Dosing

[cleaner_shrimp]

I am a newer reefer and i set up my tank March of 2021. It’s a fluval 13.5 and I have about 13 corals. My corals are growing fast and I need to start dosing. I’m using fritz rpm calcium, mag, and alk. I need to bring them up but I’m so far off I don’t know how much I can add to bring levels at once. My parameters are-

alk 115
Calcium 303
Mag 1373
Ph 7.9

I have done one dose of calcium and alk but the calcium needs to be at 420-450 but the fritz says on the back not to use more than 10ml of the calcium but it only adds 14ppm to my tank. I need so much more than that and quick. Can I do more than that? And also with alkalinity I did one dose and it says it raises by about 1.06 dkh. Do I have to dose that same amount everyday or less than that?

 

[nereefpat]

Alk of 115 = 6.4 dKH. That's lower than most of us keep it, but not that much lower than natural seawater. The goal is to not have too large of 'swings.' I wouldn't dose more than about 0.5 dKH at a time. Some tanks do use more than that in a day, so most of us gradually dose throughout the day. You'll have to slowly get it up to where you want it, and then either calculate daily consumption or use trial and error while testing daily.

Ca of 303 is pretty low. How are you measuring that? 380 would be my lowest recommendation. 50ppm or so at a time is fine.

Mg is high enough. No reason to dose that.

 

[cleaner_shrimp]

Alk of 115 = 6.4 dKH. That's lower than most of us keep it, but not that much lower than natural seawater. The goal is to not have too large of 'swings.' I wouldn't dose more than about 0.5 dKH at a time. Some tanks do use more than that in a day, so most of us gradually dose throughout the day. You'll have to slowly get it up to where you want it, and then either calculate daily consumption or use trial and error while testing daily.

Ca of 303 is pretty low. How are you measuring that? 380 would be my lowest recommendation. 50ppm or so at a time is fine.

Mg is high enough. No reason to dose that.

I need to get my alk up to about 8.5. And guessing since I did a adjustment dose last night my alk is probably around 7.5 ish. I can’t exactly gradually dose throughout the day because I do it by hand when I can because I have school. Tonight when I dose calcium I will do 50ppm and I dose alk and calcium a good time apart from each other. Also what do you mean by measure calcium? Like how much i need to dose or..

 

[cleaner_shrimp]

I need to get my alk up to about 8.5. And guessing since I did a adjustment dose last night my alk is probably around 7.5 ish. I can’t exactly gradually dose throughout the day because I do it by hand when I can because I have school. Tonight when I dose calcium I will do 50ppm and I dose alk and calcium a good time apart from each other. Also what do you mean by measure calcium? Like how much i need to dose or..

Actually alk was this morning calcium was at night

 

[Jekyl]

Shouldn't be raising alk more than 1.4dkh per day. Best to find out how much of each nutrient your tank uses daily and dose that much each day.

 

[cleaner_shrimp]

Shouldn't be raising alk more than 1.4dkh per day. Best to find out how much of each nutrient your tank uses daily and dose that much each day.

I need to raise my params to the levels they should be then I will figure out how much they use daily. Also I raised alk by 1.0 this morning. Hope that’s not to much per day.

 

[arking_mark]

Rule of thumb is not to raise alk by more than about 0.25dKH at a time. Most Alk products dosing ml recommendations convert to that amount of dKH.

 

[nereefpat]

I need to get my alk up to about 8.5.

If you want to, sure. I aim for about 7.

Also what do you mean by measure calcium? Like how much i need to dose or..

I meant what kit are you using to measure Ca in the tank? 303 is really low, unless salinity is low. I would guess salinity is fine, with Mg being that high.

 

[cleaner_shrimp]

If you want to, sure. I aim for about 7.

I meant what kit are you using to measure Ca in the tank? 303 is really low, unless salinity is low. I would guess salinity is fine, with Mg being that high.

I’m not sure because it was my lfs super water tester machine. It was a little grey box with a screen. Salinity is 1.026 constant

 

[gbroadbridge]

I am a newer reefer and i set up my tank March of 2021. It’s a fluval 13.5 and I have about 13 corals. My corals are growing fast and I need to start dosing. I’m using fritz rpm calcium, mag, and alk. I need to bring them up but I’m so far off I don’t know how much I can add to bring levels at once. My parameters are-

alk 115
Calcium 303
Mag 1373
Ph 7.9

I have done one dose of calcium and alk but the calcium needs to be at 420-450 but the fritz says on the back not to use more than 10ml of the calcium but it only adds 14ppm to my tank. I need so much more than that and quick. Can I do more than that? And also with alkalinity I did one dose and it says it raises by about 1.06 dkh. Do I have to dose that same amount everyday or less than that?

Your Alk is a little low, but nothing to worry about. I run my tank at around 7.5.

Ca is also a little low, just bring it up to 380-400 slowly.

Making rapid changes will stress and maybe kill the coral, so don't do that.

A good rule of thumb for Mg is 3 x Ca reading, so that is okay.

Graham.

 

[nereefpat]

I’m not sure because it was my lfs super water tester machine. It was a little grey box with a screen. Salinity is 1.026 constant

I would double check it with some type of wet (bench) chemistry kit. A titration one, like Red Sea or Salifert or API. That 303 value is really suspect.

 

[cleaner_shrimp]

Your Alk is a little low, but nothing to worry about. I run my tank at around 7.5.

Ca is also a little low, just bring it up to 380-400 slowly.

Making rapid changes will stress and maybe kill the coral, so don't do that.

A good rule of thumb for Mg is 3 x Ca reading, so that is okay.

Graham.

Hmm. I’ve been told I can raise calcium by about 50ppm at a time. And also alk I don’t know what to do because one of my lfs says to dose alk in morning and calcium at night. And I can’t gradually dose throughout the day. I followed the instructions on the fritz and it says not to do more than 10ml in 10 gallons which is 1.00dkh. And I did that dose. There are so many different opinions and suggestions I’m getting super confused

 

[gbroadbridge]

Hmm. I’ve been told I can raise calcium by about 50ppm at a time. And also alk I don’t know what to do because one of my lfs says to dose alk in morning and calcium at night. And I can’t gradually dose throughout the day. I followed the instructions on the fritz and it says not to do more than 10ml in 10 gallons which is 1.00dkh. And I did that dose. There are so many different opinions and suggestions I’m getting super confused

Don't stress. What you've done is fine.

Good rule to remember is to not panic and make changes slowly. It took a while for your params to drift down so it's okay to raise them slowly as well. Coral's can take a week or more to respond to changes.

1 dKh per day is a recognised max dose, slower is better but only really delicate corals like acropora will freak out at the max dose.

 

[cleaner_shrimp]

Don't stress. What you've done is fine.

Good rule to remember is to not panic and make changes slowly. It took a while for your params to drift down so it's okay to raise them slowly as well. Coral's can take a week or more to respond to changes.

1 dKh per day is a recognised max dose, slower is better but only really delicate corals like acropora will freak out at the max dose.

I don’t have anything like that in my tank. I would say the most sensitive is a Goni and it’s losing tissue because it won’t come out and I e wondered if it was my params and it was.