Dosing pumps
- Thread starter d0rknyoface
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auto dose away. Just stay on top of testing as always. Only draw backs I've seen is user error when they reprogram the doser and forget to "load" the new parameters (bubble magus at least). And the tank doesn't get dosed for a long time until they test parameters and see a major drop. But that is far less than forgetting a day or two here and there of manual dosing. Plus can't beat the multiple dosing function per day as well as dosing right on the dot every time.
So here's my situation.
I have a 17g nano and I'm afraid of dosing too much or not enough throughout the week. My lights turn on at 4pm and turn off at 12 midnight. I am usually home after 9-10pm to feed the fish..or sometimes even skip a day because I don't get home in time. How much should I dose alk/cal per day or every other day to keep the parameters stable?
I have a 17g nano and I'm afraid of dosing too much or not enough throughout the week. My lights turn on at 4pm and turn off at 12 midnight. I am usually home after 9-10pm to feed the fish..or sometimes even skip a day because I don't get home in time. How much should I dose alk/cal per day or every other day to keep the parameters stable?
I disagree. I've got an SPS dominant 29g Biocube, I'm burning through 80-120ml Alk per day, that's while dosing Kalk @ 2TSP per gallon in my ATO. wasn't doing anything. I was losing 1 dKH in like two hours during the day . I'd dose all day keeping Alk up to 9, and I'd wake up to find my dKH at 6, once at 5.8-ish. Right now I'm adding Vinegar to my ATO / Kalk to dissolve more than 2 TSP per gallon.
If you run a successful tank, it will become demanding. And you will need all the same gear a big tank needs.
My first suggestion to OP is to get an Auto Top Off -- And Kalkwasser. Start with .5-1 TSP Kalk per gallon in your ATO reservoir. You can add upwards of 2 TSP Kalk per gallon of water. Once that starts falling behind (when your tank is growing and gaining maturity) you can make your Kalkwasser solution more saturated, up to 3 TSP per gallon, with the addition of 45ml of vinegar.
The smaller your tank, and the more successful your tank is, the higher quality gear you'll need. If my tank were 60 gallons with the amount of livestock it has, I would have no problem dosing by hand. But as it is, I need to dose like 10-12x a day, because too large of a dose would basically be an Alk spike. 18ml Alkalinity raises my dKH by 1. I have to dose 80ml+ per day, and I can't dose more than 18ml per hour and a half, or it could harm my tank.
If you run a successful tank, it will become demanding. And you will need all the same gear a big tank needs.
My first suggestion to OP is to get an Auto Top Off -- And Kalkwasser. Start with .5-1 TSP Kalk per gallon in your ATO reservoir. You can add upwards of 2 TSP Kalk per gallon of water. Once that starts falling behind (when your tank is growing and gaining maturity) you can make your Kalkwasser solution more saturated, up to 3 TSP per gallon, with the addition of 45ml of vinegar.
The smaller your tank, and the more successful your tank is, the higher quality gear you'll need. If my tank were 60 gallons with the amount of livestock it has, I would have no problem dosing by hand. But as it is, I need to dose like 10-12x a day, because too large of a dose would basically be an Alk spike. 18ml Alkalinity raises my dKH by 1. I have to dose 80ml+ per day, and I can't dose more than 18ml per hour and a half, or it could harm my tank.
If you want the best answer, I would test at least, alk and Cal daily for the next week or two. You really need to see what your tank is doing to make the right choice. The fact that you just noticed your Cal was sky high probably means that you weren't testing regularly to know what your tank really needed. (btw not slamming or lecturing you). I suggest you stop dosing and do a few water changes and slowwwwly bring the cal back to normal and once it's where you like your parameters to be at then test at least once a day as close to the same time as possible for a week or two and check out the difference in drop. Who knows it might be so small at this point that proper water changes will take care if it. and as you add more coral keep testing because if your tank is thriving then you most likely will start to need dosing something.
Thanks for the advice Shawn. I'll continue to do water changes until my levels are stable. I never really had to test my water because I only had soft coral and a few monti pieces which were doing well, I picked up a sun coral from David last night and want to make sure the sun coral doesn't bleach. So my primary concern is the sun coral at the moment.
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Im new, and questioned if I should or shouldn't do any of the things I've done. I wasn't sure if I should get an ATO until I got one, I wasn't sure about Kalk until I tried it, I wasn't sure I needed a doser until I needed one. In the end that's the best way to learn, at least for me..
But for the OP, I would advise to get an ATO and put some Kalk in the reservoir: Alk, Cal, pH, and Salinity stable without much effort. Get the Tunze ATO (the $200 one) or the AquaSmart ATO Micro (love mine, very reliable and accurate so far).
But for the OP, I would advise to get an ATO and put some Kalk in the reservoir: Alk, Cal, pH, and Salinity stable without much effort. Get the Tunze ATO (the $200 one) or the AquaSmart ATO Micro (love mine, very reliable and accurate so far).
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