Do I need to Dose?

[mnestroy]

Hi,

While I am not new to the hobby I have a pretty well established 90Gallon Softie tank.

I do pretty well keeping my temp in check, salinity never swings, Nitrates and Phosphates 0, etc...

Now that I have 'mastered' keeping the above parms in check I want to move onto some more advance things.

But I have never measured or monitored Alk/Calc.

I guess I have always been a little confused by the whole idea, and never understood what buffering meant and how to dose.

As mentioned I do have a softie tank, but do have 2 larger clams, so I don't suspect my CALC/ALK demands are very high.

Can I get some newbie advice on how to determine if I should be dosing and how I should go about it?

I run an ATO unit that is fed from a RO/DI Container that holds about 20 gallons that automatically fills up when low. I've heard people say to dose kalk with your top off water, but since my top off water auto refills would this not be best?. (as far as dosing I'm not even 100% sure what kak is, hehe)

Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.

[Allmost]

Originally Posted by mnestroy

Hi,

While I am not new to the hobby I have a pretty well established 90Gallon Softie tank.

I do pretty well keeping my temp in check, salinity never swings, Nitrates and Phosphates 0, etc...

Now that I have 'mastered' keeping the above parms in check I want to move onto some more advance things.

But I have never measured or monitored Alk/Calc.

I guess I have always been a little confused by the whole idea, and never understood what buffering meant and how to dose.

As mentioned I do have a softie tank, but do have 2 larger clams, so I don't suspect my CALC/ALK demands are very high.

Can I get some newbie advice on how to determine if I should be dosing and how I should go about it?

I run an ATO unit that is fed from a RO/DI Container that holds about 20 gallons that automatically fills up when low. I've heard people say to dose kalk with your top off water, but since my top off water auto refills would this not be best?. (as far as dosing I'm not even 100% sure what kak is, hehe)

Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.

Hello,
good reads :

kalk : http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.php

2 part dosing : http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2004/4/chemistry

basically, you test for KH and CA++ and MG++.
record values.
set up a goal close to NSW like KH at 9 Dkh and CA++ at 420 PPM and MG++ at 1280 PPM.
then you check your test results, with the goal you have set.

so lets say you test and have KH of 7, CA++ of 370 PPM and MG++ of 1200 PPM.

then you go on a reef calculator like this :
http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chem_calc3.html

to calculate how much of each additive you will need to add, to reach your goal. and dose those, SLOWLY. [ be sure to read Randy's article above]

now after doing this for a week or so, you will know the consumption of your system. so can dose the same amount daily and test less often ...

at this point, you can get a dosing pump, to automate the doses needed

good luck.

[sponger0]

In order to know if you need or what you need to dose, you need to check your levels and see what your tank is consuming. Every tank is different

[cloak]

I'm not sure how long you go in between water changes, but test your alkalinity and calcium the day before you do a water change, the day after, and then again the day before. This will give an idea of what's really going on in your tank on a weekly/bi weekly basis.
I kept a mixed reef tank for 9 years and never dosed calcium or magnesium. I did however add Seachem Reef Builder to my top off water. I think I was adding 1 or 2 teaspoons to every 5 gallons. Anyways, this kept my alkalinity stable via an ATO and the calcium and magnesium were being replenished through regular water changes alone. It was actually pretty simple.