Help with dosing

[Mango_Fish]

I recently upgraded my tank to a water box 90 is a great tank and I found out that I need to start dosing. I’ve been testing every two days for alkaline because that was my main problem and it’s been coming back around 7.1 and I’ve been dosing Alkalinity since then is there a better way to go about this or a better solution? 

thanks, Matt 

[epleeds]

Do you have a doser or are doing it by hand?  

[Mango_Fish]

I’m doing it by hand for right now 

Edited December 23, 2024 by Mango_Fish

[YHSublime]

You want to dose calcium in tandem with the alkalinity. Usual a 2 part mixture will be the best answer, especially at the start. 
 

i like to use ESV bionic bc it’s just add RO water and then figure out how much you need to add per day to get to your desired levels. A good number for dKH (carbon hardness, aka alkalinity) is 9. Also, a good rule of thumb is you don’t want to go up or down more than 1pt per day!

 

 You can dose by hand, or you can get a pretty cheap doser these days that will usually spread out your daily dose over stages, this will help with stability. 
 

here’s a pretty comprehensive plug and play dosing calculator.

[ParrotFish]

3 hours ago, YHSublime said:

You want to dose calcium in tandem with the alkalinity. Usual a 2 part mixture will be the best answer, especially at the start. 
 

i like to use ESV bionic bc it’s just add RO water and then figure out how much you need to add per day to get to your desired levels. A good number for dKH (carbon hardness, aka alkalinity) is 9. Also, a good rule of thumb is you don’t want to go up or down more than 1pt per day!

 

 You can dose by hand, or you can get a pretty cheap doser these days that will usually spread out your daily dose over stages, this will help with stability. 
 

here’s a pretty comprehensive plug and play dosing calculator.

Do you mind going into a bit more detail about why to do Alk and cal in tandem? 

 

I just started dosing a few weeks ago, Red Sea and by hand. I started with ALK as that is what was REALLY low. I got that to a good level last week so starting to work on a maintenance dose. I noticed calcium was low so started bringing that up as well. But when I dosed the calcium my Alk jumped up by 1.1 which is not what I dosed with the Alk. 

[YHSublime]

4 hours ago, Squishie89 said:

Do you mind going into a bit more detail about why to do Alk and cal in tandem? 

 

I just started dosing a few weeks ago, Red Sea and by hand. I started with ALK as that is what was REALLY low. I got that to a good level last week so starting to work on a maintenance dose. I noticed calcium was low so started bringing that up as well. But when I dosed the calcium my Alk jumped up by 1.1 which is not what I dosed with the Alk. 

Both of them contribute to calcium carbonate, which builds the skeletons of coral. Essentially, calcium ions interact with carbonate ions (from alk) to form calcium carbonate (skeleton juice!) 

 

if alk is too high compared to calcium, it can precipitate out of solution, which will lower both levels (alk and calc.)

 

if calcium is too high, and your alkalinity too low, you might lose out in growth bc calcification can’t occur.

 

 Here, a really smart guy who you might know (Randy Holmes) breaks it down in more detail than you would probably ever want to know. 
 

also, to keep you on your toes, don’t forget that you’ll want to test magnesium, but that can be dosed all at once, IIRC. 
 

There are a ton of videos and lots of info on dosing, I always use a calculator to establish a base line, and work from there (up or down) always slowly. 

[ParrotFish]

1 hour ago, YHSublime said:

Both of them contribute to calcium carbonate, which builds the skeletons of coral. Essentially, calcium ions interact with carbonate ions (from alk) to form calcium carbonate (skeleton juice!) 

 

if alk is too high compared to calcium, it can precipitate out of solution, which will lower both levels (alk and calc.)

 

if calcium is too high, and your alkalinity too low, you might lose out in growth bc calcification can’t occur.

 

 Here, a really smart guy who you might know (Randy Holmes) breaks it down in more detail than you would probably ever want to know. 
 

also, to keep you on your toes, don’t forget that you’ll want to test magnesium, but that can be dosed all at once, IIRC. 
 

There are a ton of videos and lots of info on dosing, I always use a calculator to establish a base line, and work from there (up or down) always slowly. 

I have been testing Mag and that has been reading hi/hi end of normal. 

I very appreciate the insight. A lot of sources have said stability is the key which isn't helpful when starting.