Dosing for Dummies

[fretfreak13]

Hey NR!

 

I'm an all nano kind of girl, never had a tank bigger than a 29g. I'm waiting not-so-paitently for the UPS guy to deliver my new 6.2g AIO tropical system from micro-reefs, so I'm in that anxious planning stage where I want to overly work out every possible kink. I'm leaving for college in the spring and bringing this tank with me. Since I will not only be in a dorm, but a FRESHMAN dorm (meaning its even smaller ew!), I don't have a ton of room to store excess SW for the weekly water changes I usually do for maintaining parameters. In such a small tank is dosing possible to help me keep my corals happy and healthy? I will be keeping mainly zoas, softies, maybe a showpiece lobo, and perhaps a torch. Might try a little clam too. It will most likely be fishless, just neat little inverts.

 

Can you guys reccomend me some products to help with this sort of tiny setup? There is so much on the market with so much information its very hard for a newbie at dosing like myself to understand. Pretend you were giving a shopping list to a 12 year old for the supermarket!

 

It would also help if you could explain how much to dose in my little tank, what the product does, etc.

[Rrudo74901]

Largest issue in a nano is waste levels. Without fish this should be minimized.

You can dose Alk, calc and magnesium as long as the levels of waste remain low, the tank will stay stable. The added plus is if you can keep 4-5 gal of salt water handy, if there is an issue, you can do an 80% change quickly.

 

Follow the dosing instructions on the product. Test the water parameters and add accordingly. Each product will have a concentration and provide the ratio of additive per one gallon of water. Just do the math from there. If any one parameter is extremely low, bring it up over a few days worth of dosing that product.

[fretfreak13]

I know too much is never a good thing, but what is considered too high a level for alk, cal, and mag? What are the numbers I should be striving for? Also, are the dosing materials a powder or liquid?

[jedimasterben]

Absolutely only dose what you test for, and only if you see your levels drop. Calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium will level each other out, but if you're not planning on keeping SPS, only softies and some LPS, you won't see them drop by very much. I doubt that even if you did a near 100% water change (pretty easy to do on a 6g ) only monthly that it would be an issue, but that will be determined when the time comes.

[fretfreak13]

Okay, thanks!

[Rrudo74901]

Alk 8-11

Calc 420-480

Mag. 1300-1450

Test for these levels.

Dosing product you will use is a liquid. I agree, softies and lps will thrive in a variety of ranges. Just keep it in perspective.

[jedimasterben]

Alk 8-11

Calc 420-480

Mag. 1300-1450

Test for these levels.

Dosing product you will use is a liquid. I agree, softies and lps will thrive in a variety of ranges. Just keep it in perspective.

+1

 

And get a good test kit. Red Sea's Reef Foundation test kit is $50 and is worlds far and above the cheap API kits.

 

http://www.marinedepot.com/Red_Sea_Reef_Fo...-FITKMK-vi.html

[fretfreak13]

Thanks for the link. Just ordered it

[jedimasterben]

Thanks for the link. Just ordered it

Awesome. Marine depot is pretty much the best you can order from, too! If you ever order a tank from them, it'll take you like 20 minutes just to find it within all the peanuts and bubble wrap!

[cmac23]

$7 cheaper here

 

http://www.marineandreef.com/Red_Sea_Pro_Test_Kits_s/411.htm

[fretfreak13]

Meh, too late. lol Thanks though.