Cheapest Method to Dose Manually

[Geraud]

Of you dose weekly the dose that your animals need, what happens is that you are going to add a lot of elements at the same time, which can precipitate. (I am assuming you are dosing manually, since when one has dosing pumps, it makes no sense to not use them daily on timers.)

Another issue is that you are going to see wide fluctuations in the chemistry of your water, and that is really bad.

ps: to reply to CoralMeister, actually there is a correct way, and it is to stick to the makers recommendations. I have seen a Calcium precipitation in my tank long ago, it is not pretty. And that was just from adding kalkwasser too fast.

 

[CoralMeister]

Of you dose weekly the dose that your animals need, what happens is that you are going to add a lot of elements at the same time, which can precipitate. (I am assuming you are dosing manually, since when one has dosing pumps, it makes no sense to not use them daily on timers.)

Another issue is that you are going to see wide fluctuations in the chemistry of your water, and that is really bad.

ps: to reply to CoralMeister, actually there is a correct way, and it is to stick to the makers recommendations. I have seen a Calcium precipitation in my tank long ago, it is not pretty. And that was just from adding kalkwasser too fast.

Im not using kalk. Second, I do daily tests on my Alk, Ca, Mg, K, I. I think you misunderstood. I meant that there is no correct schedule to dose. Wasn't talking about the about the amounts that each one of us dose. But thats where the testing comes in. One guy can dose 5 ml Ca, 5 ml alk each day, twice a week, or one guy can dose 15 ml daily Ca, 15 ml Alk, 3 times a week. It's really what your tank needs on a day to day basis. You need to go by the correct dkh, amount of calcium, and etc that your own individual tank needs. My dosing regiment has never had a flaw, and has always kept my SPS tip top.....in all of my tanks.


Precipitate results in overdosing, which is caused by not testing

 

[Geraud]

Actually I did understand you.

What I meant is: if your tank needs, say, 15ml of Ca a week. It is better to dose it across seven days rather than in one or two "big doses".

You are perfectly correct about testing. Dosing without tests is like playing Russian roulette.

However, precipitations can happen by dosing "too fast". By that I mean, when you are putting, say, 5ml in your water, if you put it too fast, it might result in a local overdose, and bam, precipitation. That's what I had done long ago. I was drip dosing, one drop at a time using an air tube. That day I had forgotten to close the valve beforehand. That was enough to make a precipitation. Aka dosing manually is dangerous. Especially when one does it with rather large quantities (aka weekly bi-weekly versus daily)

 

[CoralMeister]

Actually I did understand you.

What I meant is: if your tank needs, say, 15ml of Ca a week. It is better to dose it across seven days rather than in one or two "big doses".

You are perfectly correct about testing. Dosing without tests is like playing Russian roulette.

However, precipitations can happen by dosing "too fast". By that I mean, when you are putting, say, 5ml in your water, if you put it too fast, it might result in a local overdose, and bam, precipitation. That's what I had done long ago. I was drip dosing, one drop at a time using an air tube. That day I had forgotten to close the faucet beforehand. That was enough to make a precipitation. Aka dosing manually is dangerous. Especially when one does it with rather large quantities (aka weekly bi-weekly versus daily)

This all goes back to how one maintains their reef. Some dose manually, some do it on timers and pumps. I personally never like dosing pumps on times, mainly because peace of mind that nothing will go wrong. Plus I have the time to do it manually each day, and when I'm away, my friend does it for me.I rather test the water, dose accordingly (when needed). On top of that, small weekly water changes. This is the way I keep my parameters stable at all times, but then again these are my individual tanks.

 

[Geraud]

Then we perfectly agree ;-)

Dose what you need according to test, and make sure your parameters stay stable (no swings). I use B-ionic, and they tell you to start slowly, then test, to see what your tank actually needs.

To come back to the OP question, if you do not have time to test/dose every day, dosing is probably not for you. That's why I was recommending you to use Kalkwasser on-line with an ATO. Of course that also depends on what kind of animals you are keeping. If it is softies... you do not need that much.