Dosing nutrients questions

[Uzair Aiman]

Hi. Im planning to add SPS corals to my tank soon. Ive come to realise after some researching that I need to ensure my Alk, Calcium and Magnesium should be on point.

For now, I only have and Alk tester which reads around 7 before a water change and at 8dkh after a water change.
People say that those levels are considered low and fluctuate too much.
Im planning to dose Tropic Marins All For Reef manually since I dont have a doser and I prefer doing things manually as it makes me fall inlove with my tank more.

How do I dose it? (if I were to dose it to 8-9dkh for the whole week, after a water change, wouldnt it spike up?)
What levels should I shoot for for Alk, Calcium and Magnesium?
How long should I keep it "stable" there until I can add SPS corals?

Any other tips are welcomed. Thank you in advanced

 

[PBar]

Hello,
Alk at 7 is not a problem. My concern is the difference compared to your water change.
To make things easier, I would keep the tank alk the same as the salt that you use for TPA.
(which salt do you normally use?)

Besides, test your alk everyday (at the same time) and check if you can keep it stable for at least 3 weeks… that could be good start.
(Attention to the test kit that you use!)

I keep mine at 7.5 (with fluctuations of 0.2).

I use AFR to keep the normal levels, but to adjust the alk, I use Red Sea KH.
If you want to go manually, I would try to split the dose during the day if possible.

For calcium and magnesium… the range is rather big… and shouldn’t be a big concern in the beginning.

Good luck!

 

[Wasabiroot]

I would also measure your alk for 3 consecutive days (in the morning) to calculate usage of your corals. This will let you dial in your first dose amount

 

[Uzair Aiman]

Hello,
Alk at 7 is not a problem. My concern is the difference compared to your water change.
To make things easier, I would keep the tank alk the same as the salt that you use for TPA.
(which salt do you normally use?)

Besides, test your alk everyday (at the same time) and check if you can keep it stable for at least 3 weeks… that could be good start.
(Attention to the test kit that you use!)

I keep mine at 7.5 (with fluctuations of 0.2).

I use AFR to keep the normal levels, but to adjust the alk, I use Red Sea KH.
If you want to go manually, I would try to split the dose during the day if possible.

For calcium and magnesium… the range is rather big… and shouldn’t be a big concern in the beginning.

Good luck!

View attachment 2335894

First of all, BEAUTIFUL TANK! Bare bottom and full of corals!


I guess 7 alk is not my concern now thanks to you.
Also, What is TPA? Sorry im still new to this hobby.

So, what I should do is, Test alk everyday at the same time to see the fluctuations at a certain time everyday and see how much the tank consumes each day?

If lets say, I see that today the alk is 7, and the next day I test it, and its 6dkh (as an example, i know its extreme), Should I dose it to 7 again right away?

I use Cove Pro salt.
How do I split it on the daily? Should I dose like half of the amount in the morning and half at night? Sorry Ive got too many questions

 

[Uzair Aiman]

I would also measure your alk for 3 consecutive days (in the morning) to calculate usage of your corals. This will let you dial in your first dose amount

Alright, I would start tomorrow, after water change. Then Id test on Monday, Tuesday, etc til the end of the week at the same time every day and see how much my corals consume

 

[attiland]

Hello,
Alk at 7 is not a problem. My concern is the difference compared to your water change.
To make things easier, I would keep the tank alk the same as the salt that you use for TPA.
(which salt do you normally use?)

Besides, test your alk everyday (at the same time) and check if you can keep it stable for at least 3 weeks… that could be good start.
(Attention to the test kit that you use!)

I keep mine at 7.5 (with fluctuations of 0.2).

I use AFR to keep the normal levels, but to adjust the alk, I use Red Sea KH.
If you want to go manually, I would try to split the dose during the day if possible.

For calcium and magnesium… the range is rather big… and shouldn’t be a big concern in the beginning.

Good luck!

View attachment 2335894

I actually sett AFR dosing to calcium levels to be where it should be but the results are the same. All gets more stable. I wouldn’t do it by hand but that is just me.

 

[Uzair Aiman]

I actually sett AFR dosing to calcium levels to be where it should be but the results are the same. All gets more stable. I wouldn’t do it by hand but that is just me.

So, what you’re trying to say here is, you try to stabilise calcium more than alk and the swings in Alk isn’t the most important thing to consider?

 

[Wasabiroot]

The swing in alk is the most important, followed by calcium then magnesium. Often the three ions are related to one another in solution so adjusting alk can adjust the other 2 slightly. I would mainly focus on alk and then monitor Calc and mag as it goes down, as it's used less by corals.

 

[Wasabiroot]

Alright, I would start tomorrow, after water change. Then Id test on Monday, Tuesday, etc til the end of the week at the same time every day and see how much my corals consume

Basically. 3 days should be sufficient to get a moving average. You may find you can keep up with usage with just water changes, but gotta check first.

 

[Uzair Aiman]

Basically. 3 days should be sufficient to get a moving average. You may find you can keep up with usage with just water changes, but gotta check first.

I would not try to stabilise my nutrients with water changes as I’ve heard that water changes are the most expensive kind of maintenance. I’ll try to see how much it fluctuates and will try AFR to stabilise the Alk throughout the week then. So stabilising Alk will technically stabilise the other two simultaneously am I correct?

 

[Wasabiroot]

I would not try to stabilise my nutrients with water changes as I’ve heard that water changes are the most expensive kind of maintenance. I’ll try to see how much it fluctuates and will try AFR to stabilise the Alk throughout the week then. So stabilising Alk will technically stabilise the other two simultaneously am I correct?

That's fair! I really mean that I wouldn't try to chase the calcium and magnesium too much, just test for it periodically as magnesium drops about 1/10th as fast as alkalinity. You can still dose to maintain both but alk is the big one the other two revolve around. This all of course depends in your livestock. If you had a clam for example I would keep a much closer eye on calcium.

 

[Uzair Aiman]

That's fair! I really mean that I wouldn't try to chase the calcium and magnesium too much, just test for it periodically as magnesium drops about 1/10th as fast as alkalinity. You can still dose to maintain both but alk is the big one the other two revolve around. This all of course depends in your livestock. If you had a clam for example I would keep a much closer eye on calcium.

Oof, I do have a clam. It’s not big though and he’s doing great now. What shall I do to ensure that everything will be stable? Say that calcium drops fast but Alk is still in the range of “okay”. Should I stabilise the calcium with AFR?

 

[Wasabiroot]

I wouldn't overthink it too much. Check your usage for alk and calcium and calibrate your dose of all for reef based on that. I'm sure there is a calculator you can use.
Aim for 400-450 ppm calcium

 

[Uzair Aiman]

I wouldn't overthink it too much. Check your usage for alk and calcium and calibrate your dose of all for reef based on that. I'm sure there is a calculator you can use.
Aim for 400-450 ppm calcium

alrightey then! Thank you so much for the info!

 

[attiland]

So, what you’re trying to say here is, you try to stabilise calcium more than alk and the swings in Alk isn’t the most important thing to consider?

No. In AFR alk is showing off later than calcium. Wit certain calcium levels alk will be always in a certain level. It may or may not suits your plans but you can always supplement what you need.
I ended up supplementing mg and alk to AFR as in this way I get a nice horizontal line in my levels.
if I would add as much AFR than how much alkalinity I want calcium would be over the roof.

 

[ZoWhat]

SPS.... as in Acros?

IMO hopefully you have your maintenance and husbandry skills nailed down. STN comes directly out of inconsistencies in your routines

Growing Acros is like walking along the razors edge on the side of a mountain for a very long time. Everyone stops and clings onto a rock for dear life and screams for help when your Acro starts dying from the bottom up

 

[Yazreef]

Growing acro's is not that difficult. If you plan on taking care of your reef you will be fine.
Just dose your 2 part equally in the span of the day( recommend a auto doser) since a 1dkh drop can't b e doser all at once. I would dose at night since KH will help you pH to stay elevated as well. The minute the light turn on in the morning your tank will have that 8dkh to be consumer during that day( 1dkh in this case)

 

[PBar]

Hello,
I would assume that your daily consumption should be low for now. As such, just start with half of the minimum recommendation of All For Reef and check it everyday until you finally manage to keep it really stable for weeks.

No jumps! If you want to increase or decrease, do it in the course of a week.


Not of my business, but I suggest you to hold yourself before buying your first sps.
Acroporas are not rocket science but are far from easy as well.

First, make sure that you can keep the tank stable…
Use this period that you are trying to stabilise your alk to read and search more and more.

Remember, dosing is just the tip of the iceberg for acros… still have flow, light, temperature, ph, phosphate, nitrate…
This will be a patience game, therefore no rush allowed!
It is already trick to keep them if one of these elements above are not fine or stable… i don’t have to tell you what happens if more than one element are not ok

Best of luck!!

 

[Uzair Aiman]

No. In AFR alk is showing off later than calcium. Wit certain calcium levels alk will be always in a certain level. It may or may not suits your plans but you can always supplement what you need.
I ended up supplementing mg and alk to AFR as in this way I get a nice horizontal line in my levels.
if I would add as much AFR than how much alkalinity I want calcium would be over the roof.

ah I see, so with AFR it’s easier to overdose calcium if I were to chase the Alk levels! I’ll keep that in mind and try my best to stabilise everything and dose accordingly if I should. Thanks!

 

[Uzair Aiman]

SPS.... as in Acros?

IMO hopefully you have your maintenance and husbandry skills nailed down. STN comes directly out of inconsistencies in your routines

Growing Acros is like walking along the razors edge on the side of a mountain for a very long time. Everyone stops and clings onto a rock for dear life and screams for help when your Acro starts dying from the bottom up

I’m not sure if this’ll justify my plans but… not acros yet. I know acros are the pinnacle of all corals but I’ll stay away from it for now. I’m planning to add birds nest or montis first. I know it’s still not as easy as other corals but I’ve heard that it’s not as hard as acros.