Diluting Supplements: bad idea?

[jbdreefs]

So I have a small tank, 20 gallons or so. I have been manually dosing it for 6 months now... And it is getting old and while I have kept the routine fairly consistent, a doser would step my stability up a bit.

I have never used a doser and I am concerned about over dosing the tank, so I started considering ways to mitigate this risk. I use the BRS two-part solution and I only use about 5 ml per day of calcium and Alk. If my doser has an error of 1 ml, that is 20% of the total for the day.

Can I dilute my solutions with RO/DI water? This would enable me to dose 10 ml per day, if diluted by half, and a 1 ml variance is only a 10% error.

Maybe I am over thinking this. I just think a diluted solution would allow for greater dosing variance with less impact and also allow for a more even dosing regimen (5 ml twice a day vs 5 ml once a day).

Thoughts?

 

[bcavalli]

If the Doser is calibrated correctly you shouldn't have any problems. But, you can dilute the mix to raise the dosage amount since you dose such a small amount. John, I'll be selling my Jaebo Doser in a few weeks once I get my calcium reactor up and running.

 

[porpoiseaquatics]

So if you dilute but never have an error, you're under dosing. What's the point of dosing then? As Brett notes....if you use a good quality dosing pump that is calibrated correctly, your chances of over-dosing are minimal.

 

[jbdreefs]

porpoiseaquatics;1033722 wrote: So if you dilute but never have an error, you're under dosing. What's the point of dosing then? As Brett notes....if you use a good quality dosing pump that is calibrated correctly, your chances of over-dosing are minimal.

The thought was to dilute and dose more. For instance, I would dose 10 ml of a 50% diluted solution and it would be equivalent to dosing 5 ml of the original solution.

Under dosing and overdosing would be a product of errors by the equipment and in my estimates of the tank's needs. Dosing a diluted solution just provides more of a tolerance for errors made by the equipment.

 

[jbdreefs]

Bcavalli;1033719 wrote: If the Doser is calibrated correctly you shouldn't have any problems. But, you can dilute the mix to raise the dosage amount since you dose such a small amount. John, I'll be selling my Jaebo Doser in a few weeks once I get my calcium reactor up and running.

Thanks Brett. I actually bought a jebao doser a while ago and I'm thinking about using it on my small tank. It's not doing anything but collecting dust as I make progress on the new build.

From talking to you before, I think you have confidence in this doser. Do you think it can handle dosing such small quantities? Like 2 ml three times a day?

 

[jbdreefs]

On a side note, where can I get the silicone tubing to use with my doser?

 

[declanisadog]

JBDreefs;1033730 wrote: Thanks Brett. I actually bought a jebao doser a while ago and I'm thinking about using it on my small tank. It's not doing anything but collecting dust as I make progress on the new build.

From talking to you before, I think you have confidence in this doser. Do you think it can handle dosing such small quantities? Like 2 ml three times a day?

I dose vodka with mine, and it seems to work fine.

 

[bcavalli]

JBDreefs;1033732 wrote: On a side note, where can I get the silicone tubing to use with my doser?

I bought the tubing from BRS. But, I'm sure it's available locally. Since your dose is so small, I would just dose 1 or 2 doses a day.

Dust it off and get it doing the work for you.