When to start dosing?

[Stinson Beach Aquatics]

Hello! As a beginner to saltwater, I am curious at what point should I begin to invest in dosing equipment (solutions, pumps, testers, etc) after first setting up a tank. I will likely be ordering a tank soon and I was wondering if you all think it is better to invest in all necessary dosing equipment now and be fully set up, or to wait until after I begin to have corals established after cycling, adding fish, etc.

Thank you in advance!

 

[Spare time]

Basically when your typical water change schedule doesn't keep up with demand. I would get an alk and calcium test kit at some point when you have coralline or stony corals

 

[Stinson Beach Aquatics]

What about magnesium?

 

[Spare time]

What about magnesium?

Magnesium testing is a far third place. I wouldn't bother until you start to get a lot of corals. If you dose something like all for reef, you may not really even need to test it any more than once a month or less. I usually tested it once a month on my larger tank.

 

[Stinson Beach Aquatics]

Also, would it be more beneficial to get a phosphate checker instead of a nitrate checker?

 

[Stinson Beach Aquatics]

And thank you very much for the great info!

 

[Formulator]

Save your money. It will be at least 6 months, probably longer until you have a significant enough demand to justify it. Unless you are one of those wealthy folks who plans to immediately stock your tank with hundreds of frags, but even then it will be a few months before they really start to grow. Nothing wrong with being rich btw. I just think most people probably build their coral stock over time.

Even if you do need to dose in a few months, it will be very minor adjustments every few days and you can just measure and pour into a powerhead. Dosing pumps and automation are probably at least a year away.

 

[Spare time]

Also, would it be more beneficial to get a phosphate checker instead of a nitrite checker?

The phosphate ulr or phosphorus ulr are very, very handy. The HR nitrate checker is nice but you can get away with something cheaper like the nyos test. I assumed you meant nitrate not nitrite.

 

[Stevorino]

Assuming this is your first tank and it's not absolutely massive.....

Water changes will be totally sufficient for quite some time, probably over a year.

I'd go spend your budget elsewhere.

Also, dosing can be done a lot of different ways. The setup you'd buy early on would be totally different than what you would buy after you have the tank running a while and better understand your own husbandry.

In other words, the longer you wait to buy it, the more likely it is to fit your reefing style.

 

[Formulator]

The phosphate ulr or phosphorus ulr are very, very handy. The HR nitrate checker is nice but you can get away with something cheaper like the nyos test. I assumed you meant nitrate not nitrite.

Very handy, but IMO a huge PITA to prep the sample. For regular testing I prefer the salifert tests. If I’m troubleshooting a problem, I’ll pull out the Hannah tester.

 

[Stinson Beach Aquatics]

Good to know! Thank you!

 

[PharmrJohn]

Hello! As a beginner to saltwater, I am curious at what point should I begin to invest in dosing equipment (solutions, pumps, testers, etc) after first setting up a tank. I will likely be ordering a tank soon and I was wondering if you all think it is better to invest in all necessary dosing equipment now and be fully set up, or to wait until after I begin to have corals established after cycling, adding fish, etc.

Thank you in advance!

Well, there are a few different ways of doing this. With me, I have a goal set for my tank and I have a solid idea of what I'll need 6 months from now, a year, even 5 years from now. So I'm choosing to buy that which I feel is going to be needed for the first 2 years. Some of the equipment will be set up, but will not all will be brought online until I deem it necessary. The only things I'm not buying right off the bat are the lights (I have an old T5 set up with bulbs) the CO2 Scrubber and a Neptune system. With lighting, the tech may change in 2 years and I have MANY options for CO2 issues that need to be explored first. And Neptune (or another company) may come out with something new and improved. But, as mentioned, it's A LOT of money outgoing all at once. Call me lazy, but I don't want to be fiddling with my system continuously adding this and adding that down the road. I want it out of the way.

 

[Formulator]

I don't want to be fiddling with my system continuously adding this and adding that

Let me know how that goes for you

 

[PharmrJohn]

Let me know how that goes for you

Yeah, I know. It's a dream I have LOL!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Also, would it be more beneficial to get a phosphate checker instead of a nitrate checker?

I use salifert for both nitrate and phosphate