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View Full Version : Is it time for me to start dosing?


stingeragent
04/09/2015, 08:23 PM
Ok, so had a mainly softy with a few lps in a 20L for the last year. Last few weeks I upgraded to a 40B. Today picked up a few more softie's, and a monti digitata. Last 6 months or so I really haven't been testing parameters much as for the most part everything has been doing fine. The tank upsize has kinda given me a renewed interest and wanna make sure I'm checking all the boxes. Checked my Cal today and it was at 340. New tank has been up like 2 weeks, and I probably used 10 gallons from the old tank. The rest new. 20 gal sump about 1/3 full, and using reef crystals. I've done 1, 5 gal water change since it's been up and running. With my cal at that level as I tested today, it's really got me thinking I may have to start dosing. I've done some research in the last few days on alk, cal, mag, but a lot of it is so hard to understand. I know they are tied in together. I don't currently have a mg test kit but will be ordering one. From what I've read, you can dose 1 or 2 of them, and by default it will keep the other one stable. What sort of dosing do I need to do? Calcium only? CA and mg?. I also tested my Alk and it was at 8. I mainly just wanna make sure I have the relationship between the 3 understood, just to make sure I don't dose 1 thing to the right level only for it to throw the other 2 way outta wack

disc1
04/09/2015, 08:35 PM
I don't know where people get this idea that you can add calcium and it will do anything to your alkalinity. If you overdose it then it can knock your alkalinity out of solution, but other than an overdose the dosing of one will have no effect on the other.

If the tank has been up for 2 weeks then it surely isn't time for daily dosing yet. I wouldn't even concern myself with cal and alk until I had corals in the tank. Once you have that, bolus dose up to your desired numbers and watch daily to see how much they fall. That fall rate will determine what and when you need to start dosing the tank.

stingeragent
04/10/2015, 04:33 AM
K, thanks. I do have corals in the tank. I moved everything over from my 20. Have 2 ricordia, kenya trees, trachy, candy cane, hammer, brain coral, galaxea, zoas, polyps, monti digitata.

jpa0741
04/10/2015, 04:39 AM
Look into Randys 3 part. Its a homemade 3 part solution you make. You will have to dose all 3 as needed.

Mark9
04/10/2015, 05:48 AM
What salt are you using?
Use something like reef crystals, do regular water changes and you should be able to avoid dosing for quite awhile.

DSMpunk
04/10/2015, 07:45 AM
Don't over complicate it. Good numbers to shoot for.

Mg - 1600
Ca - 450
Alk - 9

Test weekly and log your numbers to determine your tank's needs. Use this calculator to figure out how much of what to dose.

http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chem_calc3.html