Advice on what is important to dose needed

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Hillpag

Hillpag

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Glad to have everybody’s opinion here. Truly. Because I am hand dosing despite my wishes, truly. I created this post so that I could get a consensus more or less on how to handle the dosing… And if I am right to insist that these Tridents be installed! I live in the teeny tiny town of Carmel By The Sea and only have one person available to help me… And sometimes I am hostage to his strong opinions. Great guy. Old school. I’m with whatever works best… And can’t figure out any real reason not to use these expensive machines that are sitting in boxes in my closet… Other than the fact that I don’t have room for them it under my tank. Any suggestions on configurations on large tanks with Refugiums and very little space? The biggest tank is the artwork in my living room and I’m trying to keep the machinery minimal. I suppose I could try hiding it behind a plant
 

nereefpat

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I have been told that alk is most critical
That is correct.
if I add the calcium will the magnesium fall in line? I’ve noticed that it has been very hard after dosing half of the suggested dose… are the other elements taking care of the mag?
Mg is dosed separately from Ca.

What are your values for alk, Ca, and Mg? Do you know how much alk your tank uses daily or weekly? Those questions are what determines how much to dose.
 
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Hillpag

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Test before dosing:

calcium 360 (after dose 400 to 440)
Magnesium 1175 (which scares me since I aim for 1425)
Alk 8.7

that’s the problem. It swings heavily… but this is my first week of dosing, and I’m still working out the proper levels day to day…

The truth is that I have some good stretches of growth but in general I’m not seeing the kind of growth I expect. Many of these torches have been in my tank for four months and have not even begun to split. thoughts on what’s normal? The swings are too heavy for SPS.
 
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496D9BBD-3754-418B-82AB-15EE24403174.jpeg
 
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Hillpag

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I also suspect that I lost a torch head here because of the swings… Sorry meant to post that with the pic, just getting the hang of things on The forums
 

HudsonReefer2.0

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Great collection of LPS. Love the Deshy garden. I hand dose as well mixed reef redsea xl300. Esv 2 part and Mg. Top of w kalk max solution per gallon overnite. Still a swing but Helps w ph stability 8.2-8.3. Test alk daily w Hanna. Daily consumption is like 30 ml a day. Using AF reef salt on changes. Mixed Parameters on batch where I keep my system.
Ur hands on approach is working great. I’d say w the water changes, dosing Alk, Ca and Mg and kalk is all u need. Esv also has trace elements in the product so it should keep u dialed in if u choose to use it. But as things develop they will use more and the dosing amounts will increase. Ty for sharing those beautiful corals.
 
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I see that you are doing water changes every 10-14 days. What percentage?

If you are in the range of 5+% a week, you most likely only need to dose for Alk and Ca. I wouldn't test for pH, although some people will disagree with that.
Water changes are usually about 10%
 
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