Exodus Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 Hello! So I'm just trying to get a better understanding overall of "Dosing", I have read quite a bit and please keep in mind this is a very general type deal. I guess to start this off I should point out the obvious so the conversation does not get to side tracked 1. I do not have Cal,Alk,Mg Parameters just yet, Full test kit for those will be on Monday. 2. 12G Nano (4yrs Established) Weekly Water Changes nothing appears out of the norm my tank is covered in coraline algae including rocks and is almost a nuisance at this point. I only have 1 SPS Lettuce frag and a crocea Clam (5") the rest zoas 3. I will be testing Monday several hours after my water change marking it down, then wait a week to do another test and see where I am currently standing, giving me approx. how much I am losing. I am most likely fine at the current moment. So why am I asking if things are going ok? Well I really like Stony corals! (LPS) not to big on SPS but more like open brain coral, Acans, Favia, Torch, Frogspawn ect. I know that when I begin adding them to the tank, in addition to the clam, their consumption might possibly outweigh my weekly replenishment. I'm won’t know till I start testing; simply just an assumption. If this is the case though, I want to be prepared and have a solid understanding of how to go about it. Being this is a Nano I don’t have a sump or anything like that, so really a Calcium reactor would stick out like a sore thumb. After reading several sites/forums/reviews I found ESV B-Ionic Calcium Buffer System was the most widely liked in comparison to other 2 part pre Mixes like Kent. I was wondering if I did go this route, would getting a couple of BRS dosing pumps be ok with a 2 Part system like this? I also saw things like Red Sea Foundations ABC powder, and others like BRS's huge mix package, but not sure what would be the best way to go about it. Keep in mind after sand and rock displacement I might have 7-8 gallons of water I'm working with. Which route might I want to consider in consideration of my setup? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badxgillen Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 I dose...Alot, so I went with the Bulk Reef Supply for volume and have also been testing alternative methods of acquiring base chemical sources for dosing. I can give you some of the BRS mix to try out to see if you want to go that route. I presume if you are using reef crystals and doing weekly water changes you should be fine without dosing unless your tank has a number of Montis, Birds nest, acros, and or stylos. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exodus Posted February 21, 2015 Author Share Posted February 21, 2015 Hey thanks for the offer Robert! I appreciate that, I will keep that in mind, also planned on coming by your place soon enough anyways after this term I'm not making any changes right now till the end of next month as I will be moving the Tank down to Albany, being it will located where I actually live I can start spending more time with it and actually adding more corals Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Higher Thinking Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 Definitely read through Randy Holmes-Farley two part dosing regiment. Google that. That article can provide just about the most complete information on the subject and how to do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exodus Posted February 24, 2015 Author Share Posted February 24, 2015 Ok so got Red Sea test kit in and trying to figure out the calcium and a bit confused with the reading when you start pressing down the Vial it goes from 1.0 to .9 - .8 - .7 ect, I used almost the entire vile to get the color to finally change from purple and hit blue and in the end I'm below .1 at ~.096 (I think) Thats not even listed on the card! Not thinking this is sounding good The Magnesium took the entire siringe with no color change and the Alk is 8.1dkh, glad today is water change day. Will re test in a few hours after changed and see whats been replenished. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exodus Posted February 24, 2015 Author Share Posted February 24, 2015 Ok after re watching the youtube video on testing I think I'm reading this wrong his syringe was [language filter] near empy he said he had used ".91" and he looked it up if thats the case then I have used up .96 which would put my Calcium at 480 and alklinity at 11.8, ill mess with the MG later things looking good so far I just need to learn to read the tests Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandinga Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 With those numbers, you don't need to dose. Many nano tanks are regulated by water changes only. If your tests are correct, then you will be safe in adding LPS to the system. The fact that you have a clam alive tells me the results are probably accurate. You are doing the bailing method, and it can work great for small tanks. After adding coral, check your levels periodically to make sure your water changes are keeping up with the demand for Ca and Alk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandinga Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 This is what I was trying to edit my post to...but, ran out of time! With those numbers, you may not need to dose. What you need to do is see how much your Alk and Ca change between water changes. Here is what I would do: Test directly AFTER you do a WC. Then test every 24 hours and see what your water changes to after one week. This will tell you the usage based on your current tank load per day and per week. possible outcomes: If you start at 11.8dKh and 7 days later end at 8dKh, then you will definitely need to dose. You want to maintain your alk within as small of range as possible...say 11.8-10.3. So if your tank drops from 11.8 to just 11.0dKh, you wouldn't have to dose anything...just do WC's. My tank drops daily from 9dKh to 8dKh, I must dose daily. Many nano tanks are regulated by water changes only. If your tests are correct, then you will be safe in adding LPS to the system. The fact that you have a clam alive tells me the results are probably accurate. Depending on your weekly water tests, you may think instead of investing in a high quality easy to use salinity tester(Milwaukie digital) and an ATO. Salt swings can lead to not happy corals and inverts in Nano tanks...and with weekly changes, you want to keep them as similar as possible...though you could also mix up large batches and keep them at the ready...constantly with a powerhead stirring the excess water. You are doing the bailing method, and it can work great for small tanks. After adding coral, check your levels periodically to make sure your water changes are keeping up with the demand for Ca and Alk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exodus Posted February 25, 2015 Author Share Posted February 25, 2015 With those numbers, you don't need to dose. Many nano tanks are regulated by water changes only. If your tests are correct, then you will be safe in adding LPS to the system. The fact that you have a clam alive tells me the results are probably accurate. You are doing the bailing method, and it can work great for small tanks. After adding coral, check your levels periodically to make sure your water changes are keeping up with the demand for Ca and Alk. Thanks for the response, I have had the Nano running 4 years now with weekly water changes and corals, as well I have an Apex w/pm2 module and a breakout box with an ATO all setup so I have the salinity monitored and my refractometer is tested monthly. I have always understood that if I did the water changes it was replenishing everything but I have never really got the hang of the API calcium test and figured since everything was going good I had nothing to worry about and have only had softies. I started getting calcium buidlups really bad and realized my calcium was just fine and actually in an excess so about 7 or 8 months ago I got a clam to suck the excess up, it was a week or two later I added an SPS frag to the tank. I got worried last week when a bunch of my coraline algea started turning white and began to wonder if between that the clam and the SPS if all the sudden I was losing too much so I ordered a decent test kit. The number i gave off first were wrong as I found out I was reading the results backwards. you have to go by how much you "Used" not the position of the plunger so the 480 Calcium & 11.8dkh is after an entire week before i did the water change. As you can imagine with those numbers I didn't even bother testing again last night after the water change and I ended up figuring out the issue with the coraline algeas being my lights were on during water changes. So everythings good now I'm glad I'm not going to have to start doing but when I add some more big calcium suckers in there I will definiatley be monitoring it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandinga Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 If you are seeing too much coralline, that's a good sign:) Sounds like you have that little tank pretty close to dialed in, and very mature. Maybe it's time to throw in a couple frags of LPS and see what happens. Heck most people can't even wait 4 weeks to start throwing SPS in their tank! Nice patience:) And weekly WC's for 4 years?!? wow, you are a bonafide geeked out reefer. What salt mix are you using? 11.8dKh, 480 Ca...sounds like Kent? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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