to pay attention to the alk dosing amount. alk should show a drop much quicker than cal. you should then dose the same amount of cal as you do alk. this is assuming your mag is at the correct level ~1300

 

[SALTWATERSIG]

With my system I started dosing at the recommended levels by BRS since I use there bulk dosing supplies but I had to make adjustments accordingly after testing weekly . bumped up the dosing levels on parameters that started to show decline on tests and turned down dosing levels on those that climbed.

this is easier said then done as I was doing water changes twice a week and tests showed all parameters stable , once I went to weekly water changes I noticed parameters started showing different levels (I realized that the more frequent water changes replenished certain components ) . planning for a 2 week trip I started to do water changes every two weeks and checking levels to see what dosing needed to be tweaked for optimal stability.

it takes some time to get things right but in the long run it was worth it . now all I do is make sure my dosing containers stay topped off

 

[swayd]

Thanks guys. I haven't started dosing yet as I want to test run the pump for a couple days to make sure it's doing things correctly and that I set it up correctly as well lol. I'll test twice today, before and after a water change and then test again tomorrow to see where my levels are at. I should have a good baseline understanding by the end of this weekend on what amounts I need to dose.


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[Meshmez]

make sure you are testing your WC water and matching it to your tank parameters. If you dont know what youre putting in with water changes you wont be able to tell what to dose.

 

[swayd]

Very true. I'll make sure to test the WC water before adding it to the tank.


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