Dosing is super confusing to me, and i think i need help i have what i need to start dosing calcium/alk but how do i know when its time. Ive been in the hobby for 2 years now, and im just now at a point where i think its time to begin dosing 2 part. Water changes arent enough anymore. My calcium level is 439 ppm but alk is 6.1dkh. According to my apex probe ph is 7.8. Im using using tropic marin reef pro and i know it mixes at a low alk level already.so im considering swapping salts suggestions are welcome.
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When to start dosing? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Grimreefer89
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soymilk
Supporting Member
Looking at your alk, it’s been time. Tropic Marin pro has already had a fairly low all level at 7.
what are you confused about? How big is your tank?
what are you confused about? How big is your tank?
The tank is 210 gallon tank. I guess with tropic marin mixing up at 7 should that be where i keep my alk? Or should i just switch salts so i can continue maintain my alk and calcium with water changes?
soymilk
Supporting Member
Dosing is easy enough and with a doser can be automated so you don’t have to mess with it up after setting it up.
i keep my alk at 9, so I have a little be wiggle room either way.
if I were you I’d dose. That way you can keep a more steady alk level as opposed to alk slowly dropping then jumping up with each water change
i keep my alk at 9, so I have a little be wiggle room either way.
if I were you I’d dose. That way you can keep a more steady alk level as opposed to alk slowly dropping then jumping up with each water change
So should i find a salt around a 9 dkh or just dose till i hit 9 dkh and see how much it drops a day? Then add calc/alk to tropic marin before i do a W/C?
Take a few days to a week using dosing to get to 9dkH (try to only increase about 0.5dkh per day), and then measure daily drop to determine how much to add per day as you say. I would add the calc and alkalinity to the tank after a water change personally, but you can add it to the newly made salt water if it's more practical for some reason.
When your water changes no longer meet the demands of the system it’s time to start dosing back the elements.
I’d suggest testing once a week at first. Pick a day and a time and test every week at same time. Log the results in a notebook or on your phone. Yes it requires a little effort. Once you see the CAL & ALK dropping it’s time to supplement. Mag will typically be a very slow mover once you get it to the proper target and will usually be ok to supplement back 1-2x a month.
I’d suggest testing once a week at first. Pick a day and a time and test every week at same time. Log the results in a notebook or on your phone. Yes it requires a little effort. Once you see the CAL & ALK dropping it’s time to supplement. Mag will typically be a very slow mover once you get it to the proper target and will usually be ok to supplement back 1-2x a month.
Be careful with TMP salt right now, there’s some bad batches coming out of somewhere. I believe it’s Turkey.
I also use Tropic Marin Pro Salt. Every time I get a new bucket I test the first batch of water that I make for Alk, Ca and Mag. Calcium and Magnesium have always been in the same range that I keep my tank so I've never had to adjust for them. However, Alk usually needs an adjustment. So when I make up a new batch of saltwater water from the same bucket for a water change, I just add Alk to the new water before I do the actual water change. That way the Alk doesn't fluctuate that much in my display tank after doing the water change. My $0.02. Also, to reiterate what Chris said (crvz), get your Alk up to 9.0 dkH, don't make any adjustments for 5 days, and then do another Alk test. Divide the difference by 5 and thats how much dkH you will need to restore every day. Try that daily addition for at least 2 weeks and then test again to see how close to 9 you are. Again, my $0.02. Oh yeah, and just making sure you know about the Alk calculator that is available on BRS. It works pretty good to determine how much actual 2 part Alk you need to add to raise the dKH a certain amount for a specific volume of water.
Alright i just dosed about 2 oz of cal/alk ill do that for the next week and that shoukd put me around 9 dkh (according to BRS calculator im using soda ash mixed with rodi water). From there ill let it sit for 5 days and get back with yall then. Scuba what are using to adjust your TPM ALK im assuming not soda ash?
I use BRS soda ash to raise/maintain the alkalinity for my tank (and my change water) . The last bucket of TMPR salt I had came in at 6.9 dkH. I mix 16 gallons at a time for a 15 gallon water change so I was adding 25 ml of soda ash to the change water before doing the water change. Just curious, why did you assume it wasn't soda ash?
soymilk
Supporting Member
did you dose that all at once?
Well, sort of. I use a powerhead (and a heater) in my change water container so there's good flow. I slowly pour the liquid soda ash into the change water container such that it's a fast trip and I don't see big clouds as I add it. Prolly takes 20 to 30 seconds. 25 ml is about a shot glass worth of liquid. I add the soda ash after i get the salinity and temp dialed in but before I set everything else up for the water change. That way it gets a chance for good mixing for at least 20 to 30 minutes before I'm ready to put the new SW back into the tank.
soymilk
Supporting Member
oh sorry, I was trying to reply with @Grimreefer89. I'm hoping he didn't dose that all at once and both at the same time.
Uhh ya i dosed it all at once in a high flow area, calcium first then alk. Making sure it doesnt precipitate out or cloud up. Its a 210 gallon tank i didnt think 60 ml was a "large" dose. I checked alk before dosing and it went from 5.9 to 6.2 in 24hrs. Is this to fast? Also im gonna be honest other than some goni's ive got mostly softies so im not super worried about killing them, they are pretty well bulletproof. @SCUBAFreaky as far as the soda ash goes i thought there was something other than soda ash people used for increasing alk faster in freshly mixed saltwater. Im gonna start adjusting my alk in my mixing station once i get the tanks alk stable.
soymilk
Supporting Member
ah my bad. For some reason I thought 2 ounces was more than that. I thought you did 1dKH in one go. Seems like you're settling on 9dKH. Did you figure out what salt you're gonna use?
I use instant ocean, because i'm cheap. Also it stays stable longer in storage. Usually mixes up at around 9-10dKh
I use instant ocean, because i'm cheap. Also it stays stable longer in storage. Usually mixes up at around 9-10dKh
Uhh no i really like tropic marin so i may just do what scuba does and adjust my salinity.
Alkalinity not salinity my bad.
I switched from reef crystals when i built a mixing station. I didnt want to have to clean it all the time, but i may go back
soymilk
Supporting Member
I actually don’t have too much brown gunk build up using instant ocean. But I do add salt pretty slowly for mixing. I noticed a huge build up of brown precipitation if I chunk a ton of salt in at a time. Ymmv.
I use instant ocean because the alk is 9-10. Reef crystals is like 11+ If I remember right.
I use instant ocean because the alk is 9-10. Reef crystals is like 11+ If I remember right.
