2 part dosing
- Thread starter anthonys_aqua
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In the beginning you can dose a couple times a day, but this depends on your biomass and consumption. The more animals that you add that utilize alk/ca, the more your input (dosing) should increase to match. I've found in heavy demand tanks 24hr dosing is a must for stability. Honestly, if you're a good DIYer, then I would look into Randy's recipe on 2 part dosing here Randy's Recipes I used DIY 2 part for my 22g sps nano and it works great! There are plenty of videos on the subject, but I honesty would buy a good reefing book (used on Amazon) as this will be an easy reference going forward. I also think any new reefer (and veteran keeper) should have a few of these books, as the material contained inside is unchanged as far as fundamentals are concerned. If you're starting out, then a branded 2 part will make your life easier, ESV or BRS, etc.. but after you get the concepts, it's actually better and cheaper to DIY with 2 part.
Once you master 2 part, you'll soon realize that splitting the alk part into soda ash and bicarbonate makes for an extremely stable inflow of alkalinity. Ca and mag are super easy to dial in. Also, Alk, Ca and Mag should be dosed as needed and they will never be consumed equally.
Once you master 2 part, you'll soon realize that splitting the alk part into soda ash and bicarbonate makes for an extremely stable inflow of alkalinity. Ca and mag are super easy to dial in. Also, Alk, Ca and Mag should be dosed as needed and they will never be consumed equally.
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IME this is one of those things you can get really nit picky about, but it doesn't make that much of a difference. Chasing a 1% difference, or even a 10% difference in coral growth isn't something that most hobbyists really need to concern themselves with.
Before we knew any differently I would do my entire ALK dose at 8am everyday and 5 minutes later my entire calcium dose, everyday. My alk would drop by 1.5 daily. I had corals that were 12 years old and grew acro's from a half inch to the size of a basketball. I had a monticap that was larger than a home depot bucket.
Now that I have a dosing pump I dose a little amount every hour of each thing, however the DOS decides it is best. I dose during the day time because that slight DOS noise annoys me at night. I do go through the extra step of stirring my part B with a magnetic stirrer for 20 minutes everyday and I do think it helps with consistency (probably why Brightwell recommends it), 99 out of 100 reefers will tell you this is unnecessary.
There is an argument that keeping everything completely stable is the best way, there is another argument that small fluctuations throughout a day will ultimately make a more resilient coral. Both have data and experiments to back their claim.
What I would say, after over 20 years of doing this now is that the most important thing is that you dose daily, and test daily. You will get to know your tank pretty quickly and might soon even be able to corelate the behavior of some of your animals with the given levels (for example I had a digitata that would retract it's polyps slightly if the alk was low, or a millepora that would extend more if the alk was high) The time or times is not really of a significant importance in my experience.
Before we knew any differently I would do my entire ALK dose at 8am everyday and 5 minutes later my entire calcium dose, everyday. My alk would drop by 1.5 daily. I had corals that were 12 years old and grew acro's from a half inch to the size of a basketball. I had a monticap that was larger than a home depot bucket.
Now that I have a dosing pump I dose a little amount every hour of each thing, however the DOS decides it is best. I dose during the day time because that slight DOS noise annoys me at night. I do go through the extra step of stirring my part B with a magnetic stirrer for 20 minutes everyday and I do think it helps with consistency (probably why Brightwell recommends it), 99 out of 100 reefers will tell you this is unnecessary.
There is an argument that keeping everything completely stable is the best way, there is another argument that small fluctuations throughout a day will ultimately make a more resilient coral. Both have data and experiments to back their claim.
What I would say, after over 20 years of doing this now is that the most important thing is that you dose daily, and test daily. You will get to know your tank pretty quickly and might soon even be able to corelate the behavior of some of your animals with the given levels (for example I had a digitata that would retract it's polyps slightly if the alk was low, or a millepora that would extend more if the alk was high) The time or times is not really of a significant importance in my experience.
