Recommended baseline 2-part quantity?

[ps2cho]

Hey guys,

 

So I bought the BRS 2-part kit with 2 dosers.

 

What should I start with to estimate consumption?

 

I have 70gal total water volume, and about 10 SPS frags, a decent size frogspawn and some zoas. No frag is larger than 3-4".

 

How many ml's should I aim for to start? 5ml per day? 10ml per day?

Any recommendations?

[MadReefer13]

Have to test your levels everyday for a week or more to find out. there's no exact number unless you test and find out what your tank is using up.cal,alk,mag wise.

 

Never does what you don't test for first

[4x5]

Measure your consumption and dose for it. Don't guess.

[CronicReefer]

Agreed. You need to test for at least one week straight and then you can start dosing to match the nutrients being absorbed by corals. When you do start dosing, start with the smallest dose for your water volume to see how it affects your levels and then gradually increase from there till you reach the needed dosing amount.

[ps2cho]

Right...my question is whats a reasonable "start small" quantity? 5ml? 10ml?

From the start quantity I can adjust, but I gotta start somewhere. Starting with nothing will just end up giving me parameter swings.

[Arce]

Measure your alk / calc at a certain time one day, then test them again the same time the next day, the difference is what you need to dose daily. After things start growing, repeat to adjust the dosing amount.

 

Edit: this is if the levels you currently have are your desired levels, if not dose in increments until you hit your desired levels then test to find your daily dosage required.

[CronicReefer]

Right...my question is whats a reasonable "start small" quantity? 5ml? 10ml?

From the start quantity I can adjust, but I gotta start somewhere. Starting with nothing will just end up giving me parameter swings.

I would start with 5ml and go from there. I'm sure you will need more than that based on your water volume but you need to know how much it is dropping before you start dosing.

[jestep]

Also, if you have to raise alk a lot, do it slowly. I've read several recommendations that you can safely increase by as much as 2dkh per day. I'll tell you from experience that many acros will STN at 2dkh per day.

 

Use a calculator to find the total volume you need to add to get to your desired level. First get your Ca and Alk up to the desired levels over the course of a few days to weeks depending on how low you are. Measure each day before adding. Once you get there, measure the next day and use the calculator to find the volume required to maintain that level based on the drop for the day. You will likely need to tweak a bit but this works well. Don't dose at all until you figure out a baseline volume to add, otherwise it makes it more complicated trying to get stable levels dosing an arbitrary volume per day.