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Need some guidance in starting to dose


Halo_003

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Initially I intended to be fully LPS stocked... Then I got a cheap Birdnest frag and loved it. And the hook was in. I now have 6 birdnest frags of different varieties and a Strawberry Shortcake Acro. I figured now was as good a time as any to start dosing so on Black Friday when I get my ATO I also picked up:

 

500mL Red Sea Reef Foundation A (Ca/Sr)

500mL Red Sea Reef Foundation B (Alk)

500mL Red Sea Reef Foundation C (Mg)

 

I plan to dose manually at least initially. Eventually I'd like to pick up the Jebao dosing pump or a decent one for below $200, but for now it will be by hand. I plan to be fully SPS dominant now with some Z/P's.

 

Any advice on how to start dosing and how to calculate how much to dose every 24hrs?

 

I did also pick up a Hanna Calcium checker if that will help.

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You need to test your dkh/calc/mag for a week straight and keep track of the results. You will then know how much your corals are absorbing daily and how much you will need to dose to keep up.

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I'm in exact same boat. I've been testing Alk/Calcium for about 4 or 5 days now (trying to be within the same time each day). I've also been dosing a capful of Alk buffer since I seem to run out of that much faster than calcium in my tank.

 

Here's my experience - hopefully it's helpful.

 

I test before and after the dose each day to determine how much the tank is eating up in 24hrs and how much the dose affects the level. So far I've sorted out that the tank uses about .5 points of alk a day and the calcium stays pretty consistent. one capful of alk buffer gets my 29g right back up about that .5. it's still a bit on the low side but I fluctuate between 7.8-8.4 or so.

 

So based on that (if the results continue for a few more days) I would feel comfortable just dosing the one capful and then testing less frequently. Eventually the calcium will have to be added but I'm staying right at 475 so it doesn't seem to be a problem yet.

 

Anyway - I THINK that's the method to figure it all out. As for the dosing pump - i'm curious to hear what others say. I think people just top off with kalk each day using their ATO - but I've heard leaving the mixture in a tub for too long is counterproductive. So that seems to negate the convenience of using the ATO for the purpose of dosing.

 

So it would be a doser set to the 10ml of whatever the cap is - hopefully spaced out to drip a few here/there throughout the day to keep the level steady vs. these .5 swings up and down.

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I'm in exact same boat. I've been testing Alk/Calcium for about 4 or 5 days now (trying to be within the same time each day). I've also been dosing a capful of Alk buffer since I seem to run out of that much faster than calcium in my tank.

 

Alk is in much lower concentration in saltwater so it gives the appearance it is "consumed" much faster but in reality it is a very specific ratio of alk/calc/mag consumption that matches "most" corals consumption rates. It should be roughly 1 dkh consumption = 6.4 ppm calc and 0.71 ppm mag.

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That's interesting - so basically the alk just seems to drop faster? My calcium stays pretty steady (around 470) while my alk will drop .5 or more over the course of 24hrs. I haven't even started dosing calcium yet. I'm going to try 1.5capfuls starting tonight to see if I can get the alk nice and high and then see what that does to calcium.

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That's interesting - so basically the alk just seems to drop faster? My calcium stays pretty steady (around 470) while my alk will drop .5 or more over the course of 24hrs. I haven't even started dosing calcium yet. I'm going to try 1.5capfuls starting tonight to see if I can get the alk nice and high and then see what that does to calcium.

 

Also keep in mind that hobby test kits are very difficult to get repeatable results from, esp with calc. For example, I could do 4 tests with my Red Sea kit and get 420,440,430,440. How would I notice a 3ppm drop (per my math above) in this case? This is the main reasons for testing alk every day when setting up a dosing schedule and only worrying about calc once every week or two.

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