Dosing a tank

[Alexnyc22]

This may seem like a stupid question but here it goes. I've had a saltwater tank for about 9 months now and i always see people talking about dosing their tanks. Ive never dosed or been given a reason to dose, is this more for coral growth or what is this for? Once again pardon the ignorance.

 

[Jim]

Dosing is for coral growth. As the the demand increases for coral growth you will need to add supplements such as calcium and alkalinity. And sometimes magnesium. In smaller systems this can usually be achieved by water changes. If you need to dose, you should first buy the appropriate test kits to find out what your demand is.

 

[NYreefNoob]

3

+1 what I tell people to do to find out consumption is test alk, cal and mag before you do a wc, then re-test a day after change, do not dose anything during this process, do the same thing over a month period, you will figure out what your system is using, make sure to write down everytime you test so you have a refferance point, do understand as you start to add corals this usuage will change

 

[lrasser]

following along. I've been doing reefs for over 10 years but have only recently started getting in SPS on my 125g. My alk and cal stay steady at 8 and 400. I've been wondering when i'll need to make that move also. Looking into an Apex and dosing. I think my head is going to explode soon!

 

[ReefWreak]

I agree you should only dose if you have a reason AND you are testing your parameters. If neither, don't dose.

Not sure how I feel about the water change testing recommendation though. I would recommend testing after a water change, then testing before the next one (assuming everything else on the tank is constant). Also assuming you do regular water changes. In this manner you can figure out your tanks use of calcium, alkalinity, and possibly magnesium (the only things you should be dosing specifically imo, and absolutely for any non-expert.)

I've just started dosing my new cube because my instant ocean water change tested at ~7dkh alk and 400 ppm calcium. I want them to be closer to 9dkh and 440-460 ppm calcium to promote sps growth, which I've recently started adding.

I'm relatively new to these boards specifically, and my tank is about 4 weeks old, but I have had a long presence on Reefcentral when I had my sps dominated 120 for a number of years.