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B-Ionic Calcium & Alk 2 Part

Franko said:
Vincent...in my reef keeping experience, it is not that there are huge sudden swings on a day to day basis. You are right when that happens there is either a problem or a bunch of critters are removed or added. But even it what seems like a stable ecosystem (if we can call a tank that) there are changes. Fish get bigger, corals get bigger, equipment gets old or new equipment is added. The air we and the tank breathes changes with the seasons. The water, even when run through and ro/di filter is not always the same. There is just an endless amount of stuff influencing the tank and its needs and its chemistry. If automatic dosing was the answer to to maintaining a stable tank everyone would be doing it and we wouldn't have the "why is my stuff dying" threads all over these boards. I choose to dose by hand because it works better for me.
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Different strokes, different folks.

Can a tank be successful when dosed by hand? Absolutely! Examples abound! Same goes for tanks with automatic dosing. I find the most success when a tank is stable. And a dosing pump gives me that stability. My doser is set to dose every 10 mins 24 hrs a day. This keeps a constant influx of Alk to offset what is taken up by the corals. As such, when I test in late morning or late afternoon, the levels are very very close.

While fish get bigger and corals do grow but we are talking months before any substantial change needs to be made to a dosing schedule. If testing is done regularly, trends can be seen and if you see an upturn in Alk and Ca intake, a simple adjustment to the amount dosed is all that is needed.

Water run through a ro/di should be exactly the same every time. Why else would we run it through all those filters!?! 0 TDS is 0 TDS. The only fluctuations that may occur are dissolved gases, higher levels of CO2 can affect PH but that is why we don't chase PH.

There ARE a lot of stuff that can influence a tank's chemistry. Which is why we work to minimize those influences. All the changes you give examples of are not drastic changes that would affect how much you dose on a day to day basis. Or even week to week. Any changes will be noted through regular testing and it will be a gradual change which will allow you time to adjust accordingly.

Automatic dosing is not the end all to achieving a stable tank. Just like there isn't a fixed number in the parameters that will guarantee you a successful reef tank but a range. Fish and coral are animals and are usually very adaptable. Of course there are some that absolutely has to have their environment at a specific set of paramets but in general, you can run salinity at 1.025 or 1.026 or 1.024, temp can be 74 deg or 77 deg or 80 deg! Like to run your LEDs are 100%, a slow acclimation will get you there. Want to run T5s? MH? 10K? 15k? 20k? All work! But stability is KEY! Getting to your end parameters slowly then keeping them there for as long as you can will usually ensure a successful tank, as long as they stay that way.

Automatic dosing does not work for some but they do work for others. If you take note of how many big tank (100g+) owners run dosers or CA reactors vs how many dose manually, I believe you will see a majority automate this part of their maintenance.

But again, different stroke, different folks.
 
No setup is perfect, including the user. There is maintenance that goes along w a ca rx or a dosing pump, or manually adding chemicals. Gotta tweak the effluent rate/bubble count, make sure the dosing containers are full, remember to dose. It's all about what works best for you. I love dosing pumps and hate ca rx, plenty if people have great success with them, but I find them to be way to much tinkering. My dosing pump experience isn't flawless, but it's been pretty reliable in general.
 
Franko said:
I used an automatic dosing system for years and recently switched to manual dosing.

I had a few problems with the automatic system that turned me off:
1) Constant adjusting of the flow/dosing rate. This was really annoying. In my experience two things would happen. First the needs of the tank fluctuate. Adding corals changes nutritional requirements. Loosing corals (it happens to us all) changes the nutritional requirements. When your corals get bigger (hopefully!) their needs change. Add a fish or two and things change. It just goes on and on.
2) Second, the dosing system itself sometimes goes wobbly for a variety of reasons like debris getting stuck in the tube or hoses getting old. Yes, when its all working fine automatic dosing is a work saver. but you really have to keep your eye on things.
3) Precipitate! What a pain in the rear this stuff is. You doze off for a few days after filling your Cal/Mag/Alk containers and suddenly you notice precipitate because something has gone haywire.

Long and the short of it is that now I do things by hand and test more often. I have really noticed that my tank is happier because I am actually keeping on top of things myself and adding what is actually needed. If you can get a dosing system dialed in its a beautiful thing. My personal experience is that nothing stays dialed in for long and it wound up being just as much of a pain to keep things balanced with a dosing system as it was to do things by hand.
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EXACTLY! But ive been hearing a lot of great things about the Neptune DOŚ system. Its super accurate, better barring etc. Anyone use this?
 
I'll probably run a Calcium Reactor as well. I have the Vertex RX-6D in the BRS cart right now. But I may still run a DOS for dosing supplements.


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I heard GEO carx are the best ones to use. I had the GEO618 which worked great but made my alk increase way too high even at the lowest drip setting and a Peri pump lol
 
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