Is Tank To Small (auto doser)

[dling]

I've  been thinking about getting an auto doser for the Ca, Mag and dKH . I'm not sure if it is

needed due to the size of the tank. I do 4g w/c's every Sunday. The tank is 50g  minus sand and rock+ 15g sump minus rock.

I would like to know what size tanks you have of the one's using a auto dossing system as well

as do you do less w/c's now because of it . The w/c's are easy but do not maintain a constant level .

I dont want to waste money on unnecessary equipment .

Thanks.

 

[mitten_reef]

33 minutes ago, dling said:

I've  been thinking about getting an auto doser for the Ca, Mag and dKH . I'm not sure if it is

needed due to the size of the tank. I do 4g w/c's every Sunday. The tank is 50g  minus sand and rock+ 15g sump minus rock.

I would like to know what size tanks you have of the one's using a auto dossing system as well

as do you do less w/c's now because of it . The w/c's are easy but do not maintain a constant level .

I dont want to waste money on unnecessary equipment .

Thanks.

 

It’s not the size of the tank that dictates the doser necessity.  I have a 30 gallon, and I have one BRS dosing pump that doses alk supplement 6 times a day for 1 min each on a programmable timer plug strip. there’re now basic WiFi ones too. I manually dose cal and mag. 

it’s when the alk swing gets beyond the safe range between water changes, thats when you’ll need to look at dosing options. 

[dling]

How many times do you test weekly for alk ?

[mitten_reef]

9 minutes ago, dling said:

How many times do you test weekly for alk ?

I started manually dosing long before I used a dosing pump.  
Admittedly, I haven’t been the best at testing.  when I tried to confirm the right dosing amount, I only tested twice a week for about two weeks to make sure that there weren’t any long-term increase/decrease trend. 
 

now? I probably test about once a month. 

[mitten_reef]

9 minutes ago, dling said:

How many times do you test weekly for alk ?

I started manually dosing long before I used a dosing pump.  
Admittedly, I haven’t been the best at testing.  when I tried to confirm the right dosing amount, I only tested twice a week for about two weeks to make sure that there weren’t any long-term increase/decrease trend. 
 

now? I probably test about once a month. 

[TatorTaco]

Dosing was a big hurdle for me and I still haven't quite crossed it.  I had the RedSea Coral Pro kit and hating using it because no matter how many YouTube videos I watched I still got weird results.  Then, I purchased Salifert Alk and Salifert Calcium and it's ridiculously easy and cheap too.

 

Depending on your LPS and SPS stocking, you may come to a point where water changes aren't enough to keep up with Cal and Alk demands. I believe one of the easiest ways to dose is via Kalkwasser in your ATO bucket.  As new freshwater is refilled into your tank, Kalkwasser is also replenished.  

 

As I understood, you need to determine a baseline of where you want your Cal and Alk levels to stay.  

 

1.  make a batch of new saltwater like you would for waterchange day.  Test that new batch of water for Alk and Cal.  Now, you'll know what your tank usually mixes at before corals use those up over the course of days/weeks.  

2.  Test your water at the same time of day for a week or so (until your next waterchange).  

3.  Use a reef calculator like Bulk Reef Supply to determine how much you'd need to dose. 

          3a.  Determine how you want to supplement your tank to keep these elements consistent. I just purchased a Jebao doser last month and I've been incredibly happy with it's performance and the fact that my Alk and Cal levels aren't trending down at the end of each week. 

 

If I'm wrong, I hope someone will chime in below and correct me.  

[dling]

32 minutes ago, mitten_reef said:

I started manually dosing long before I used a dosing pump.  
Admittedly, I haven’t been the best at testing.  when I tried to confirm the right dosing amount, I only tested twice a week for about two weeks to make sure that there weren’t any long-term increase/decrease trend. 
 

now? I probably test about once a month. 

Has adding the dosing pump reduced the frequency of water changes ? Would to do it again buying the dosing pump ,

or just do weekly w/c's .

[Cannedfish]

I second @mitten_reef, the tank's requirements and the owner's maintenance routine dictate the necessity of a doser, not the size of the tank. I have a 10 gallon and use a doser. When first dosing I would test at least twice a day to understand how much two part is being consumed, and slowly increase the dosing till the tank becomes stable. Once that is achieve I generally test at least once or twice a week (because my tank is small swings happen more quickly than in a larger tank like mittens)

[dling]

Unfortunately test during weekdays would be difficult for me. I'm up 2:40am gone 4am and dont get home til 5;15-5;30.

Just enough time to sit down eat diner then get ready for bed at 7-7;30pm. Dont really want to give up what little time I have

test tank water. I would like to have a more stable environment . The kalkwasser may be the answer. I need to figure this out.

My tank is mostly sps corals.

[SliceGolfer]

If you aren’t testing, nor have a baseline of the alk/ca/mg consumption in your tank, how do you know you need to dose? And even more, require a dosing pump?

[mitten_reef]

40 minutes ago, dling said:

Has adding the dosing pump reduced the frequency of water changes ? Would to do it again buying the dosing pump ,

or just do weekly w/c's .

Yes it does help lessen the water change frequencies. I had gone 3-4 weeks consistently without water change. Only until recently when I started feeding more heavily, that I’m back down to every two weeks. I could probably go longer, but I’m also considering water changes as trace elements replenishment. 
 

27 minutes ago, dling said:

Unfortunately test during weekdays would be difficult for me. I'm up 2:40am gone 4am and dont get home til 5;15-5;30.

Just enough time to sit down eat diner then get ready for bed at 7-7;30pm. Dont really want to give up what little time I have

test tank water. I would like to have a more stable environment . The kalkwasser may be the answer. I need to figure this out.

My tank is mostly sps corals.

Testing once daily at the same time should be adequate.  unfortunately, you do have to check often during this initial part of understanding how your tank consumes various components. 

I think a picture of your tank would probably be helpful to understand how much sps corals does “mostly sps” mean. 

[dling]

The tank has two Crocea clams , one Elegance everything else is sps. There's not a lot yet, 16 frags but I plan

on adding more. I do test on weekends. I have Hanna checkers for ca and alk.

[SliceGolfer]

Have you determined how much your dKH/Ca/Mg drops daily? For example if your dKH is 8, and then 48 hours later it is 7.6, then your alk consumption is 0.2 dKH per day. You can manually dose that amount, use a dosing pump, or be comfortable with the fact that your dKH will drop through the week and rise at water change. And if going the water change route, your salt mix of choice and volume of water changes may or may not meet the dKH level you wish to maintain. If that was true, you would need to manually or automatically dose additional supplement.

[mitten_reef]

3 minutes ago, SliceGolfer said:

Have you determined how much your dKH/Ca/Mg drops daily? For example if your dKH is 8, and then 48 hours later it is 7.6, then your alk consumption is 0.2 dKH per day. You can manually dose that amount, use a dosing pump, or be comfortable with the fact that your dKH will drop through the week and rise at water change. And if going the water change route, your salt mix of choice and volume of water changes may or may not meet the dKH level you wish to maintain. If that was true, you would need to manually or automatically dose additional supplement.

ALL very good points here.  Thanks for adding.

[dling]

Measured last Sunday.  alk was 8 before WC and 8.5 after WC. 

I can do a comparison from Saturday to Sunday to see the difference of consumption between the two days.

Thanks for all the help. We definitely did choose the easiest hobby. Or , I may have just chosen the more difficult corals.

I'm just a real sps fan.

[SliceGolfer]

23 minutes ago, dling said:

I'm just a real sps fan.

We are, too. Let's see some pics!