Dosing my 10 gallon nano

[bcb577]

I've been in the hobby for just a few months short of 2 years. I would always read stuff on dosing but when I was just starting out I was told more than once that my tank would be fine without dosing because I do a 20% water change every week. But I figured out that doesn't always hold true. I started out with softies, zoas, xenia, and stuff that was beginner friendly. I quickly figured out that I really love lps corals and added some candy canes ,hammer,and now a duncan coral. Now due to these types of coral, a weekly water change was no longer sufficient to sustain a happy reef for a whole week. My corals were not looking healthy but "withered". I started dosing kent marine part A and B and within 24 hours man my corals are popping!! The instructions say to dose this daily,but I'm concerned about over dosing the tank, so for the first cpl weeks of dosing I'm going to do parameters check daily and start a log to keep track. Any info would be great. has anyone reading this have any experience with this stuff?

[Sk8r]

Logbook is a smart move. Watch for trends and 'dose into a trend, not after the fact,' simply meaning when alk starts to dive, it's time to do something, not when it's crossed the line into badness. If alk drops, check the magnesium. As long as it's over 1200 (I prefer 1350) the alk will hold up. Keep it around 7.9 to 8.3. Calcium should ride around 420. It ALSO will hold if the alk and mg are good. Order in which to correct: fix the mg first, then the alk, then the cal.

[ahuaia]

I'm fairly new to this Hobby as well (1.5ish months) and am looks to do a mainly lps 10 gallon tank as well so I can't speak from experience but I remember reading somewhere that you could up the water changes so maybe do it twice a week. If you don't want to do that dosing should work I've read you have to be supper carful about over dosing the tank tho so maybe try dossing it less then recommended and go up as needed.

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[thegrun]

Never dose without first testing to what and how much if anything you need to dose!

[bcb577]

Logbook is a smart move. Watch for trends and 'dose into a trend, not after the fact,' simply meaning when alk starts to dive, it's time to do something, not when it's crossed the line into badness. If alk drops, check the magnesium. As long as it's over 1200 (I prefer 1350) the alk will hold up. Keep it around 7.9 to 8.3. Calcium should ride around 420. It ALSO will hold if the alk and mg are good. Order in which to correct: fix the mg first, then the alk, then the cal.that all makes perfect sense.

[bcb577]

So my next question would be,when using an all inclusive dosing system,such as Kent marine part a and part b,how do you raise or level out one thing such as just for an example,,,your magnesium is a bit low,but to fix that all you have is the kent marine part a and b? I also just learned a valuable lesson.I think i may have overdosed my tank just by following the directions on the kent marine.it says to dose it daily to keep the parameters within targeted range,so I did.now everything is gotta wack.Magnesium tested at least 1500 ppm.Calcium 500.dkh 12,will a water change help?everything in the tank seem unaffected as of right now.I'm po that the directions would not be more factual.now I will NEVER dose without testing,such a stupid pinhead mistake.Anyone have any ideas on how to remedy this?water change?

[bcb577]

Never dose without first testing to what and how much if anything you need to dose!
I wish I would have read your reply BEFORE I made the mistake I made today!

[bcb577]

Ok,I'm going to embarrass myself a little,lol. My wife used the cup to do my testing that was previously used to dose my tank and it hadn't even been rinsed causing crazy readings on my parameter tests!lol.I retook all the tests and they read....dkh 9....Magnesium,1350....Calcium,480......a lot of lessons learned here but I'm so glad I didn't nuke my tank,and corals and critters all looking better than they have for weeks,but definitely gonna test before I dose from now on!

[A sea K]

So my next question would be,when using an all inclusive dosing system,such as Kent marine part a and part b,how do you raise or level out one thing such as just for an example,,,your magnesium is a bit low,but to fix that all you have is the kent marine part a and b? I also just learned a valuable lesson.I think i may have overdosed my tank just by following the directions on the kent marine.it says to dose it daily to keep the parameters within targeted range,so I did.now everything is gotta wack.Magnesium tested at least 1500 ppm.Calcium 500.dkh 12,will a water change help?everything in the tank seem unaffected as of right now.I'm po that the directions would not be more factual.now I will NEVER dose without testing,such a stupid pinhead mistake.Anyone have any ideas on how to remedy this?water change?

Ok,I'm going to embarrass myself a little,lol. My wife used the cup to do my testing that was previously used to dose my tank and it hadn't even been rinsed causing crazy readings on my parameter tests!lol.I retook all the tests and they read....dkh 9....Magnesium,1350....Calcium,480......a lot of lessons learned here but I'm so glad I didn't nuke my tank,and corals and critters all looking better than they have for weeks,but definitely gonna test before I dose from now on!

Well your testing your alk cal and mag levels to determine where you stand and that is a good 1st step. It also looks like you dodged a bullet with that error using the dirty cup, phew!

If your using the Kent marine tech 2-part then it does not contain magnesium but your w/c schedule will more than keep that value in check as mag is not used up nearly the same amount as alk or cal. FYI here is a calculator that will help you determine how much to dose based on your tanks demands,http://reef.diesyst.com/flashcalc/flashcalc.html it does list the Kent supplement so it will come in handy for you.

EDIT, I forgot to add that it is perfectly acceptable to add one or the other ( part a or part b ) independant of each other to obtain the parameters you are after. As it stands right now your cal (480) is a little higher than what most maintain so just add the alk part to maintain your current level of 9 and allow your cal to drop to around the 420 mark before continueing with your maintenance dosage of both parts.

[bcb577]

Well your testing your alk cal and mag levels to determine where you stand and that is a good 1st step. It also looks like you dodged a bullet with that error using the dirty cup, phew!

If your using the Kent marine tech 2-part then it does not contain magnesium but your w/c schedule will more than keep that value in check as mag is not used up nearly the same amount as alk or cal. FYI here is a calculator that will help you determine how much to dose based on your tanks demands,http://reef.diesyst.com/flashcalc/flashcalc.html it does list the Kent supplement so it will come in handy for you.

EDIT, I forgot to add that it is perfectly acceptable to add one or the other ( part a or part b ) independant of each other to obtain the parameters you are after. As it stands right now your cal (480) is a little higher than what most maintain so just add the alk part to maintain your current level of 9 and allow your cal to drop to around the 420 mark before continueing with your maintenance dosage of both parts.
I had no idea I could dose separately! Thanks for the link and all your help,and yes I dodged u HUGE bullet,but lesson learned!!!

[kevin21]

Just out of curiosity, what salt are you using for your 20% weekly changes?? If it is a reef based salt, and you are doing 20% changes every week, I seriously doubt your 10g couldn't handle some LPS. I have a mixture of both LPS and softies in my 28g and do 5g water changes weekly with reef crystals. I have had no need to dose yet and its been about 2 years. Every tank is different of course, but maybe a change in salt could make things a little easier and less stressful about dosing

[sde1500]

Also curious on the salt brand. I rarely have to dose my 65 yet with many more corals than that. But its all possible of course. As for dosing for one specific parameter, you can buy individual additives. I'm not familiar with A+B to say what they do, but if you need to only up mag, you'll have to either mix or buy a mag supplement.

[kevin21]

For more input, I use kent tech-m, kent liquid calcium, and kent alk buffer if ever needed. Haven't had to dose them yet but have them for emergencies.

[bcb577]

Just out of curiosity, what salt are you using for your 20% weekly changes?? If it is a reef based salt, and you are doing 20% changes every week, I seriously doubt your 10g couldn't handle some LPS. I have a mixture of both LPS and softies in my 28g and do 5g water changes weekly with reef crystals. I have had no need to dose yet and its been about 2 years. Every tank is different of course, but maybe a change in salt could make things a little easier and less stressful about dosing
Hi,thanks for responding,I have used kent marine reef salt mix since I've started,and it seems to work pretty good,I did a bad hob describing what's happening to my tank,I never needed to dose either for the most part as I was doing the 20% water change weekly.I just started a New job,and instead of every 7 days to do water changes I got a bit lazy and started to stretch them to every 10 days and at that point corals we're starting to look withered a bit.I'm thinking that it has more to do with poor water quality as opposed to poor parameters. I'm currently going back to every 7 days .But I will add the two days I did dose the tank looks incredible!I'm also going to check my parameters every day for a cpl weeks just so I have a good idea of what's going on in my tank. I will say that with the kent marine reef crystals it give me higher magnesium that I would like it's usually about 1500 after a water change,when I dosed last week it was at 1350.

[bcb577]

For more input, I use kent tech-m, kent liquid calcium, and kent alk buffer if ever needed. Haven't had to dose them yet but have them for emergencies.
Thanks for your input I appreciate it!

[bcb577]

Also curious on the salt brand. I rarely have to dose my 65 yet with many more corals than that. But its all possible of course. As for dosing for one specific parameter, you can buy individual additives. I'm not familiar with A+B to say what they do, but if you need to only up mag, you'll have to either mix or buy a mag supplement.Ok,that makes sense,I'm really going to keep tabs on my parameters for a col weeks and keep a chart to note trends and such.

[bcb577]

Well after dosing a cpl times over the last cpl weeks my levels are good.nitrates 5ppm...phosphate barely detectable but did register some. Dkh 9.Calcium 480 which is where kent marine reef salt usually keeps it.Magnesium,1480,also higher than some like but again it's where my salt usually keeps it and doesn't harm anything,so now I can cut back from testing daily to about once a week unless corals don't look right

[kevin21]

If you have an auto top off system, you can also use kalk in your ATO container. Sk8r has a few threads on it that you can look up. Kalk will keep these parameters stable. Won't need to worry much about dosing, but should still test once a week just to make sure.

If this doesn't sound like its for you, then you have a good plan. Test once or twice a week, do you weekly water changes with a reef salt, and you should be golden.

[bcb577]

If you have an auto top off system, you can also use kalk in your ATO container. Sk8r has a few threads on it that you can look up. Kalk will keep these parameters stable. Won't need to worry much about dosing, but should still test once a week just to make sure.

If this doesn't sound like its for you, then you have a good plan. Test once or twice a week, do you weekly water changes with a reef salt, and you should be golden.
Thanks for the info!