dosing Pico tank

[PicoSavvy]

I Know most of you would advise that water changes is the way to go in a pico tank to take care of parameters, but for those that dose your pico tank with 2 part, how much do you add and how often do you add it, also how much total water volume is your system?

[SchnauzerFace]

It will vary greatly based on the contents of the tank. The BRS calculator will help with dosing amount after you've done your testing and established how much cal/alk your tank consumes.

[PicoSavvy]

I ask the question mainly to see what type of dosing pumps I would need to buy. Like do I go for one that dose 10 ml a minute or one that does 1ml a minute or would I need one that is even more specific due to the small over all volume of the system

[SchnauzerFace]

I guess it depends on what you're adding, but I imagine it will be the smallest one you can find. Are you certain daily dosing will be needed? It's somewhat unusual to need dosing pumps for a pico, so I wouldn't invest in one until you're sure your tank will benefit. It's extremely easy to overdose with such a tiny water volume. My 4g pico held less than 3 gallons of water. Very slim margin for error with that little water, imo.

[PicoSavvy]

That way I ask, I want to automate as much of the system as I can, because sometimes I am a week away from home and can't ten to the need of the aquarium. I am still in the design stage of the system, but for sure it well have a 1 gallon display volume and it well be sps dominant or an sps only system.

[SchnauzerFace]

I think there are some peristaltic pumps that dose very very slowly. Might be worth a look.

[HarryPotter]

Yeah in a 5g tank you won't need more than 1ml/day of a two part solution. The 1.1 ml/s doser is even a bit fast LOL

[PicoSavvy]

1- $-there is no need of sun blast light,mp,skimmer or reactor.

2- I do not vacuum.

3- 100% water change per week. Every day-5 drops Red Sea B,7 drops Red Sea A,7 drops Red Sea C.

How long-i really dont know

I took a look at Dafil little. 8 pico (great tank by the way) he posted that he does 100% water change per week. Every day-5 drops Red Sea B,7 drops Red Sea A,7 drops Red Sea C.

5 drops = .25ml = 13.6363636364 seconds with 1.1ml a minute doser

7 drops = .35ml = 19.0909090909 seconds with 1.1ml a minute doser

Another system is East1 when he was running his 1.5 gallon system. He said East1 " I've also got myself a 3 channel dosing pump, two of which are running cal and alk at 0.2ml per day from Red Sea's ABC"

4 drops = .20ml = 10.9090909091 seconds with 1.1ml a minute doser

Even with an error of just .4 ml so the pump dose 1.5ml a minute or .7l a minute instead of 1.1ml a minute that is the difference of 8 drops so almost double your daily dose, that equal to nuking a pico. So your right Harryjsinger the 1.1ml a minute doser does seem fast wish is crazy to think that 1.1ml a minute doser is the mclaren of dosing pumps

[khuzdul]

Have you tested your Cal/Alk consumption over a week to see how much you needed to dose? If it is not that much, you may be able to get away with just using a Kalk dispensing system with your ATO instead of dosing for a week, then just do a regular weekly WC.

 

If you do need to dose, I can think of two quick options:

 

1) Use a normal dosing unit and dilute your 2 part more than normal. Then it will dose a "normal" amount of fluid over an extended time, but due to the dilution be the actual dose you want/need. This will require a bit of calculation to ensure that you have the right concentration for your dosing time.

 

2) Use normal strength 2 part and get the nano-doser from Saltwater Conversion

 

http://saltwater-conversion.com/products/nano-doser-1

[PicoSavvy]

I thought about going the Kalkwasser route but with it high ph level, I don't want it to cause any ph shock in the system that can potentially kill the live stock