Originally Posted by
Jim28fl
Sorry this is a lot of info but here i go. super condensed version is make small increases week to week not day to day and eventually you add more but more doesnt show up the following week as it used to which is contrary to what you think should happen. which means the product is likely not being uptaken, but actually is flashing out of the water before the corals can get it. Dose it a little over many times a day in a high high high flow area is best for sure when you start talking 100+ ml a day in a 100 gallon system for example. Once you find a your self cleaning a pump up that locks up every 3 months your getting close to your limit i think. the minute to minute available lvl are getting too high for your system to handle. which varies with temperature, kind of pumps you using etc. Mag pump seem to be magnets In my case. the 9.5 on the skimmer locks up every 3 months at the lvls I'm trying to run ATM. And there farthest from he input location of the DOSER literally the end of the line before the water hits last chamber and doser drip lines goes in and gets run thru the whole system by the main pump.
...I run a BM 7 head unit and i keep going all over the map with it IMO. I have gone from 40ML/day of 2 part, to 250/250/10 of three part and back n forth little by little.. three big things i learned so far and still learning. **I didn't know my tanks consumption before i added this doser, only that saturated talk wasn't doing it.
1. IF your gonna dose MG separately on a doser, make sure its not already in your calcium product part. Best thing is pure ALK pure CA and pure MG if you test a lot probably. other wise use 2 part with the CA/MG/STR/BORON part 2, all in one balanced systems. other wise you will over load the MG. Unless your test says something is getting funky in the MG department i think 2 part is easiest. and Mg can be adjusted manually. a three head unit can be used to run 2 separated times of ALk into the system and one CA. "lessen the roller coaster by putting in ALK in 48 times a day." Put the Mg in when you test the water if its low or is showing to be an issue.
2. If you put more than about 5 ml of ALK at a time out of a tube you get localized flash precip, unless you got like major major flow and volume in the area like the display area. a sump compartment doesnt seem to do it. I tried straight into the main pump input even and was getting just wasted product as it precipitated out on the tube walls OTW to the tank, before it fully stirred. Never a cloudy water scenario. just the more i added nothing happened and pumps started locking up and scale showed up on the sump walls n stuff. Numbers never or barely went up even when i like doubled the amount i was using from 125 to 250 ml/day briefly. Thus indicating something was amuck.
3. I also found a point where i theoretically should have been fine, but i hit a ceiling and the CA n ALk crashed over night when there should have been plenty of room for increase. I believe its related to my CO2 lvl in my tank. For example i can't get over 10.0DKH at 460ca 1400mg or i crash to 6.5DKH at 370ca1400mg over night or maybe 24 hrs. its happened twice first i though i just had a huge growth spurt..lol. So i'm now targeting 9.0 at 450 1400mg as a ceiling and a goal to maintain week to week. Other systems i can achieve +10.0 dk if i want, but not in this system for some reason. Maybe the CO2 in the house holds my ph under the 8.5 ceiling on the probe but it really is getting to that point of too high just C02 is holding it down visually on the probe. i don't fully understand. if i filter out C02 the tank goes into the 8.4 range fast. for example with c02 scrubber material on the skimmer intake. But when media exhausts, the tank also crashes ALK wise as a result. Thus i stopped using it.
My Ph never shows more than a .10 swing or 8.00 to 8.10 swing for example day to day. i know my house/Co2 holds it down as well.
I also dose 1% ish of my system volume "MY TOP OFF" in saturated KALK each day over the whole day.
The numbers say i should be able to get 10-12DKH and 500 or so but i crash before i ever get there ALK wise. CA seems to be ok. I even tested for both types of ALK with the sea chem kit and its balanced correctly.
At 100 gallons of system volume and pretty highly stocked and i would say high water flow in the filtration department i now am at 120ML of alk and 95ML Ca and 2 ml or MG per day and adjusting every three days a little. Haven't lost any corals, stressed a few pieces a bit. but i quit aiming so high for the high growth. Its too risky ATM with my setup. and it doesnt seem to like high levels. things are growing great awesome colors.. there is a lot of variables of course. so hope this helps a bit. If i don't dose anything but Kalk growth stops and i settle at 6.8 DKH and 360 ish i think. with the KALK i put in. with out that it would be less I'm sure. Kalk doesnt keep it up at all as i had hoped. too much consumption.
I split my ALK into two heads Ca only one Mg the fourth. And its put in every 15 min instead of once ever thirty so its like 60ml then 15 min then 60 ml then 30 min 24/per day, for my Bm unit, each time per head per round of dose from the unit. If that makes sense VS 125 Ml out of one head over 24/per day. CA goes in 95 Ml over 24 times a day. MG 2mL over 2 times per day. this will likely go up as i was suing a CA product that had MG added in it to adjust lvl and the MG was being added in advertently which means the Mg head has to stay LOW till it falls down to about 1300 again. only time will tell where MG/ day needs to really be. i test often and with several kits R.S., SALIFERT, SEA CHEM, HANNA and so forth and am confident in my test numbers. Mg stays solid CA and ALK tank when ALk get over 10 even when MG is satisfactory.
Any one who has input i welcome it.. I'm still not sure why its happening exactly. so i quit chasing it. And i will leave them settle lower. I use BRS bulk materials for my make up "SODA ASH" for ALK part to be exact.