I have an apex, and want to start dosing my tank... any suggestions?

[jordancemery65]

I have the neptune apex to control my tank. I want to start dosing my tank with calcium, I dont think it is getting enough. I have thought about kalkwasser and calcium reactors. I really dont want to have to mix it up all the time and i really dont have any room in my sump for a calcium reactor. I want to know what some options are here....

 

[advancebc29]

BRS dosers is what I use with my apex

 

[jordancemery65]

What do you dose with?

 

[bamf25]

Get 2 BRS dosers the 1.1 ml minute ones. You just need to find about how much you need per day in mls. Divide that by 24 giving you the number of mls per hour. Then just divide the mls needed per hour by the 1.1 ml per minute on the pump. Then have the Apex run the pump for that number of minutes per hour.

 

[jordancemery65]

Get 2 BRS dosers the 1.1 ml minute ones. You just need to find about how much you need per day in mls. Divide that by 24 giving you the number of mls per hour. Then just divide the mls needed per hour by the 1.1 ml per minute on the pump. Then have the Apex run the pump for that number of minutes per hour.

But what do you dose with? What is the easiest... i dont want to have to mix stuff up every night.. i just want to fill a container maybe once a week or something and just have it dose every night or whenever....

 

[ryeguyy84]

BRS 2 part, you mix a gallon at a time and feed off that.

a gallon is 3800ML (rought estimate) so if you dose 10ML a day that gallon should last you a year.

 

[chamjack]

+ 1 to the BRS Dosers and their 2 part mix. They have a good reef calculator on their site to get you up and going with the 2 Part Recipe. I dose about 40 ml a day of both alk and calc for a softie and lps tank. I have the Apex run the alk portion for 9 min an hr starting at midnight and ending just after 0300. The calcium portion runs from noon till just after 1500.

The biggest step is getting your alk, calc, and mg at the levels you want them at before you start dosing. You will need to fine tune your dosage by testing the tank and figuring out what it consumes to maintain the levels you want. Again, BRS has a good video on how to do all of this. At my dosing rate, each batch I mix up lasts for about 90 days. :beer:

 

[tmz]

Alternatively ,limewater (aka kalkwasser or calcium hydroxide) provides both alkalinity and calcium in balanced proportions.

 

[jordancemery65]

Alternatively ,limewater (aka kalkwasser or calcium hydroxide) provides both alkalinity and calcium in balanced proportions.

So for the Kalkwaser do you have to mix it every night?

 

[tmz]

No, you can set it up in a still reservoir, like a covered salt bucket or a brute gargage can or two. Mix it in when you refill and use it for weeks with no loss of strength. I dose mine from a brute garbage can. Many tie it into an automatic top off set up; mine runs with a peristaltic dosing pump . I have a large system so It needs a refill about once a week. If I want it to run longer I can just get a bigger can or plumb two together but haven't gotten around to it.