Mixing supplements

[jesusq]

I am starting my 95 gallon reef tank and was trying to find a easier way to add supplement to the tank without making things complicated.

I was brainstorming and came up with an idea instead of spending a lot of money on dosage pumps, of getting a canister like a one gallon jug, adding a week's worth of my supplements into the jog such as calcium and alkalinity, idonine, Iron & Magnesium, strontium and essential elements; mixing it up and then using an aqua pump in a time interval to pump all of the supplements into the sump on a timed interval using the Apex Controller and carefully calculate a daily dosage in a time interval to pump it on the sump.

My question is, would there be a problem pre-mixing a week's worth of all of the elements in a jug and storing it up to a week?

 

[antbreon]

kal and alk cant be mixed or even added at the same time .i know iodine cant be mixed with stuff as well ..not sure about stron and mag i think they could go together..maybe even with something else..big dogs will chime i am sure ..i just add them all with dosers at different times so never been an issue..most add kal as a top off system..that is the one for me that is hard to get enough in..

 

[ek9vboi]

My question is, would there be a problem pre-mixing a week's worth of all of the elements in a jug and storing it up to a week?

Nope, not at all. A lot of people use BRS stuff and that requires mixing and then some, like myself use dosing pumps. My batches that I mix are always fully saturated and never any left over residue.

 

[ek9vboi]

Might have misread it, but Antbreon is correct. You can not mix alk and calc together, they will precipitate.

 

[antbreon]

i dose 5 things..all seachem product...
kal need to use more than just my doser..can do comfortably..still adjusting..kal level wont go up if mag is low
buffer..contains sodium magnesium calcium.strontium and potassium..salts of carbonates bicarbonates.chloride sulfate..and borate..a lot of stuff..i didnt even know was in there.recommendation from lfs
magnesium
strontium.
and iodide

someone once said there were 6 things..i dont know what the 6th should be..

 

[antbreon]

just read an article from randy ...looks like the 3 important ones are kal alk..and mag..and i shouldn't be using buffer with borate ..just plain baking soda:hmm3:

 

[bertoni]

I agree that the alkalinity and calcium can't be mixed. Magnesium usually can be dosed every other month or so, since it generally is consumed very slowly. Iron can be useful, too, but I wouldn't dose the other supplements. There's more reading on that subject if you're interested in some pointers.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

In general, manufacturers have tried to simplify dosing as much as possible, so if there is not a product that combines what you want to dose, there is more than likely a reason you cannot do so.