To Dose or Not to Dose, that is the question?

[Singlefin]

Dosing is just replenishing what your system consumes. You can dose or do frequent water changes. Dosing won't remove nitrates and other bad stuff that water changes do. If your water is clean dosing could prolong water changes. If you don't want to dose do more water changes.

[rkum19]

When I get home today im going to do a test with a fresh batch of saltwater. Going to mix my RO\DI water with some instant ocean and then in another bucket gonna try RO\DI water with reef crystals and lastely will try RO\DI with salt by Seachem. Im going to test all for Alk, Mg, Ca, and Ph. I wanna see what the parameter are before the freshly made water is exposed/mixed in with the tank water.

[Mstefa1]

When I get home today im going to do a test with a fresh batch of saltwater. Going to mix my RO\DI water with some instant ocean and then in another bucket gonna try RO\DI water with reef crystals and lastely will try RO\DI with salt by Seachem. Im going to test all for Alk, Mg, Ca, and Ph. I wanna see what the parameter are before the freshly made water is exposed/mixed in with the tank water.

 

If your strictly trying to obtain valid numbers make sure you retest each salt to make sure you are getting a consistent reading prior to comparing your results.

 

If you just want to know what each one has in it there is a thread on RC that lists all the popular salt mixes and what their levels are.

 

FYI, for me, Seachem tested very high in Ca and very low in Alk which explained my imbalance. I'm now using Red Sea Pro and their specific levels are written on the packaging. I can test with Salifert and come very close to these numbers. I like how they are upfront about what they put in. Still, I may try reef crystals as I've heard magical things unless it's just snake oil.

[1reefluvr2]

I understand clearly on what people are telling me and i do water test to check my levels everything is good but since im not to familiar with pico's Having sps in them just wanted to see what people are doing before i do what i have been doing for many years in my bigger systems. I've had my 300 going since the age of 15 only has been empty twice just to transport tank when i bought my first house at 25 then i sold it and drained it again and put it in the newer house i didnt have anything die nor did they strees a tad. Filled did a water change of 35% four days later and everything was great . My 180 is also great and my 150 is at its best it has ever been just this pico i wanted to do sps domi. Tank so now im scratching my head. I had this edge since 09 as a mixed reef no sps and since the big tanks give me a ton of frags i figured try and grow them out and hopefully i could get a cool tank like El Fabuloso .

[1reefluvr2]

Inunderstand what people are telling me clearly i been doing salt reffa since i was 12 years of age . Im kinda new to he pico style tanks with sps dominated tank. I have a 300 that ive had running since age of 15 it has been drained twice in my life time when i first bought my first house at age 25 and when i sold that house and bought the second home in 07 nothing has died on me thru both the moves and i have a 180 and a 150 setup that all tanks eccept the pico are connected to same sump they are driiled thru floor and empty in a 500 gallon sump basement i have . I do 20% wc a week and its as easy japonizze. Im just trying to get a feel for a heavy sps pico about big systems im very familiar with and i wanted to get people thoughts on what they do One day i hope my pico is as nice as El Fabuloso.

 

Didnt think the first post posted sorry;)

[Trolldoll]

I dose my tank accordingly based on my results from testing. I chase numbers to maintain stability, how else can I determine "stability" if not for the numbers from my test results?

There is no exact number to chase. Keep it in the "acceptable range" and keep it stable. After you've been in the hobby awhile you can tell from your display if things are getting out of whack. High this or low that is BS in my book as long as its in the range.