Dosing (1 Viewer)

[The Reef Whisperer]

Is there a post giving the basics of dosing?

What to dose?
What needs dosing in the tank?
When to dose?
Why dosing is important?
How to test?

The reason I ask is because I was given Brightwall Aquatics Magnesium Supplement, Kalk+2 Supplements (Calcium, Magnesium, and Strontium,) and Kent Supperbuffer-dKH.

I would also like to know about phosphate/silicate because I was also given PhosGuard phosphate/silicate control by Seachem.

 

[Lord Spice]

That's a good question ! I would like to see one as well.

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[InfamousAquatics]

I third this. Someone teach me your ways! Please.

 

[nicky]

Is there a post giving the basics of dosing?

What to dose?
What needs dosing in the tank?
When to dose?
Why dosing is important?
How to test?

The reason I ask is because I was given Brightwall Aquatics Magnesium Supplement, Kalk+2 Supplements (Calcium, Magnesium, and Strontium,) and Kent Supperbuffer-dKH.

I would also like to know about phosphate/silicate because I was also given PhosGuard phosphate/silicate control by Seachem.

Im not very good as drescribing scientific terms or why and how things work. I know the most important thing to dose are Alk, Cal and Mag. I would not dose unless testing first. I'm doing Zeovit system and like to keep my alk at 7 to 8, cal at 440 and Mag at 1280 .

The seachem product is for helping removal of Phosphate and silicate. can be use in a mesh bag or a media reactor. I would also test before using as well. this will help you determine how much product to use for certain size tank. Droping anything to fast can also hurt your corals.

 

[Nam0821]

I have a lil dosing bottle from kents and I drip 1 drop per @5 sec of kents coral vite....I been doing this for years and all my softy seem to extended and color up really nice with it. Other then that I don't put anything else. Im too cheap to get a fancy dosing system hahaha

the gulf of Vietnam

 

[steveb]

What needs to be dosed depends on what your keeping.

Typically in our reef tanks (if we are keeping stony corals) we need to dose Alkalinity, Calcium and to a lesser extent Magnesium.

There are typically two chemicals used to boost alkalinity - Sodium Carbonate (also called soda ash or baked baking soda) and Sodium BiCarbonate (baking soda).

Sodium Carbonate will raise Ph when dosed, Sodium BiCarbonate will lower Ph when dosed <- these effects are temporary.

Calcium is dosed by adding Calcium Chloride.

Magnesium is dosed by adding a combination of (Magnesium Sulfate and Magnesium Chloride).


Kalkwasser (Calcium Hydroxide) provides a balanced addition of Calcium and Alkalinity. It is a very high Ph solution and will tend to raise Ph when dosed.


When running a zeo system Potassium is sometimes needed in addition to the above three.

See http://www.marsh-reef.org/marine-and-reef-chemistry/43042-reef-chemistry-links.html for various links to reef chemistry articles.


The thing to keep in mind about corals (stony -- especially SPS) is they do NOT like water parameters to vary (especially Alkalinity and specific gravity/salinity). So your dosing schedule should be designed accordingly. You need to determine the amount of Alkalinity, Calcium and Magnesium that are being consumed by your animals then you can calculate how much of each you need to dose, and how often. See the See the reef chemistry calculator at the link above.

 

[Mark L.]

Steve nailed it with his post. Nothing more to add really. If you want to describe your tank and what kind of corals you like to keep we can then talk about how much to dose. At the very least you should purchase a Cal, Alk, & Mag test kit. I love the Hanna checker for Alk and Elos kits for Cal & Mag.

I personally use BRS 2 part for my dosing. It's pure sodium carbonate, calcium chloride, and magnesium sulfate/magnesium chloride. If you check those Kent and Seachem products they add other things in with the base chemicals. Some like them, some don't. Since you have them use them up then switch if you want something a little cheaper with the same results.

 

[inigomontoya]

What needs to be dosed depends on what your keeping.

You need to determine the amount of Alkalinity, Calcium and Magnesium that are being consumed by your animals then you can calculate how much of each you need to dose, and how often. See the reef chemistry calculator at the link above.

This is why nobody can tell you how much to dose exactly. You have to figure out how much your corals/tank is consuming and then you dose to replace what's used and keeps it within natural sea water (nsw) levels. Also some corals like levels a little different than others, like lps tends to like higher alk than sps.

 

[The Reef Whisperer]

Thank you all. I am going to try two or three LPS, some SPS, and the a lot of beginner corals. I guess I need to buy a test kit and go from there.

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