Criley7 Posted May 7, 2012 Author Share Posted May 7, 2012 Hows the doseing goin? Actually I haven't started yet. I did 2 test this week and it doesn't seem like I need to start yet. I did a 10g water change on 4/30. Readings were 5/1 Cal=440ppm Alk=9.8dKH Mag=1360 5/4 Cal=430ppm Alk=8.9dKH Mag=1350 I'm sure I could dose a few mL a week, but I'm not sure if it's worth just dosing 3.3ml daily. Im just gonna wait until I get back from vacation in the Cayman Islands, that way I can get everything tuned in properly. Also tomorrow I'll be getting in my new Macro Lens so I'll have some new pictures updates soon. If anyone has any recommendations for what my dosing schedule could be, I'll be open to input. Thanks Link to comment
Criley7 Posted May 8, 2012 Author Share Posted May 8, 2012 Does anyone have any input on how I might wanna dose for right now? Link to comment
laxx1991 Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 I do the apex plus the brs dosing pumps . Easy and effective Link to comment
Criley7 Posted May 8, 2012 Author Share Posted May 8, 2012 I do the apex plus the brs dosing pumps . Easy and effective I already have the BRS pumps and elements, I'm just wondering how much, if at all I should dose since my levels aren't dropping too low. Link to comment
laxx1991 Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 I already have the BRS pumps and elements, I'm just wondering how much, if at all I should dose since my levels aren't dropping too low. test everything tday at a certain time, lets say at 8 pm and test everything again tomorrow at 8 pm and see what the loss is in a 24 hour period. then dose accordingly test everything tday at a certain time, lets say at 8 pm and test everything again tomorrow at 8 pm and see what the loss is in a 24 hour period. then dose accordingly your alk looked like it dropped a ton in 3 days . 9.8 to 8.9 Link to comment
Criley7 Posted May 8, 2012 Author Share Posted May 8, 2012 test everything tday at a certain time, lets say at 8 pm and test everything again tomorrow at 8 pm and see what the loss is in a 24 hour period. then dose accordingly your alk looked like it dropped a ton in 3 days . 9.8 to 8.9 I pretty much did that. Except I tested over 3 days instead. Look at the top of this page for my results. I didn't have much of a drop after 3 days is why I don't think dosing is essential right now, but I could be wrong and I might need to just dose like 3.3ml daily Alk did drop but with a goal of about 9dKH it seemed acceptable. Link to comment
laxx1991 Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 I pretty much did that. Except I tested over 3 days instead. Look at the top of this page for my results. I didn't have much of a drop after 3 days is why I don't think dosing is essential right now, but I could be wrong and I might need to just dose like 3.3ml daily Alk did drop but with a goal of about 9dKH it seemed acceptable. What kind of salt do you use ? and what is your water change regiment? Link to comment
Criley7 Posted May 8, 2012 Author Share Posted May 8, 2012 I use Reef Crystals and change a minimum 10 gallons a week but sometimes up to 15 gallons Link to comment
laxx1991 Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 I use Reef Crystals and change a minimum 10 gallons a week but sometimes up to 15 gallons damn, im at about the same and i get my levels to be that nice. and i dose already cal and alk Link to comment
Criley7 Posted May 8, 2012 Author Share Posted May 8, 2012 damn, im at about the same and i get my levels to be that nice. and i dose already cal and alk That's what I don't understand. How is an SPS dominate tank not using more up? But don't get me wrong, Im definitely not complaining. Link to comment
laxx1991 Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 That's what I don't understand. How is an SPS dominate tank not using more up? But don't get me wrong, Im definitely not complaining. i think its because alot of your corals are frag sized. just wait until they are larger Link to comment
Criley7 Posted May 9, 2012 Author Share Posted May 9, 2012 i think its because alot of your corals are frag sized. just wait until they are larger Yea definitely. As everything grows I'll need to. I think im going to set everything up and dose 3.3ml per day, and as everything grows out, just add a minute or two on the timer per day to up the dose. Link to comment
Criley7 Posted May 9, 2012 Author Share Posted May 9, 2012 So last night around sunset my cleaner shrimp starting giving birth! I thought It was definitely something awesome to watch. At first I didn't know what was going on and I thought to myself, how did all those "amphipods" get returned to the DT all at once? Apon closer inspection I realized that these where very small shrimp. I turned all my pumps to feed mode so the shrimp had a chance to get to some rock cover. Needless to say, most became fish food. Even my Mandarin loved the feast. I just thought I would share this cool experience with everyone. Link to comment
NanoTopia Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 Looking incredible Criley, what are you using to control your peristaltic dosers with? If your dosing two part I think it's a good idea to divide the total dose by 12 over 24 hours dosing once an hour. Eg. ALK at 4:00 then Ca at 5:00 then ALK at 6:00 then Ca at 7:00 and so on. Divide each part by 12 and set the doser to deliver the correct amount needed to maintain levels. It would take some time to tweak it out if you are unsure of your Ca and ALK consumption. This method will give you great stability and allows for enough spacing between the two elements that they don't conflict with each other. Link to comment
Spirofucci Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 So last night around sunset my cleaner shrimp starting giving birth! I thought It was definitely something awesome to watch. At first I didn't know what was going on and I thought to myself, how did all those "amphipods" get returned to the DT all at once? Apon closer inspection I realized that these where very small shrimp. I turned all my pumps to feed mode so the shrimp had a chance to get to some rock cover. Needless to say, most became fish food. Even my Mandarin loved the feast. I just thought I would share this cool experience with everyone. Wow, that must have cool to watch. Link to comment
NanoTopia Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 That's what I don't understand. How is an SPS dominate tank not using more up? But don't get me wrong, Im definitely not complaining. Criley, Ca and ALK are only used up if the SPS/LPS is growing. Usage depends on growth rate and size of colony. If a coral is dormant it will use no Ca/ALK. I'm not saying your corals are not growing, only that small 1" frags generally grow slow in the beginning and use very little Ca/ALK. One colony that is growing at a good rate can use more than 15 frags combined. 10ppm drop in Ca in your tank over 3 days seems a bit low to me, but you have to consider your WC's, they mess everything up. I would just test often while your tweaking the pumps and dosing amounts. Link to comment
saltwatercoral Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 The shrimp thing is def nice! And speaking about the manderin, have any pics? And the dosing stuff seems a little complicated. What if your Cal, and Alk are to high, would that cause any damage to the corals? Link to comment
Criley7 Posted May 9, 2012 Author Share Posted May 9, 2012 Looking incredible Criley, what are you using to control your peristaltic dosers with? If your dosing two part I think it's a good idea to divide the total dose by 12 over 24 hours dosing once an hour. Eg. ALK at 4:00 then Ca at 5:00 then ALK at 6:00 then Ca at 7:00 and so on. Divide each part by 12 and set the doser to deliver the correct amount needed to maintain levels. It would take some time to tweak it out if you are unsure of your Ca and ALK consumption. This method will give you great stability and allows for enough spacing between the two elements that they don't conflict with each other. Thank you so much! I'm actually not dosing quite yet but I was planning on just using a 2 plug timer. And I will definitely be going with that dosing time plan. Thanks a lot. Link to comment
Criley7 Posted May 9, 2012 Author Share Posted May 9, 2012 Criley, Ca and ALK are only used up if the SPS/LPS is growing. Usage depends on growth rate and size of colony. If a coral is dormant it will use no Ca/ALK. I'm not saying your corals are not growing, only that small 1" frags generally grow slow in the beginning and use very little Ca/ALK. One colony that is growing at a good rate can use more than 15 frags combined. 10ppm drop in Ca in your tank over 3 days seems a bit low to me, but you have to consider your WC's, they mess everything up. I would just test often while your tweaking the pumps and dosing amounts. Yea once everything new fully encrusts and takes off, then I'll just up the dose. Thanks again for all your help! Wow, that must have cool to watch. Yes it was! Link to comment
Criley7 Posted May 9, 2012 Author Share Posted May 9, 2012 The shrimp thing is def nice! And speaking about the manderin, have any pics? And the dosing stuff seems a little complicated. What if your Cal, and Alk are to high, would that cause any damage to the corals? Im going to be taking pictures today with the new macro lens. So I'll be posting pictures of the Red Manadrin and everything else tomorrow. I think levels of cal and alk that are too high could hurt coral, but would also just most likely be a Waste because the coral wouldn't be able to use up the amount of cal and alk your dosing, so eventually it would cause a build up and make your levels higher. Link to comment
NanoTopia Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 Thank you so much! I'm actually not dosing quite yet but I was planning on just using a 2 plug timer. And I will definitely be going with that dosing time plan. Thanks a lot. Criley, if you can afford it I would control the dosers with a DA Reefkeeper lite. This would give you more accurate dosing durations. Say you program the controller to turn on at 4:00:00 and turn off at 4:00:15 (hh/mm/ss), this would give you 15 seconds of dosing. The Aqua Medic doser delivers 50mL/min. That is = to 0.8333 mL/second. With this pump you would have to work in seconds and not minutes or hours unless you dosing solution was a large volume. This is where it might get a little confusing. Say you have established you need to dose 75mL of Ca Solution/day [see A below] and you want to dose it over 12 separate doses (every two hours). That's 6.25mL/dose (6.25 X 12 = 75) easy enough. But your doser just delivers a set amount of liquid per minute (50ml). 50mL /min works out to 0.8333mL per second. So 6.25mL ÷ 0.8333mL = 7.5 seconds of delivery time. 7.5 seconds is not possible to control on a Reefkeeper so you can round it up to 8 seconds. 8 seconds every 2 hours (12 doses at 8 seconds each = 75mL approximately). Example of programming. Calcium (Channel 1) ON at 4:00:00 OFF at 4:00:08 ON at 6:00:00 OFF at 6:00:08 ON at 8:00:00 OFF at 8:00:08 (and so on) ALK (Channel 2) ON at 5:00:00 OFF at 5:00:08 ON at 7:00:00 OFF at 7:00:08 ON at 9:00:00 OFF at 9:00:08 (and so on) This is just an example assuming your Ca volume was the same as your ALK volume. So if you want to divide your doses up as I suggested over a 24 hour period it is better and more accurate to work with larger volumes of solution. Remember, you cannot control the rate at which the Aqua Medic doser delivers solution, you can only control the time that it delivers a set amount of solution. So working with concentrated liquid additives is pretty much out of the question. The powder additives that you mix up with RODI water work best (I think that is what you plan on using anyway, correct me if I am wrong). [A] Always mix powder additives at the same (recommended) ratio (additive mL : RODI H20 mL). This will keep the consistency you need when dosing. Use the manufacturers calculation for dosing amounts that equal what you would like to add daily to keep your Ca, for example, at a consistent level. It all sound completely complicated, I know, but once you get your head around it all it's really easy. The other alternative is to get a peristaltic doser system that has a controller built in that does all the calculations for you. Aqua Medic does make a two pump doser with a controller like I mentioned Reef Doser Twin. I suggest to dose by hand, controlled amounts until you establish your tanks consumption rate for the elements you are dosing, then go to the peristaltic doser with that amount and calculate divided doses as you wish. Most people just end up dosing once a day with this kind of doser because it's just too complicated to figure out all the divided doses. This works as well but to fully maximize the stability capability of automated dosers, dividing is optimum. Oh and just a small thing I would like to add, your tanks consumption rate changes as your corals get bigger and you add/subtract coral. Who said reefing was fun now? Just ask if you have questions, I will try to help. Link to comment
saltwatercoral Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 Im going to be taking pictures today with the new macro lens. So I'll be posting pictures of the Red Manadrin and everything else tomorrow. I think levels of cal and alk that are too high could hurt coral, but would also just most likely be a Waste because the coral wouldn't be able to use up the amount of cal and alk your dosing, so eventually it would cause a build up and make your levels higher. I need to start checking my levels now. I only have a few (15 sps/acro froags) and need to monitor and see how everything is doing. Im sure I am way off for looking at dosing though... Ill stay tuned for the pics! Link to comment
Criley7 Posted May 9, 2012 Author Share Posted May 9, 2012 I actually already have the BRS dosing pumps. But I'm gonna apply all your input to these pumps for sure. Thanks again. Link to comment
LongPig Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 I actually already have the BRS dosing pumps. But I'm gonna apply all your input to these pumps for sure. Thanks again. He means for you to get an RKL to control the BRS dosing pumps instead of just using timers. Link to comment
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