Dosing. Does This Sound Right?

[cm11599ps]

I have only checked my levels sporadically and then dosed appropriately using BRS 2-Part and their calculator. No problems there.

I have 2 BRS dosing pumps and an APEX and I'd love to get everything dosing automatically but it kind of scares me but I know it will be awesome once it's done. I just wanted to run some figures by you guys to see if I'm doing things correctly.

A week ago my readings were alk 10, cal 430, mag 1,275.
Today my readings were alk 6, cal 395, mag 1,200.

Does that seem right? I double checked all the readings last week and today. I was surprised to see the alk drop like that and that the mag dropped.

On to my second set of questions. The BRS calculator says I need 330 mL to bring my alk back to 9 where I want it. Divide that 330 by 7 days and you get 47.14 mL. I'm assuming that means I should dose 47.14 mL of alk mix daily.

Same question for calcium. BRS says I need 197 mL to get back to 430. 430 divided by 7 days is 28.14 mL daily.

Is it as simple as I'm making this out to be? Granted, I would slowly bring the numbers back to where I want them via manual dosing before I automate it.

[RA]

To me it sounds like an awfully big drop in all 3 over a week period for a 55 gallon tank. I would just be sure of the change in all 3 first.

[Mark9]

Not quite.
Read the "dosing instructions" on this page.
rhf2part (http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/)
You need to first get your levels to your target, then find daily consumption of alk, then dose that amount daily, same amount for the calcium.
You need to get your mag up first to around 1350.
In short
- get mag to 1350
- get alk to your target (7-9?), ca to 420? (you need to pick your targets), do a quickish correction (maybe buy some kent tech-cb a/b for this)
- next day at the same time, measure your alk, the drop is your daily consumption
- dose that amt (ml) of alk daily, dose same amount ml of ca daily

[cm11599ps]

Not quite.
Read the "dosing instructions" on this page.
rhf2part (http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/)
You need to first get your levels to your target, then find daily consumption of alk, then dose that amount daily, same amount for the calcium.
You need to get your mag up first to around 1350.
In short
- get mag to 1350
- get alk to your target (7-9?), ca to 420? (you need to pick your targets), do a quickish correction (maybe buy some kent tech-cb a/b for this)
- next day at the same time, measure your alk, the drop is your daily consumption
- dose that amt (ml) of alk daily, dose same amount ml of ca daily


Thanks, but that's kind of what I said originally. :-)

I had a starting point last week. Exactly a week later I tested and got my readings. I found out how much I needed to dose to get the numbers back to the numbers I had a week earlier. Then I divided by 7 to get my daily dosing amount.

Isn't that the same thing as testing it daily?

[skimjim]

Friends don't let Friends dose elements that can't be test for ;)

[DDon]

Thanks, but that's kind of what I said originally. :-)

I had a starting point last week. Exactly a week later I tested and got my readings. I found out how much I needed to dose to get the numbers back to the numbers I had a week earlier. Then I divided by 7 to get my daily dosing amount.

Isn't that the same thing as testing it daily?

I think you have a pretty good staring point. You will need to add some extra in the beginning to slowly bring your levels back up since you just calculated your daily demand. If you add that calculated amount you will only maintain where you are.
The only issue I see with doing a week to determine your daily consumption is your levels dropped a lot and you end up with a pretty big swing which could have caused you some problems.

[cnreef]

Friends don't let Friends dose elements that can't be test for ;)

He very clearly states he has the ability to test all 3 that he is dosing for.

[cm11599ps]

He very clearly states he has the ability to test all 3 that he is dosing for.



lol, thanks for pointing that out. I think a few folks are missing some of the things I said. Let me try again.

My tank has been very neglected over the past two years. Going through a divorce and all that fun stuff does that to you. In those two years I did not dose and did not do water changes. Didn't change my T5 bulbs either. No coral died and no fish died. The coral has grown and encrusted new rock but it surely isn't as vibrant as it should be. One day about 2 months ago I started doing 5 gallon water changes every few days in an effort to bring my tank back to life. I did NOT test my water levels when I began doing water changes but looking back I wish I did just to see how off it was. I also got new T5 bulbs.

Over the course of a few days last week I slowly brought up my alk, cal and mag numbers. On the last day my readings were getting close to a normal reef tank level. I only had to dose a little bit that day and about 2 hours after dosing I tested the tank water again. That was twice I tested that day, once to see how much I needed to dose and again a few hours after dosing.

alk 10, cal 430, mag 1,275 which fall in the middle of Randy's suggested levels. At this point I stopped dosing and testing for a week. I also tested my new salt water storage can for water changes and got those levels in line with my tank. I haven't done any water changes since I dosed that can.

Exactly a week after I got the levels in the above paragraph I tested my tank again. This time I got alk 6, cal 395, mag 1,200. Alk had dropped 4, cal dropped 35 and mag dropped 75.

First off, I couldn't believe the alk and mag dropped like that. It doesn't seem possible so I did another test and got the same results. Weird. I do not have a fully stocked tank and it's only a 55 gallon mixed reef with a small clown and royal gramma. Less than 6 snails/crabs combined. Mushrooms, kenya tree, toadstool leather, some zoas and palys, orange digi, purple digi and some other unknown sps and a war coral. Very little coraline. I mean VERY little. Do you think it's normal that my tank dropped that much in a week? I did two tests each day just to confirm the results. If you think it's accecptable for my tank to drop like that in a week then what the heck were my readings when I didn't dose or do water changes for two years! lol

If it's acceptable for my tank to drop like that in a week then my first course of action is to slowly bring my levels up a little. I'd go alk 9, cal 430 and mag 1,300 and spread the doses over the course of a few days until I got to my desired levels.

Once I got the tank back to the proper levels then I want to start automating my dosing with my APEX and dosing pumps. This is where another question lies.

For example, let's just say my calcium was at 449. Exactly a week later my calcium was at 400 with no water changes and no dosing done. That means my calcium dropped 49 over the course of 7 days. That equates to dropping 7 per day. Let's also say that it requires 70 mL of calcium solution to bring my calcium from 400 up to 449 so I do that. Now my tank is back at 449.

But now I want to automate my dosing. By using the figures in the above paragraph I've figured out that I need to dose 10 mL of calcium solution daily in order to keep my tank at 449.

Everything I wrote above is just facts about what I've done to my tank along with some questions. I'm wondering if what I said about automating my dosing in the paragraph directly above is all that needs to be done. Is the process as simple as I'm making it out to be?

[cm11599ps]

OK, now I'm scratching my head. I've tested my tank on 3 Consecutive Tuesday nights and have not dosed or done any water changes. All I have done is empty the skimmer, feed sporadically, top off and got new ATI bulbs since my initial test 11/18.

On 11/18 I tested my tank and then manually dosed what was needed according to the BRS calculators. A few hours after I dosed my tank I tested the water again just to see if my calculations were correct. The Alk was testing a little higher then it was supposed to. It was either 7 before and I wanted to raise it to 8 or it was 8 and I wanted to raise it to 9. It tested as 10 after dosing. The Cal and Mag were pretty much spot on according to what numbers I put into the BRS calculator. The numbers below for 11/18 reflect the parameters AFTER dosing that night.

11/18 - Alk 10 Cal 430 Mag 1275
11/25 - Alk 6 Cal 395 Mag 1200
12/2 - Alk 5 Cal 360 Mag 1275

Is it possible that I tested the Alk too soon after dosing on 11/18? I waited about 2-3 hours to test after dosing. The calcium has seen a perfectly steady drop of 35 per week and the Mag reading for this week actually went up but it's the same reading it was on 11/18 which makes more sense then having it drop 75 in a week like it did.

Alk test is an API and I put a small section of plastic wrap over the end when shaking the test tube. Cal and Mag are Salifert.

[Mark9]

Why are you waiting a week between testing?
1 - bring your levels up to where you want (write down your kh number)
2 - next day at same time, test kh, the drop is your daily consumption
3 - use calculator to determine how much ml to dose to get kh back to 1's number
4 - dose that ml amount daily for BOTH kh and ca

make slight adjustments if needed, done
should only take a couple days to set this up, not weeks.

I think your mg difference is testing error

[cm11599ps]

Why are you waiting a week between testing?
1 - bring your levels up to where you want (write down your kh number)
2 - next day at same time, test kh, the drop is your daily consumption
3 - use calculator to determine how much ml to dose to get kh back to 1's number
4 - dose that ml amount daily for BOTH kh and ca

make slight adjustments if needed, done
should only take a couple days to set this up, not weeks.

I think your mg difference is testing error

My day job is a mailman and my night job is in retail so I just combined the two worst jobs to have this time of year. Hence, my need to automate my dosing. :-)

[JMorris271]

Why are you waiting a week between testing?
1 - bring your levels up to where you want (write down your kh number)
2 - next day at same time, test kh, the drop is your daily consumption
3 - use calculator to determine how much ml to dose to get kh back to 1's number
4 - dose that ml amount daily for BOTH kh and ca

make slight adjustments if needed, done
should only take a couple days to set this up, not weeks.

I think your mg difference is testing error

That seems simple enough. Steady she goes.

[cm11599ps]

OK, over the course of a few days I got my #'s up to appropriate levels. Alk is 9, Cal is 430 and mag is 1,300.

As I speak, I have my dosing pumps on as they slowly fill up the tubing with my alk and cal solutions. Once each tube starts dripping into my sump I'll shut that dosing pump off and set the dosing pumps to run on auto via my APEX. Wish me luck!

[cm11599ps]

It only took two hours but I finally began getting my Calcium line to start dripping into my sump. The dosing pump is in my garage and has to pump up about 8' to get to my sump, that's why it took so long. Just waiting on my Alk to finally start dripping and then I can set both pumps to AUTO in my APEX. :-)

[cm11599ps]

Looks like I nailed the calcium. When I set the pumps up after testing my rate of consumption for a few weeks I aimed for 430. That's about where my tank was before my dosers. I set my dosers up and checked about a week later and I was down to 410. I set the doers to run a little longer and a few days later checked everything. I'm still at 410. I'm wondering if I should still shoot for my 430 goal but I'm happy I at least have it stable.

My alk is still being depleted quicker then I want it so I'm still fine tuning that.

I hope my coral appreciate all my work.