Introduction to dosing

[QuarantinedCorals]

Hi everyone hope you’re doing well. So today I tested my water for the first time and here are my numbers
Calcium: 350
Alkalinity: 7
Ph: 7.8
I have brightwell aquatics calcium, alkalinity and ph ready to be used. I’ve been doing some research on dosing but it’s hard to wrap your head around, anyone have tips for me? I want to start getting my numbers up but I’ve been told that adding one trace element will raise or lower a different trace element. Any advice is much appreciated!

 

[Megability]

Since it sounds like you’re new to this, I’d start with a 2-part system, it’s easy and cheap, like Kent’s or B-ionic...

Just follow directions, equal doses and stick to a schedule, test-repeat...

Honestly after 10 years that’s still about all I do...
(and magnesium, and water changes)

 

[Mikedawg]

Hi everyone hope you’re doing well. So today I tested my water for the first time and here are my numbers
Calcium: 350
Alkalinity: 7
Ph: 7.8
I have brightwell aquatics calcium, alkalinity and ph ready to be used. I’ve been doing some research on dosing but it’s hard to wrap your head around, anyone have tips for me? I want to start getting my numbers up but I’ve been told that adding one trace element will raise or lower a different trace element. Any advice is much appreciated!

Identify your desired water parameters, calculate your total water volume, then how much of each supplement you should add per day to reach/maintain desired water parameters. Next, adjust your current water parameters to reach Alk, Ca and Ph targets. Now, begin daily dosing to maintain them, testing frequently at first. Bulkreefsupply.com has an easy to use protocol to do this for Brightwell products. IMHO, a doser is so much easier and better than doing this by hand. Good luck.

 

[Magellan]

Reef Fusion 1 & 2 works for me, and has Magnesium in it as well. Wouldn’t dose my PH, ever. That will come up with the alk. Try to figure out what your daily consumption of alk (Dkh) is, and go from there. Shoot for 8-8.5 as a good number for your alk, and dose exactly the same amount of Ca. (Ca is dosed first with the reef fusion). Don’t try to move your numbers all at once! Start small, test, and see what’s changing and by how much. Don’t forget to keep doing water changes, that will help stabilize things and get those numbers back closer to NSW.

 

[Dkeller_nc]

The first thing to assess is whether you've correctly analyzed the specific gravity of your tank water. Many budding reefers have incorrectly interpreted their specific gravity, and concluded that their alkalinity/calcium/magnesium numbers are too high or too low as a result.

If your specific gravity is actually correct (1.026), decide on where you want your calcium and alkalinity numbers (many of us choose alk in the 8-10 dKh range and Calcium in the 400 - 450 ppm range), and slowly raise or lower them.

Many on here will tell you this, but nothing good happens quickly in a reef tank.

 

[Billdogg]

It would help if you could give us an idea of what is in the tank. If it is only softies, you really don't need to dose anything, ever. LPS will use some of your Calcium and ALkalinity, SPS and especially clams will gobble it up. Even then, depending on the size of your system and the number of the various corals, your dosing could be anywhere from minimal to lots and lots.

I use BRS bulk Ca, Alk, and Mg combined with their 1.1ml dosers for the Ca and Alk. IME, Mg needs to be added so rarely that it just doesn't make sense to mess with a third dosing pump.

And FWIW - the VERY last thing you want to do is keep checking your pH. Chasing any specific number there will not only throw off the others, the effect will be at best temporary.

 

[QuarantinedCorals]

Since it sounds like you’re new to this, I’d start with a 2-part system, it’s easy and cheap, like Kent’s or B-ionic...

Just follow directions, equal doses and stick to a schedule, test-repeat...

Honestly after 10 years that’s still about all I do...
(and magnesium, and water changes)

I appreciate the advice, I already bought the brightwell aquatics alk, ph, and calcium so I wanted to use those and decide at that point whether or not I would want to switch to the 2 part dosing. I would love to understand how dosing certain trace elements would affect other trace elements.

 

[QuarantinedCorals]

Identify your desired water parameters, calculate your total water volume, then how much of each supplement you should add per day to reach/maintain desired water parameters. Next, adjust your current water parameters to reach Alk, Ca and Ph targets. Now, begin daily dosing to maintain them, testing frequently at first. Bulkreefsupply.com has an easy to use protocol to do this for Brightwell products. IMHO, a doser is so much easier and better than doing this by hand. Good luck.

So what numbers are going to be ideal for me? I would love to incorporate all kinds of corals into my tank, currently I have a bunch of softies in my tank and I would love to start adding in some lps and sps because I love the colors they can bring to the tank. I have a 55 gallon tank but im not sure how many gallons are actually in the tank after adding the rock and sand.

 

[QuarantinedCorals]

Reef Fusion 1 & 2 works for me, and has Magnesium in it as well. Wouldn’t dose my PH, ever. That will come up with the alk. Try to figure out what your daily consumption of alk (Dkh) is, and go from there. Shoot for 8-8.5 as a good number for your alk, and dose exactly the same amount of Ca. (Ca is dosed first with the reef fusion). Don’t try to move your numbers all at once! Start small, test, and see what’s changing and by how much. Don’t forget to keep doing water changes, that will help stabilize things and get those numbers back closer to NSW.

Thanks I appreciate the advice, I was trying to get an understanding of how dosing trace elements can affect others. For example I want to raise my calcium to 480ppm, so how can I start raising my calcium level without affect my alk or ph? I know calcium will have an affect on the other trace elements, I want to know how it will affect them so I can predict the changes so I dont cause a spike in a different trace element while trying to raise my calcium.

 

[QuarantinedCorals]

The first thing to assess is whether you've correctly analyzed the specific gravity of your tank water. Many budding reefers have incorrectly interpreted their specific gravity, and concluded that their alkalinity/calcium/magnesium numbers are too high or too low as a result.

If your specific gravity is actually correct (1.026), decide on where you want your calcium and alkalinity numbers (many of us choose alk in the 8-10 dKh range and Calcium in the 400 - 450 ppm range), and slowly raise or lower them.

Many on here will tell you this, but nothing good happens quickly in a reef tank.

Im not sure what my numbers need to be at, I have soft corals and I want to start incorporating a lot more lps and sps into my tank which will start to increase the rate at which calcium is being consumed. My main objective is understanding how trace elements affect each other, for example if I dose some calcium, will it raise my ph or alk?

 

[Magellan]

no need to go that high with Ca, try to get it around 420-430. Dosing Ca without also dosing Dkh will lower your alk, that’s why 2 part is a thing. You don’t want to do anything too quickly, once you start your dosing regimen, keep up with your water changes and those numbers should find their happy balance.

 

[QuarantinedCorals]

It would help if you could give us an idea of what is in the tank. If it is only softies, you really don't need to dose anything, ever. LPS will use some of your Calcium and ALkalinity, SPS and especially clams will gobble it up. Even then, depending on the size of your system and the number of the various corals, your dosing could be anywhere from minimal to lots and lots.

I use BRS bulk Ca, Alk, and Mg combined with their 1.1ml dosers for the Ca and Alk. IME, Mg needs to be added so rarely that it just doesn't make sense to mess with a third dosing pump.

And FWIW - the VERY last thing you want to do is keep checking your pH. Chasing any specific number there will not only throw off the others, the effect will be at best temporary.

I have a bunch of soft coral now but want to incorporate more sps and lps into my tank so before I do that I definitely want to understand dosing and get a hang of keeping my numbers stable before I add more calcium eating corals. I have a 55 gallon tank so im not planning on stuffing it to the brim with corals but I want a good mix of sps, lps, and softies. Im not sure how dosing some trace elements affects the others, thats what I would like to understand the most so I can predict the changes in other trace elements so I dont bomb my tank by accident.

 

[QuarantinedCorals]

no need to go that high with Ca, try to get it around 420-430. Dosing Ca without also dosing Dkh will lower your alk, that’s why 2 part is a thing. You don’t want to do anything too quickly, once you start your dosing regimen, keep up with your water changes and those numbers should find their happy balance.

The bottle for calcium says one cap full is good for 50 gallons of water, I was thinking of adding one cap of it to my tank to see how it affects my calcium level. I can even go with half a cap to see what it does, I need to raise my numbers so I dont think adding calcium will drop anything else will it?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thanks I appreciate the advice, I was trying to get an understanding of how dosing trace elements can affect others. For example I want to raise my calcium to 480ppm, so how can I start raising my calcium level without affect my alk or ph? I know calcium will have an affect on the other trace elements, I want to know how it will affect them so I can predict the changes so I dont cause a spike in a different trace element while trying to raise my calcium.

Any calcium only supplement will not impact alk or pH.
Also, none of these are trace elements. Trace elements are things that by definition are naturally super low. Such as iron or manganese.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

This article of mine should help:

Optimal Parameters for a Coral Reef Aquarium: By Randy Holmes-Farley

[note: edited on 5/29/2022 to update the nitrate and phosphate sections with higher recommended levels.] One of the main roles of an aquarist with a coral reef aquarium is to ensure that the conditions are right for their tank inhabitants. There are many different attributes of the aquarium...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[QuarantinedCorals]

Any calcium only supplement will not impact alk or pH.
Also, none of these are trace elements. Trace elements are things that by definition are naturally super low. Such as iron or manganese.

Oh okay thanks Randy I appreciate the info!

 

[Billdogg]

I have a bunch of soft coral now but want to incorporate more sps and lps into my tank so before I do that I definitely want to understand dosing and get a hang of keeping my numbers stable before I add more calcium eating corals. I have a 55 gallon tank so im not planning on stuffing it to the brim with corals but I want a good mix of sps, lps, and softies. Im not sure how dosing some trace elements affects the others, thats what I would like to understand the most so I can predict the changes in other trace elements so I dont bomb my tank by accident.

In addition to the eventual need for dosing the big three (Ca, Alk, Mg), with the mix of soft and stony corals you are planning on you should be prepared to run carbon and have a good skimmer. The turpines secreted by the soft corals will have a very negative effect on the stony corals. (google "Alleopathy") You will be best served by using a reactor of one sort or another. I have couple of TLF 150's that work well, in addition to a few BRS reactors.