help setting up dosing routine after adding alot of frags

[james1990]

Up untill today's frag swap I have had a very light bioload for my system.

A few months ago I started my SPS journey with 4 frags, and they seem happy to my novice eye. No growth but did not loose any color, and full polyp extension.

I bought my salifert kits and tested daily for about 2 weeks and discovered that my Cal, Alk, and Mag were all in good params with just water changes.

well.. THE FRAG SWAP GOT ME. I came home with a TON of stuff,a ton of SPS frags, and a 5 inch clam from pacific east aquaculture. I couldnt be happier with the event and the great people but ill stay on topic. This tank is going to start sucking up cal.

I have the bubble magnus triple doser coming next week. So how should I go about this? start testing my params daily and document consumption? Will that tell me how much I need to dose?

I want to do my best to protect my investment on corals so this is a bit overwhelming, I know once I have it dialed in it should be a breeze but I could use some help getting there.

THANKS MR! I simply wouldnt be in this hobby without you guys.

 

[james1990]

 

[JonnyJ]

James,

To get an accurate tank consumption your going to have to keep an eye on levels for the next >2 weeks while things settle in. When you add a bunch of stuff it can take a while for things to settle in and consumption will vary. Make sure you test at the same time everyday. I would shoot for later in your light schedule. I tested at 6pm.


There's a few ways you can do it.

First it's important to get a balance to get accurate consumption usage. (Read about the relationship of alk/cal/mag or give me a call and I can explain)

1, once you have a balance Do a water change and test 24 hours later without dosing. Repeat until you figure out your consistent usage while dosing to keep a balance..

Or

2. Start dosing a small recommended "start out" amount and for a nano like yours I would say 5 ml and adjust from there.

One advice, never chase ph. Focus on alk and cal. Once levels are balanced focus on dosing equal parts to maintain a balance.

If you read esv 2 part you can see that approximately

1 ml per gallon will raise alk 2.07 DKH

And

1 ml per gallon will raise cal 15 ppt.

So understand if your tank is 30 gallons (just saying) and you dosed 30 ml of each you would raise your alk 2.07 dkh and 15 ppt of calcium. You can do the math pretty easy.

Make sure you dose both alk and cal at least 5 minutes apart.

So realize dosing up to 15 ml of each on a 30 gallon really won't raise things to much.


I shoot for roughly 10.5 alk / 430-450 cal / 1300 mag.

Some people keep it lower or higher but I have found when I would hover around 8-9 that if I had an alk crash it would bring me into low levels and I would see some ill effects.

Maintaining the balance is the most important thing and consumption depends on it.

Feel free to text or call me and it was nice meeting you!

Post your beast!

 

[Josh]

I think you should dose 10ml of each per day. Test every 3 days. Raise each additive by 10ml only after you see the levels going in the wrong direction.

Do not assume that all of the sudden your tank will need the dosing. It may take a while for them to start sucking up those ions so just increase by 10 ml after 3 days.

The most important thing for you to focus on is maintaining a very consistent Alk level and raising or lowering it very slowly. Corals do not tolerate Alk swings, Ca and Mg are not such a big deal if they swing a little bit. Either way, if you follow the 10mg change every 3 days, you really can't make a mistake.

On a side note I think you got your clam from Dr. Mac and not Cherry Corals.

 

[JonnyJ]

Do not assume that all of the sudden your tank will need the dosing.

+1, ive been running nanos for close to 5 years and I consider your tank a nano.. I would start 5-10 ml. You definitely added a lot of stuff (which is fine, just keep an eye on levels and test) like josh said alk is the most important, but if your cal/mag are significantly off you will see increased alk swings.

 

[sillysidewinder]

tagging along for this one. i need to figure out my tanks consumption and how to dose accordingly as well. when i return from thanksgiving i will try what was suggested above.

 

[xxxAngeloxxx]

Same here tagging along too

 

[JonnyJ]

Another thing to note on a sps dominated nano, do realize a water change can cause serious swings as well. I personally check fresh mixed salt water before, and i break the water change down into two separate small changes to avoid large swings.

Depending on which salt your using you may or may not have to dose on water change day..

Nanos = sometimes more work then they are worth. Lol

 

[james1990]

Johnny it was good meeting you too man. Sorry it was brief, I was having an SPS baggy leak crisis lol they all made it in the tank Alive though

Really bummed the clam has aptasia, ill try boiling lemon juice tomorrow.

1) so I'm dosing cal, ALK, but how about mag? I'm assuming that's why it's a triple doser. For all three?

2) which brand is the preferred? Esv? BRS? Bionic?

3) I'm not sure what this "balance" is. But I do understand the math and starting with 10ml and going up or down from there. Now do I start this once I see my cal/ALK going down PAST suitable ranges? Before i do, ill do a water change to see how much it brings back my levels and then dose after that?

 

[james1990]

Nanos=worth every second.

Glad to see we have a topic of interest here.

People chime in on how to determine consumption and when to dose. Any additional information is appreciated. This is Definitely a scary topic to first timers.

 

[kres1024]

If the aptasia is on the clam shell just scrape it off with a blade

 

[lnevo]

Tagging along too..question, can you elaborate on the 10 ml starting point? I have a 65... Is 10 ml to start after getting ca and alk balanced?

 

[JonnyJ]

You can remove aiptasia from the clam with a razor or a toothbrush (outside the tank in some spare tank water, you don't want any aiptasia spores(?) flying around) the guy from Dr. Mac warned me about the possibility of aiptasia.

Esv is bionic and they use a 2 part system. Magnesium is included in both parts of the 2 part. (They also sell a magnesium portion but should only be used to correct levels and isn't needed for a daily dose)

I prefer ESV over BRS simply because Its more potent and less parts. BRS is 3 parts. With ESV less dosing is needed, and I've seen great results with esv to this point so why change.

Overtime BRS is cheaper but its just not as straight forward to me, maybe it's just me.

It's much easier to explain verbally but ill try. Understanding the relationship between alk/cal/mag and the importance will help you understand dosing. When you have a balance your tank will *generally consume equal parts and dosing equal parts will maintain the balance. When a level is off, it will throw off the balance and consumption will be off. I hope that makes sense. All tanks have a different consumption and you should not base yours on others. Different things factor consumption - Growth, Size, Coraline algae, etc..

Generally people say Never dose unless you test, but with start up small doses the effects are so minimal. 5-10ml in a 40 gallon system is a small dose and will not make any serious change in levels.

My tank = roughly 70 gallon total water after displacement and I dose 60 ml a day of both alk/cal to maintain my desired levels..this does not mean you should require the same..

If your tank is 40 gallons, you can easily start with a starting dose of 5-10 ml.

So with ESV 40 ml of ALK would be required to raise a 40 gallon tank 2.07 dkh.

So 5 ml would raise your tank approx .25 dkh, & 10 ml will only increase your ALK approx .50 Dkh.

Very minimal and easy to monitor.



Testing usage..

Test your levels, if your in range wait 24 hours and test again. Compare

If your levels are off, Do a water change to correct levels or dose (if you understand). Wait a few hours & test again. Write down levels. If your at acceptable levels (alk/cal/mag balance) simply do not dose or do anything for 24 hours and check again around the same time.

Compare the results.

If your levels changed, ie decreased then you can dose equal parts to raise your levels over a 24 hour period. Don't raise anything to fast.

If your levels * didn't * change then wait another 24hrs and test again.

Repeating this over the next 2-3 weeks will help you figure out your tanks consumption..

 

[tosiek]

+1 to a great thread with great info.

The amount of dosing your going to need for your tank is very dependent on what you have and how its growing. One persons 40g will need ~40ml of supplement while another might need 80ml.

Starting off at 10ml is a good start, and you increase that until you see your calc/alk level off, if thats a 5ml, 10ml, or 20ml increase it all depends on how much its raising. You don't want to increase your tank any more than 30ppm a day, a 5ppm or 10ppm increase is what you want and spread it over a few days depending on how low it is.

Keep increasing your doses until you see your calcium and alk stay the same level, this should be your rough baseline for how much alk/calc you need to dose to maintain the levels. Then after you know how much you need to dose to keep the same level of calc/alk you can increase it to buffer it where it should be. And this increase should be slightly higher than what your normal dosing should be at. If going 10ml over your established baseline for keeping your parameters stable increases your calc by 10ppm, then going from 340-430 would take you 9 days of dosing. Thats the dose you keep doing until you reach your levels, you shouldn't need to keep increasing it by 10 every day until it hits 430ppm. So, you might be dosing 100ml of calcium for a week raising your calcium by 5ppm a day while knowing your tank only needs 60ml, then once your tank hits 430-450ppm calcium you would start dosing at 60ml to keep the levels steady and adjust a little depending on how your coral are growing.

It saves a little time instead of going straight to the recommended levels then trying to figure out how much you need to keep the levels steady. You slowly ramp up the levels in the tank preventing any stress from parameter swings.

 

[MeanGreenEyes]

*Subscribed...got all the goodies to start dosing. Now what about those of us that use kalk in the ato? Should that be stopped? I've only been using it at half the recommended dose (1tsp/g of ato reservoir volume)

 

[tosiek]

If kalk works for you then just keep using it. Its an easy alternative if your tank doesn't use a ton of calcium. But if your tank is using a good amount of calcium then kalk will make your PH unstable as it adds both calc and alk equally in your tank. With 2 part you can adjust the level of alk and calc separately for whats needed in your tank. Thats where people see problems with kalk top offs.

 

[JonnyJ]

The only reason I can see someone using kalk in conjunction with 2 part would be simply to cutback on 2 part usage, people claim its a much cheaper alternative and will save money. Plus it's very easy..

For me, it's more work than its worth and just another thing to do/worry about.

If your tanks demand is low, kalk is wonderful.

It's up to you.

 

[james1990]

Little update: per Johnny's help I picked up some ESV 2 part and started off dosing 5ml of each once in the am and once in the pm.

My ALK was low at like 7.7 so I did an immediate dose of 15ml PM and another 15ml the next morning bringing it back up too 9.0

Testing tonight to start getting some consistency going

 

[Custom05Taco]

Tagging along, good topic!

 

[neptune]

ok..heres a question...if my tank is 70 gal mostly lps and softys a couple sps... not many corals at the moment tank is 2 years mature...levels seem to stay at 450-500 cal...9dkh and mag is 1250...i do a 10gallon water change every 3 weeks...my skimmer is a bubble master 200
i have a bubble magus triple doser and 2 gallons of esv...SHOULD I STILL DOSE TANK...LIKE 10ML evenly daily to be on the safe side ...i dont plan on dominating the tank with sps...maybe a monte cap or 2...the tank was never fully stocked...should i dose at all...i also have small bottle of brightwell for mag just incase