maintenance dosing help

james30ct · 03/08/2015, 02:46 PM

So I check alk, cal, and mag once a month now and it seems alk always stays the same but mag and cal always drop. I do 10g waterchanges with RC salt weekly. Tank is 180g with a 8" squammy, sps, lps, nems, etc. Probaby 25 frags and a few larger lps. recently added aragonite sand bed.

My question is I wanted to start doing a maintenance 2 part dosing but dont want my alk to change. I am using randys recipe 1 and lookin at this chart

Table 1. Suggested starting daily doses of this supplement in different aquaria.
Tank Description:
Suggested Starting Doses:

Recipe #1
Fish-only with live rock
0.1 mL/gallon
New tank, few corals
0.2 mL/gallon
Low demand
0.3 mL/gallon
Mixed tank
0.5 mL/gallon
Heavy demand (SPS corals)
1 mL/gallon

I was going to try .3ml per gallon which equals 54ml of each per day. Will this cause alk to go higher? can I add all the cal in the morning and all the alk at night or will it be too much of a spike? Thanks for any help.

bertoni · 03/08/2015, 08:51 PM

The more common stealthy sources of alkalinity are pH buffers (which all add alkalinity) and tap water. Otherwise, I'm not sure what might be happening with your system. I'd probably just add the alkalinity part and see what happens.

54 ml is a small dose and you can dose both supplements at the same time, even, if you wish. I'd just dump them into the display, but morning and night is okay, too.

03/08/2015, 08:51 PM	#2
bertoni RC Mod Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mountain View, CA, USA Posts: 88,616	The more common stealthy sources of alkalinity are pH buffers (which all add alkalinity) and tap water. Otherwise, I'm not sure what might be happening with your system. I'd probably just add the alkalinity part and see what happens. 54 ml is a small dose and you can dose both supplements at the same time, even, if you wish. I'd just dump them into the display, but morning and night is okay, too. __________________ Jonathan Bertoni

03/08/2015, 02:46 PM	#1
james30ct Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Groton, Ct Posts: 1,218	maintenance dosing help So I check alk, cal, and mag once a month now and it seems alk always stays the same but mag and cal always drop. I do 10g waterchanges with RC salt weekly. Tank is 180g with a 8" squammy, sps, lps, nems, etc. Probaby 25 frags and a few larger lps. recently added aragonite sand bed. My question is I wanted to start doing a maintenance 2 part dosing but dont want my alk to change. I am using randys recipe 1 and lookin at this chart Table 1. Suggested starting daily doses of this supplement in different aquaria. Tank Description: Suggested Starting Doses: Recipe #1 Fish-only with live rock 0.1 mL/gallon New tank, few corals 0.2 mL/gallon Low demand 0.3 mL/gallon Mixed tank 0.5 mL/gallon Heavy demand (SPS corals) 1 mL/gallon I was going to try .3ml per gallon which equals 54ml of each per day. Will this cause alk to go higher? can I add all the cal in the morning and all the alk at night or will it be too much of a spike? Thanks for any help.