Dosing unit arrived, how much to dose.

[bkostuch]

Just got the Jebao dp-4 doser today, I'm going to calibrate it this weekend but then comes the big question. How much should I be dosing and how often? Should I look at the from a weekly level and see what the consumption of Mag/calcium/Alk is the dose accordingly?

What is everyone else using as guidelines?


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[bcavalli]

barry_keith;1041225 wrote: Test you calcium and alkalinity tomorrow, and then again twenty four hours later. This will tell you what your tank is consuming daily. From there pull up a reef calculator and select for the particular brand of two part you're using(brs, seachem, ect), so that you know how many ml of each to dose daily to keep levels stable. When I used dosing pumps I would dose several times throughout the day, as opposed to once.

+1 I would test both Calcium and Alkalinity for a couple days at the same time every day. Then you will have an average of your daily consumption.

I dose 10 hours of Alkalinity during the night starting at the peak of your pH level (generally when your lights go out for the night). That will help stabilize the pH level overnight. Then two hours after the Alkalinity dosing is finished, I start a 10 hour dosing schedule of Calcium.
I manually dose magnesium twice a month after testing first.

I use Bulk reef supply's calculator since I use their 2 part products to determine the daily dosage.

 

[picoreefguy]

also make sure to keep testing don't just set it and forget. id say test at least once a month to make sure your needs haven't changed. as your tank matures and your corals grow they will consume more and more calcium and alkalinity so you will need to adjust your dosing accordingly

 

[wildernets]

I'd add that you start small and only make small changes. Also continue to test often. As your corals pick up in growth rate they will consume resources faster and thus consume resources faster. Also they will have periods when they do not use as much. Just keep an eye on it. It is far from a set it and forget it tool.

 

[sewer urchin]

Dosing unit arrived, how much to dose.

All of it.... the trick is not to do it at once spread it out over a period of time. ;-)

There is some great advice posted here already so I won't repeat it. Only other thing that I can recommend is to use small containers to hold supplements until you trust you doser, they will fail it's just a matter of when.

If you mix your own, make a gallon or what ever the directions call for, but only hook up a pint or quart container. That way if it fails in the on position you don't have a gallon of 2 part in your tank. Only hooking up a weeks supply works for me.

 

[i_luv_coral]

Less is more.

 

[picoreefguy]

Sewer Urchin;1041417 wrote: All of it.... the trick is not to do it at once spread it out over a period of time. ;-)

There is some great advice posted here already so I won't repeat it. Only other thing that I can recommend is to use small containers to hold supplements until you trust you doser, they will fail it's just a matter of when.

If you mix your own, make a gallon or what ever the directions call for, but only hook up a pint or quart container. That way if it fails in the on position you don't have a gallon of 2 part in your tank. Only hooking up a weeks supply works for me.

^probably the best advise yet. ive seen disasters from putting a gallon on it right from the start.