Bolus dosing

[elysics]

The question is does it work. A lot of people in germany tested this method and it does. You can see it by going in to german forums or just in the yt comment section of the videos from fm. not everybody uses dosing pumps. there are people that dose once a day by hand. one of the biggest public reef tanks in germany is dosing kh only once in the morning since 7 years and they have phenomal growth. its the nature museum in karlsruhe. there are many videos on yt where you can see their reef progessing. so imho its a nother discussion should it work, because it does. before attacking the idea maybee give it a chance instead of stating it shouldnt work because xyz.

From the claims that were made, the question isn't does it work, the question is does it work better. there were claims of different growth patterns in acropora, puffier LPS, higher pH than with normal carbonate/hydroxide dosing, even making CO2 scrubbers no longer necessary for good pH. Especially those last two have me question it because their pdfs say it works best in well ventilated rooms. But if you had the luxury of having a well ventilated room, especially in winter, you probably don't have pH problems in the first place. People that use that stuff have badly ventilated rooms and no hope in changing that.

It's not promoted as being easier for people that can't afford/don't want to deal with dosing pumps, it's promoted as being superior in the outcome.

Maybe it really does all that, but skepticism is always good to have

 

[Evo23]

So, as there is a lot of talk shop here, I wanted to have my say.

A good friend of mine is in the FM Reefers Club and had the opportunity to test the bolus method (at his own risk) right at the beginning. He told me about it and in March I decided to give it a try.

Due to the current vibrio problem in Germany, I have not bought any corals, but have left my tank as it is. I light with two Straton Pro 204 and have completely adapted the lighting phase to Bolus. Over the past three months, I have been able to draw the following conclusions:
My consumption has increased. KH and CA are roughly in a ratio of 1:3. My corals are doing great, I have had a ICP Total done every month since the start of the tank, no negative abnormalities. 3 months is not long, I will continue with the system and if nothing serious changes, I will stay with Bolus and recommend it 100%. Had a issue with my PH which is much better since.

Finally, I would like to say the following. Does the “normal known” method work? Yes! It has been successful for years. Should you be open to new things? Yes, when switching from HQI lamps to LED there were numerous critics who predicted disastrous things for LED lamps. Does Fauna Marin want to earn money with the Bolus System? Of course, FM has 45 employees who have to feed their families at the end of the month, nobody will do something like this for free and FM will certainly have had considerable costs in advance.
I find it a bit strange how some users express themselves here.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The question is does it work. A lot of people in germany tested this method and it does…… before attacking the idea maybee give it a chance instead of stating it shouldnt work because xyz.

That's a really sad thing to contemplate. That you don’t care for truth in advertising. That you do not care whether claims are correct or not.

I do care.

 

[Florian_W]

One thing nobody seems to have mentioned is for me what if you have one fail with your dosing pumps
I guess dosing by hand is something that not a lot of people can do because of work… I wouldn’t be able (and willing) to do it by hand
So if you only dose once a day and one day there is a problem and you miss your whole day’s consumption I would say it’s game over…
Tank is on knife’s edge

 

[Florian_W]

That's a really sad thing to contemplate. That you don’t care for truth in advertising. That you do not care whether claims are correct or not.

I do care.

That is the religious aspect I mentioned…

 

[SoNap]

One thing nobody seems to have mentioned is for me what if you have one fail with your dosing pumps
I guess dosing by hand is something that not a lot of people can do because of work… I wouldn’t be able (and willing) to do it by hand
So if you only dose once a day and one day there is a problem and you miss your whole day’s consumption I would say it’s game over…
Tank is on knife’s edge

Sorry but this is simply nonsense.

If your doser has regularly issues I would first of all think about to switch to another doser but let's stick to the case that in some rare situation your doser will maybe miss the shot for one day.
How high is you KH consumption per day?
I would rather say that 1-2 dKH per day is already a lot.
Even if you miss to dose this now for one day and your KH will drop by 1-2 dKH, this doesn't mean necessarily that your tank will crash. Even if you have sensitive Acros in your tank this should not be a real issue at all (at least I heard from a couple of guys having Acros in there tanks that a drop of 1-2 dKH has not completely crashed there tank). It only becomes dangerous when this happens again and again.

 

[Florian_W]

Sorry but this is simply nonsense.

If your doser has regularly issues I would first of all think about to switch to another doser but let's stick to the case that in some rare situation your doser will maybe miss the shot for one day.
How high is you KH consumption per day?
I would rather say that 1-2 dKH per day is already a lot.
Even if you miss to dose this now for one day and your KH will drop by 1-2 dKH, this doesn't mean necessarily that your tank will crash. Even if you have sensitive Acros in your tank this should not be a real issue at all (at least I heard from a couple of guys having Acros in there tanks that a drop of 1-2 dKH has not completely crashed there tank). It only becomes dangerous when this happens again and again.

Man I have a consumption of around 3-4° my tank is stacked wall to wall with acros
So with that bolus I would have to lift from 6° in the morning and then push it up to 10° and let it fall until the next morning… so starting again with around 6°. So if out of some reason (failure, power outage, …) you miss that dosing it’s game over
Equipment will fail

 

[DutchReefer420]

Man I have a consumption of around 3-4° my tank is stacked wall to wall with acros
So with that bolus I would have to lift from 6° in the morning and then push it up to 10° and let it fall until the next morning… so starting again with around 6°. So if out of some reason (failure, power outage, …) you miss that dosing it’s game over
Equipment will fail

Lets just stop speculating on out come….

I’m using bolus dosing 160ML on a stacked 600L sps tank.

1 hour after dosing my dkh is 7.5, 24 hours later my DKH IS STILL 7.5 just before the next dose!!

If your doser fails it wil stop dosing right??
So why would the amount of doses change this… not talking about a power outage

 

[JohannesFFM]

hey randy, did you try this method and recorded the data like many of the german und uk reefers did? The thruth is in the data.

 

[audioTom]

hey randy, did you try this method and recorded the data like many of the german und uk reefers did? The thruth is in the data.

I don't think randy has to prove science to someone who is stating scientific bs. The other way round has to be done: proving the method to work properly with real (!!) scientific data, not just claiming "it works" by someone who is paying FM 199€ to be a "Member" in the FM-Reefersclub.

 

[DutchReefer420]

I don't think randy has to prove science to someone who is stating scientific bs. The other way round has to be done: proving the method to work properly with real (!!) scientific data, not just claiming "it works" by someone who is paying FM 199€ to be a "Member" in the FM-Reefersclub.

I find it a bit strange how some users express themselves here

This is my first time on this US forum
I’m baffeld by how you guys are commenting overhere…. And this is not the only topic ive seen this happen on this forum!!

It blows my mind and its kinda sad

 

[Florian_W]

I find it a bit strange how some users express themselves here

This is my first time on this US forum
I’m baffeld by how you guys are commenting overhere…. And this is not the only topic ive seen this happen on this forum!!

It blows my mind and its kinda sad

I don’t disagree with what you write
But telling someone like RHF to bring the data when you work on good faith is like going to any scientist and tell him something about his field of work and when he asks how you come to that conclusion you ask him to deliver the data for his work…

 

[DutchReefer420]

I don’t disagree with what you write
But telling someone like RHF to bring the data when you work on good faith is like going to any scientist and tell him something about his field of work and when he asks how you come to that conclusion you ask him to deliver the data for his work…

I’m not telling the man anything..

Just outing my results

And for the scientific studies.
Some of these studies have been proven to be totally not relatable to reeftanks.

I dont think reeftanks should be considerd the same as a coral reef in the ocean..
Nature is still doing a better job than us at growing anything.

I’m not trying to say your mans wrong here but a studie is not the end al be all!!

 

[Florian_W]

You don’t have to forget that nobody is telling you that this way won’t work

But the fact that half of the HTU is incorrect and mostly marketing hogwash and that other competitors get dragged down and belittled is also a bad look
And if you claim that this method will save your tanks chemistry and get rid of old tank syndrome all in one you’ve got to prove it somehow with some sort of study and not hear say like this

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

hey randy, did you try this method and recorded the data like many of the german und uk reefers did? The thruth is in the data.

I understand that you do not care if companies make false claims. I do.

My wife’s car has longer range and accelerates faster than mine. It would not be ok for the car company to justify that by claiming there was a nuclear powered motor on two of the wheels that kicks in when needed, giving the longer range and faster acceleration.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

You don’t have to forget that nobody is telling you that this way won’t work

But the fact that half of the HTU is incorrect and mostly marketing hogwash and that other competitors get dragged down and belittled is also a bad look
And if you claim that this method will save your tanks chemistry and get rid of old tank syndrome all in one you’ve got to prove it somehow with some sort of study and not hear say like this

Exactly. I never said there was anything wrong with boosting alk once a day. Higher alk all the time leads to certain benefits, so higher alk in the light cycle and lower alk at night from once a day dosing might be a good plan.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I find it a bit strange how some users express themselves here

This is my first time on this US forum
I’m baffeld by how you guys are commenting overhere…. And this is not the only topic ive seen this happen on this forum!!

It blows my mind and its kinda sad

Well, I cannot comment on any other forum, but the very highest priority in this forum is truth/accuracy.

Are you suggesting that anything I have written is incorrect? I am more than happy to provide additional evidence on any point I made.

As a simple point of fact, many companies provide incorrect information while supporting their products.

The main reason for this forum at all is to sort that all out.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I’m using bolus dosing 160ML on a stacked 600L sps tank.

1 hour after dosing my dkh is 7.5, 24 hours later my DKH IS STILL 7.5 just before the next dose!!

So let’s explore that comment.

I cannot see what you mean by it except that alk never changes in your tank.

When does it ever drop that you need to add anything?

 

[DutchReefer420]

So let’s explore that comment.

I cannot see what you mean by it except that alk never changes in your tank.

When does it ever drop that you need to add anything?

Well to start

As you should have seen, none of these reply’s are focused on you! Atleast you are trying to prove your point!!

And i do not see any truth in just screaming its marketing with out any facts, I do believe you are right in the scientific sence, I’m not so sure if this is always true in a reeftank

I have said times, I’m not trying to prove you wrong…. And I dont know why this keep comming up!!

At last

When do I see a drop in DKH??

This happens when I stop dosing ofcourse also when the comsumption is going up my dkh will start dropping slightly at the end of the day

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

This happens when I stop dosing ofcourse also when the comsumption is going up its dropping slightly at the end of the day

Maybe it’s a translation issue, but you literally wrote that alk is stable for 24 h after dosing. Hence I do not see when it ever drops.