What should i dose my reef tank

If you are dosing a variety of additives such as calcium, alkalinity, magnesium, trace elements, and maybe a nutrient supplement like Reef Energy Plus, it can quickly turn into a confusing mess of dosing lines, and it's important to keep different additives….

The holder mounts over the rim of your tank or sump and also includes the connection tips, which make for fast and easy connection of your dosing lines and ensure precise dosing of even the smallest amounts. Features Holds up to four dosing lines….

Each of the four compartments features its own JG push fitting for easy connection to your dosing pump via…. BM-TO1 is a dosing pump with three titration channels which can easily be…. Sold Individually - Two required per head Replacement tube adapters are great to have on hand and are compatible with all Bubble Magus dosing pump systems.

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Close Call Email. Shop By Categories. Home Dosing. Showing items 1 to ReefDose 4 - Dosing Pump. X1 Bluetooth MicroPump. BRS 2 Part Doser - 1. X1 Pro Wifi Dosing Pump. Liquid Dosing Containers.

All-For-Reef - Powder Mix. Trident - Marine Aquarium Water Analyzer. ReefDose 2 Dosing Pump. Doser 2. Versa Peristaltic Dosing Pump. Notify Me When In-Stock. Since it is consumed by corals and not replenished naturally, it needs to be added back to your tank on a regular and consistent basis.

How to Maintain the Proper Levels: Alkalinity can be dosed manually or automatically on a set schedule using a dosing pump recommended. Before starting, test the current alkalinity levels in your reef tank and then dose accordingly to the preferred level, making sure not to raise the alkalinity by more than 1 dkh in a 24 hr period.

Continue to test daily for 3 days, adding the amount needed to keep levels in the preferred range. After 3 days your tank should have consumed nearly the same amount each day. That will be your daily dosing regimen going forward. Continue testing at least once a week to ensure the current dosage is maintaining the proper level. Keep in mind that alkalinity can be consumed rapidly when new hard corals are added and when there is a rapid amount of growth from sps and lps corals.

It is rapidly consumed in a reef tank with hard corals and needs to be replenished regularly. How to Maintain the Proper Levels: Calcium can be dosed manually or automatically on a set schedule using a dosing pump recommended. Start by testing the current calcium level in your reef tank, then calculate the dosage to achieve the preferred level.

Test for 3 straight days, adjusting the dosage to keep levels in the preferred range. After 3 days, your tank should have consumed nearly the same amount each day. If you try to keep SPS in a softie only tank it is less likely to have enough calcium to grow like it should. Every tank in the world has different needs.

Now that you know what corals need what, you can use this chart as a reference point for balancing the levels. The corals will grow larger faster and the glass will even get purple at rates that can get frustrating at times, though this is a sign you have a thriving tank! With all of your handy test kits you can get a picture of your levels before you make a dosing schedule for your tank. Knowing what your tank consumes will help you estimate the daily dosages your tank will require.

You will need to first test your non-dosed water. Add what is needed until you reach your desired range. Once you have achieved near perfect parameters you can record these as your Baseline Parameters.

Once you have your baseline parameters you will need to know how much your corals consume in a week. The easiest way to figure this out is to wait one week after you perfect your levels and take another test. Subtract the new test from the baseline test and there you have it! If you want a daily average just divide the difference by seven. You can now set your dosing schedule or pump to the proper amounts. It is a good idea to retest your consumption levels every few months as the corals grow.

A larger colony will consume more than it did when it was a tiny frag and as you buy corals the consumption increases as well. To keep up with the consumption there are various things you can do.

Manual dosing is simply adding however much of what by hand or foot if you trained your monkey to do it. This is best for tanks that fluctuate like frag tanks where you may have 50 corals one day and the next. The next best thing is to have a set amount that you want dosed and program a dosing pump to drip the supplements of choice slowly, which helps to not shock corals and spike levels, though if you forget to reset the amounts appropriately and you sell half your corals you will overdose your water.

Alternatives to dosing pumps would be various forms of dripping. Last, but not least, is using a controller to operate a dosing pump only when needed. This is a fairly accurate way to maintain parameters like Calcium and Alkalinity but can potentially mess up from time to time due to bad test probes or even clogged pipes or hoses, and nobody wants a clogged pipe.

Things will grow faster, brighter, and much more happily. With good enough parameters you could potentially turn dosing the tank into dosing your bank account with frag sales when the frags turn to overgrown mother colonies! Again, read the labels, only dose what you can test for, and keep changing your water on a regular basis.

Get your dose of dosing right now! Higher magnesium levels beyond the typical ppm maximum are generally okay. Higher than normal magnesium levels are sometimes used to combat algae problems or even some fish diseases.

Magnesium levels beyond ppm are not recommended. Supplementing minor elements should be done following the guidance of the manufacturer of the trace element dosing supplement. A proper system will give you critical guidance on how much to supplement when it comes to minor elements.

Or they will combine the typical trace element proportions into some of their other supplements. Water changes, when performed using a high-quality salt mix, replenish minor elements adequately for most saltwater aquarium and coral needs.

The only time you should consider dosing minor elements is if you are trying to grow SPS corals. Small Polyp Stony corals require more calcium and alkalinity as well as magnesium and minor elements. There are some elements that a protein skimmer will pull out. Periodic ICP testing can give you better insight into the typical levels in your reef aquarium water, and you can use that insight to adjust as necessary. When it comes specifically to trace element supplements, many aquarists swear by Red Sea Coral Colors.

Although it is designed to be dosed with the Red Sea Foundation A, which is their calcium supplement. Triton Core7 being the most comprehensive. Tropic Marin All-For-Reef being probably the most hands-off approach. You certainly can. Following the Triton Core7 process is best for people that want to keep a closer eye on all of the various element levels in your tank.

If you accidentally dosed too much of a trace element supplement, the best solution is to immediately do a significant water change to dilute the elements. Inductively Coupled Plasma ICP analysis is a lab method of testing calcium and alkalinity, plus other elements. It replaces at-home testing of these elements for a more accurate, reliable, and thorough report of all elements found in your aquarium seawater.

For hardcore SPS coral tanks, ICP testing is the best method of managing these elements in your aquarium reliably and accurately. It may be possible to keep 1 or 2 SPS corals without dosing. Still, eventually, as they grow larger, even 1 or 2 SPS will begin to use up the available calcium and alkalinity and magnesium, and other minor elements that regularly get replenished with weekly water changes.

Regular water changes with a premium salt mix are enough to keep up with their element needs. It may be possible that some heavy LPS tanks could benefit from dosing, though. If you think that you might fall into this category, you should begin testing calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium regularly to ensure they are maintained in the proper range. If you see an issue, you can then consider dosing to keep elements in check.

You should consider beginning to dose supplemental calcium, alkalinity, magnesium, as well as minor elements when your reef tank reaches 18 months. At this point, SPS and other more demanding corals will begin to use more of these elements than can be replenished by typical weekly water changes.

Water changes with a quality salt mix will be sufficient to get your aquarium going but not enough for the long-term health of SPS corals. You can test your parameters daily to get a feel for what is happening in your tank.

Once you grasp the unique needs of your corals, you can begin to formulate your own manual dosing schedule. You can reduce testing down to weekly or even less depending on your comfort level and the coloration, growth, and general health of your corals. An example manual dosing schedule might look something like this:.

This is just an example to give you a rough idea of what you can expect from each of the 3 main elements. A dosing pump is a small doser that is designed to dose a consistent rate of liquid. For instance, a doser may be designed to dose exactly 1 ml per minute. If you need to dose 3 ml of an element daily, you will set it up to run for 3 minutes each day.

You might break this up over a day to dilute the dosage and keep water parameters more stable. Simply pumps may require a controller to turn them on and off at certain times to measure the dosage they output into your tank. More advanced pumps will have a controller built-in and can be programmed to dispense a certain amount over some time. Advanced dosers often come in a 4-doser configuration. It is common to need to supplement calcium and alkalinity as well as magnesium and other minor elements.

Each of these requires an individual doser. Purchasing one unit that can be programmed to supplement all four of these liquids is ideal. Manual dosing can be forgotten or inconvenient when it needs to be done daily. This can be more challenging when you need to leave your aquarium unattended for a couple of days unexpectedly.