Should I start using dosing pumps

[travis9791]

I have updated my signature to help people understand what my setup is. I have been on a used equipment buying spree lately. I recently upgraded from A piece of junk Seaclone skimmer to the Reef octopus SRO 2000 int. I am also adding A JBJ ATO. I just bought the API reef masters kit and I have began testing for trace elements. My numbers are as follows. PH8, DKH 7, calcium 380, phosphate 0 magnesium im waiting on tests kits arrival, ammonia 0, nitrite 0 nitrate 0. Just yesterday I used the reef calculator to determine how much baking soda I needed to add to get DKH to 9 and I will be slowly adding that to my top off water over the next few days. I have not done anything with the calcium numbers yet. The BRS 1.1 dosers I bought are coming with the alk and calc dosing kit. Should I be setting up dosing pumps this early on or should I be checking and dosing manually at this point? Also I have A good source for the ingredients for Randy's two part dosing recipe through work. Once I run out of the stuff supplied with the pumps Is it just as good to mix my own using Randy's recipe? One last question. My wife is totally fed up with my recent purchases and has brought my buying spree to an end. I know a reef controller would be best to control the dosing pumps but that is not in the budget. I found some reviews of people using the digital timer in my signature to control them. Will this be acceptable until the time I can get a reef controller? Sorry for the long winded post. I would appreciate any advice anyone has for me on any topic.
Thanks
Travis

 

[thegrun]

The need to dose would depend upon what corals you have and their sizes. I would dose up to the levels you want and then see what the tank consumes in a week. it is likely at this point you would not need to dose. If water changes do not keep up with demand at that point you would either need to dose or at least top off using kalkwasser. I can't speak to the accuracy of the timers.

 

[Sapelo]

+1 you need test results on what your tank consumes before you can know if you need to dose. It will depend on what you have in your tank to consume Alk and calcium. Dont complicate it before you have to...

 

[morpheas]

I would also add that the API test kit does not provide enough accuracy to be able to tune in a two part solution (dKH does not have decimals) so I would get Saliferts for the big three (calcium, alkalinity and magnesium).

PS: I started with an API myself but found it impossible to tune with the crudity of the kit's measurements.

 

[travis9791]

Well I will continue dosing by hand. I will continue to test using the API test kit for now however because I just bought it, and dropping another 100 on the salifert kit just isn't in the budget. The API kit should have enough accuracy for manual dosing corect?. Also My DKH has been reading 7. I did an online calculator that said I needed to add 8.9 tsp of baking soda to acheive 9 dkh. I added 7 tsp two days ago and tested yesterday. My dkh was still 7. So I added another 7 tsp last night. My dkh still reads 7. Should I keep on dosing baking soda until I reach 9. My total water volume is 170 gallons and i'm at 7 and want to go to 9. My corals all seam happy so far.

 

[morpheas]

I understand. But you can do what I did in your situation, start getting the kits one by one. What I did is replace the alkalinity first. The API cannot decipher 7 from 7.5 and if you try a small sensitivity test on your calculator you will see that it will make a difference on the dosing. It definitely won't kill anything and you can surely do it but it would be much better to do it in a more controlled manner. Your calcium could be next. But, personally, I would definitely replace the alkalinity with a salifert.

Also, if you read some of sk8r's threads, you will see that she suggests keeping an eye on alkalinity and dosing kalk (which will bring a proportionate amount of calcium in) and testing calcium further apart. So, I guess what I'm trying to say, is that with a good alkalinity kit ($16-$17, free shipping) you will be way ahead of the curve.

 

[nuttyd]

Agreed. Bite the bullet and get the alk test. others can wait but alk is so highly connected to happy corals. You pay now or pay later, but you always pay.
Also, when i first started dosing, it did take a few days to see a response in levels then it leveled out and was easy to maintain at the same level.