Setting up first time calc & alk auto dose

[Dingo Dog]

So, I'm entering uncharted waters here and would appreciate any pearls of wisdom from the crew of Reef Central. I'll be using a Sentry. AAaaarrrr!!

[drummereef]

What exactly are you doing, Dingo? Do you have a two-channel dosing pump for a 2-Part additive?

[Dingo Dog]

Sorry, the Sentry unit I ordered has: two separate channels, dark-activated dosing, pH controller and float switch. At this point I think I just want to dose calc and alk. I've never used one of these before and I only have a 46 gal. tank. I'm thinking I won't be neededing the other options but wanted the options if I ever decide to get a better tank.

[drummereef]

Cool. Should be fairly easy then. All you need to know is how much alkalinity and calcium your tank is consuming in a 24 hour period. As long as your parameters are within the recommended ranges then you can test for consumption. Test for 2 days, without dosing anything, to find out this value. Once you know, you can enter the test results into the calculator below and it will give you a value in mL (milliliters) that you can program into the Sentry. I manually dose Randy's 2-Part and the calculator dials in the appropriate dosing amounts perfectly. For you it's all in the automation. Hope this helps! ;)


Reef chemicals calculator
http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chem_calc3.html