Dosing: Please Help me

[Glitchfish]

Ugh again I'm having trouble with my reef aquarium, however this time it's with dosing. I'm honestly stumped with my aquarium as I cannot pinpoint the dosage needed to keep it stable. My levels jump up and down wildly and I just want it to be atleast somewhat stable before I go to university... Santa Is bringing me a dosing pump <3! To get ready for this I have tested my aquarium from after my waterchange to 4 days later and figuring out my daily allowance:

 

Right Here were my levels after a water change:

Magnesium: 1360

Alkalinity 7.6

Calcium 400

 

Now these were my readings 4 days later with no dose:

Magnesium:1240

Alkalinity 5.9

Calcium 425

 

According to my maths, My daily consumption of magnesium Is 30ppm and I supposedly would need to dose 66ml of Red Sea Magnesium to maintain a steady level of 1300ppm

yet to bring it back up I need to dose 242ml of Red Sea Magnesium!

 

Immediately I was shocked by the results My alkalinity was not much better:

 

My Daily consumption for Alkalinity is supposedly 0.425ppm and to raise my DKH to 8 I would need to dose 46.2ml of Alkalinity yet to maintain it's a small 9.4ml which makes sense honestly, more so than Magnesium.

 

My calcium I have yet to figure out so I can't say much on that yet.

 

I do have Part dead part live rock and found out today that Dead rock absorbs Magnesium like no-one's business... So maybe that explains why the drop was so astronomical... although my tank is a year old now so I don't get how it's still absorbing more o-o!

 

Honestly I just wish someone could tell me what to dose as I can't be dealing with such nonsense at the moment, I'm still dealing with cyanobacteria as I need to buy an RODI unit...but sadly the piggy bank is starving and probably dead at this point.

 

I hope someone can help me sort this mess out and tell me how much I should actually dose for my aquarium? Or at least explain the basics of dosing to me as i'm really overwhelmed right now, I was ok before but I'm trying to stabilise my aquarium so I can quickly dose and go do something else as I won't have time to keep messing when I'm in university! Sorry for this small rant but If anyone can tell me step by step i'll be eternally greatful! I've already figured out one problem with my aquarium from this site ! So thankyou all!

 

 

 

 

[seabass]

This will explain dosing:

[Cencalfishguy56]

This will explain dosing:

this video cleared it up for me when I was looking into dosing great choice seabass

[Glitchfish]

this video cleared it up for me when I was looking into dosing great choice seabass

 

This will explain dosing:

Can I just be American ! Everything is so much easier.... They don't sell any of those additives in the UK! Also I still don't get it ._.! It's all gone over my head, I have some serious work to do!

[seabass]

You can use Red Sea Reef Foundation A (calcium), B (alkalinity), and C (magnesium). Are you having problems computing daily consumption?

[Glitchfish]

You can use Red Sea Reef Foundation A (calcium), B (alkalinity), and C (magnesium). Are you having problems computing daily consumption?

I have been and honestly they're so expensive! And the powders i find aren't all that accurate, Honestly I'm just so stumped as I figured out my daily consumption for magnesium being 30ppm which i really doubt and alkalinity being 0.425ppm yet my calcium hasn't even been used up and has actually rose so i don't even have one for that, idk if carbon dosing has anything to do with it? Isn't there like a dummies guide to reef aquarium dosing... sorry if it seems like i'm whining, I just feel so stupid as I can't seem to grasp this!

[Tamberav]

What you carbon dosing for? Don't you have cyano? Cyano loves carbon :>

 

I use the BRS stuff but I agree the calculator doesn't seem accurate. I just start low and work my way up.

[seabass]

Carbon dosing shouldn't be throwing off these elements.

 

I wonder if some of the issues are test related.

 

There should be another choice besides Red Sea (I just don't know what you have available to you).

[Glitchfish]

What you carbon dosing for? Don't you have cyano? Cyano loves carbon :>

 

I use the BRS stuff but I agree the calculator doesn't seem accurate. I just start low and work my way up.

I do have cyano, and tons of it, however i've taken my rowaphos out in a little experiment, to see if I was ripping out too many nutrients, I never had cyano before my rowaphos, i't will probably not do much but eh may aswell try these things before I go to university

 

Carbon dosing shouldn't be throwing off these elements.

 

I wonder if some of the issues are test related.

 

There should be another choice besides Red Sea (I just don't know what you have available to you).[/quote

 

I'm probably going to redo my daily consumption, anyway you can do it quickly? Or do I need to starve my tank of the elements for a week again? Any particular length of time for each element? Just teach me your ways! X,D

[seabass]

First, bring your parameters up to your target points (the instructions on each product should tell you how much is required to achieve this). Your target could be:

• 420 ppm calcium
• 9 dKH alkalinity^*
• 1350 magnesium

Or just match the levels of a newly mixed batch of saltwater (which is what I tend to prefer). If you are unhappy with the levels of your salt mix, switch brands.

 

Note: Don't increase alkalinity levels more than 0.5 meq/L (1.4 dKH) per day, or increase calcium more than 50 ppm per day.

* Alkalinity should be near NSW levels (7 dKH) for an ULN system.

 

After you have corrected your tank parameters, wait a few days, retest, and compute the average daily consumption. Correct the parameters again, then start dosing the daily consumption of alkalinity and calcium. Keep testing and making adjustments until you find stability. You don't need to dose magnesium daily.

[Glitchfish]

First, bring your parameters up to your target points (the instructions on each product should tell you how much is required to achieve this). Your target could be:

• 420 ppm calcium
• 9 dKH alkalinity^*
• 1350 magnesium

Or just match the levels of a newly mixed batch of saltwater (which is what I tend to prefer). If you are unhappy with the levels of your salt mix, switch brands.

 

Note: Don't increase alkalinity levels more than 0.5 meq/L (1.4 dKH) per day, or increase calcium more than 50 ppm per day.

* Alkalinity should be near NSW levels (7 dKH) for an ULN system.

 

After you have corrected your tank parameters, wait a few days, retest, and compute the average daily consumption. Correct the parameters again, then start dosing the daily consumption of alkalinity and calcium. Keep testing and making adjustments until you find stability. You don't need to dose magnesium daily.

 

This is great information but I honestly can't get this to work :s!

 

Either my Calcium doesn't drop and it just rises, my magnesium plummets by 100ppm a day or my alkalinity plummets by 1.2ppm a day ! Things are getting better now but honestly there just isn't any consistency to my levels! It really angers me though as it makes me feel like a ninkumpoop ! One thing i don't get is how two tests can read so differently, I bought some replacement brand new red sea kits, I test each element twice and i'll take my magnesium for example, I test it and it's either 1240 or 1140 and i don't know which test to trust .-. I like to keep it low as i'm low nutrient! I will get through this eventually but I just want my animals happy ! It's also extremely expensive and my bank is really low right now, I can get through a red sea bottle in two weeks max! I do know that when the alkalinity drops the calcium rises and vice versa, but how do i stop them swaying so violently? Does my magnesium need to be higher? Worried about corals being burnt due to low nutrients!

 

I love how ryan at BRS said it's rare for it to take more than 3-5 adjustments and then there's me with year and a half worth of adjustments and it's still not stable....I just don't get it, plus i have to test my saltwater as the salt i'm using is an awful batch so i have to dose additives to raise the magnesium from 980- 1480 for it to level out in my tank at 1240... Hassle after hassle LOL! First it was cyano and now it's this! I thought it was meant to be peaceful

[seabass]

Ultra low nutrient systems require alkalinity at Natural Seawater (NSW) levels. If your magnesium is too low, either your calcium or alkalinity will fall out of suspension (so you don't want magnesium to be low). If you just have normal nitrate and phosphate levels, there is no need to keep alkalinity this low, but you still need adequate magnesium levels.

[ezcompany]

In my experience, carbon dosing resulted in a cyano outbreak. It still took over a month or two for it to go away after I stopped.

How about trying Salifert to test your parameters? They seem all over the place.

[anizato]

This is what I would do, I think you should just pause the dosing altogether, do a 60-80% WC, save for the RODI unit which is paramount and stick to weekly 10% WC, then do another 100% WC with the new RODI water. Then begin figuring out your parameters over a few weeks before you begin dosing. Just my 2cents.

[ezcompany]

This is what I would do, I think you should just pause the dosing altogether, do a 60-80% WC, save for the RODI unit which is paramount and stick to weekly 10% WC, then do another 100% WC with the new RODI water. Then begin figuring out your parameters over a few weeks before you begin dosing. Just my 2cents.

 

unless the system is completely crashing, anything over 40% water change is not recommended. testing comes first. a 100% water change will put irreversible harm in any established tank. Bad advice.

[seabass]

unless the system is completely crashing, anything over 40% water change is not recommended. testing comes first. a 100% water change will put irreversible harm in any established tank. Bad advice.

 

We normally strive for stability, so I think a lot of people would agree. Some people might even say 20% (I would typically say up to 50%). Even when dosing we don't increase alkalinity levels more than 0.5 meq/L (1.4 dKH) per day, or increase calcium more than 50 ppm per day. Not to mention that sudden drops in phosphate can also cause stress. But I'd probably soften the wording and say that larger water changes "might" cause harm.

 

That said, if parameters are close, even larger water can be performed. Pico owners often do 100% water changes each week (Brandon does this on a 1 gallon reef that's over a decade old). I've done 100% water changes on reef tanks up to 40 gallons (as long as parameters aren't too far out of line, and the livestock isn't especially sensitive). But generally, if your parameters are good, there aren't a lot of reasons to do such a large change.

[chipmunkofdoom2]

You should also be testing your newly mixed saltwater. If your newly mixed saltwater is off in terms of alkalinity/Ca/Mg, then you're only making problems worse with water changes. Additionally, you should be mixing up your salt mix to ensure that when you add it to your source water, you're getting an even distribution of the trace elements in the new water. If your newly mixed saltwater is fine (at least NSW parameters, 7dKh alk, 420ppm Ca, 1300ppm Mg), then a few large water changes should set you straight. Maybe two or three of 40%, two or three days apart.

 

Your Mg looks good, but be sure to keep it elevated. Mg is what prevents Ca and alkalinity from precipitating out of solution. If your Mg is not high enough, you'll have trouble keeping alkalinity and Ca up.

 

Also, you can get cheap alkalinity by mixing baking soda with RO/DI water. Check out RHF's article here on the subject. I use this as my alkalinity supplement, works just fine.