Reef Aquarium Dosing?

[postie]

I've been in the hobby with successful reefs for about 10 years. In that time, I've painstakingly manually added liquid calciums, additives, etc. My newest 55 is just now ending it's cycle and of course, has no livestock, just 50+ pounds of LR for the cycling. I will be adding about another 40 lbs of LR from the tanks I will transfer to the new 55 in a few weeks. Here's my question...I am now interested in setting up some automated system for dosing, especially concerning alkalinity and calcium. I haven't even bothered with a calcium test kit yet, since the tank is not stocked, but have poured plenty of calcium in to get a good start. Alkalinity is fine for now and so on. I will have the calcium test kit this week.

I have no experience or knowledge of automated dosing. I'm also on a budget and have NO 3-D skills as far as the complicated diy dosing projects I've found on the net. I'm hoping someone can make it simple for me so that I can understand how dosing works (equipment, how to use it, how much to dose, especially calcium, etc.).

For those of you who dose with systems, please explain to me how to get this started for a 55-gallon reef-to-be!

Thanks everyone...I always get good advice here!!!

 

[Anonymous]

Dosing is a vicious circl...dose, test, dose, test.

for the money time and peace of mind, you're better off going with a calcium reactor, and adding, sparingly, some of the better traces supplements out there like the Kent, or Seachem, or 2littlefishes.

 

[Len]

Potsie,

The easiest and most reliable/accurate way to dose is with a dosing pump. You basically need the dosing pump (one with a built-in timer) and resevoirs for whatever you're dosing.

The DIY dosing projects are mostly top-off systems and not additive dosing (or at least, not accurate means of dosing additives). I really would only trust a dosing pump to dose additives in correct proportions.

If you want to keep your regiment simple, I recommend sticking with B-ionic or C-balance (two part additives) and supplement with kalkwasser dripping. A calcium reactor, of course, is a very nice addition as well and will help you automate the laborious task of adding multiple supplements.