Reef nutrition

Dosing calcium and alkalinity?

reef89

reef89

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Hey guys I need a little guidance. So I know my tank is in the cycling stage which should coming to an end soon. my parameters are where I want them. Can I start dozing calcium, alkalinity and magnesium even tho I am not going to put corals anytime soon? Or should I hold off until I’m ready to get some? Thanks
 
Coral reefer said:
Can you? Yes, but why would you?
Wait until levels are getting depleted before you add is what I would say.
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Seconding this. If you have nothing in the tank using these up, there's no need to dose. Even if you add some to the tank that do (e.g., LPS or SPS), there may still not be a need to dose because the amount your coral uses might be less than the amount that's replenished via water changes.
 
I'd recommend grabbing some Hanna checkers and test kits.
Their alk and phosphate ones are amazing and makes testing a breeze.
I use salifert for calcium and magnesium and red sea for nitrate.

I made the mistake of not testing and dosing when I started and crashed my tank.
 
ashburn2k said:
But it doesn’t hurt to have dosing system ready in place.


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I know there is an apex dosing system but honestly I have been thinking that an apex might be over kill for my Nano. Do you have any suggestions on entry level dosing system?
 
reef89 said:
I know there is an apex dosing system but honestly I have been thinking that an apex might be over kill for my Nano. Do you have any suggestions on entry level dosing system?
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apex can stay with you in the long run, when you upgrade to a bigger tank, you can always take the apex and along with you.


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bfirecat said:
I'd recommend grabbing some Hanna checkers and test kits.
Their alk and phosphate ones are amazing and makes testing a breeze.
I use salifert for calcium and magnesium and red sea for nitrate.

I made the mistake of not testing and dosing when I started and crashed my tank.
Click to expand...

Also echoing this. Hanna checkers are worth the money, particularly their alk, ULR phos, and (presumably, when it comes out) the ULR nitrate.

If you have a ton of live coralline algae, testing wouldn't be a bad idea. I put a bunch of LPS in my nano at the same time coraline algae kicked off. I started testing and realized I was going through almost a full point of alk a day. When I first tested, my alk was at 6.8 dkh (recommended is 8-11).

If you want a cheap/entry level doser, the Bubble Magus can be had for cheap.
 
reef89 said:
I know there is an apex dosing system but honestly I have been thinking that an apex might be over kill for my Nano. Do you have any suggestions on entry level dosing system?
Click to expand...
I used old school tech for a reslly long time

Self dissolving blocks: Sea Labs no 28. You need to monitor alk and throw some baking soda at the tank if it drops lower than you'd like.

Doser? What doser? :)

That said, i now am trying out apex+trident+dos on a larger system thatvwas running with the blocks until 1 month ago
 
bfirecat said:
I'd recommend grabbing some Hanna checkers and test kits.
Their alk and phosphate ones are amazing and makes testing a breeze.
I use salifert for calcium and magnesium and red sea for nitrate.

I made the mistake of not testing and dosing when I started and crashed my tank.
Click to expand...
Actually I was looking into buying the 300 dollar kit, you actually just answered my other questions about test kits ;) because right now I have the standard api test kits. just need to know what other reefers are using since there is soooo many mixed reviews online. Thanks
 
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