Teach me the A-Z of dosing

[jason604]

I have a Lot more sps now than a few weeks ago and I'm noticing one of my Acro colony is starting to turn pale so I check kh and it was at 6. I Normally have it around 7 but it's dropping so fast and I don't add kh buffer nor check parameters often enough so I'm thinking about getting one of those fancy auto dosers. I initially was gonna go with ca reactors but I heard its much harder to dial In and take more effort to operate. I pretty much jack about auto dosers so can a pro kindly lead me into the correct path? What's the best bang for Ur buck doser. What exactly do I need to buy in total. How do I know how much to dose? I heard about doser horror stories that fail n cause total tank crashes. How do u make sure this never happens?

[nerdz]

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bVI69xOb_JM


A really good overview.

[mark]

Not saying no to dosing (switched myself) but to clarify, not that hard to tune in a Ca rx, have the advantage of adding trace elements through the media and more cost effective (http://www.reefkeeping.com/joomla/index.php/current-issue/article/44-calcium-reactors-in-out-and-everything-in-between-part-1) on larger systems.

[LoJack]

Not saying no to dosing (switched myself) but to clarify, not that hard to tune in a Ca rx, have the advantage of adding trace elements through the media and more cost effective (http://www.reefkeeping.com/joomla/index.php/current-issue/article/44-calcium-reactors-in-out-and-everything-in-between-part-1) on larger systems.

Agreed. I dose now … but in a 150 gallon set up that's SPS dominant I'm going through 2 to 3 gallons of 2 part a month to keep up. I'm at the point where a calcium reactor seems like a great investment lol, it will pay itself off in short order.

[jason604]

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bVI69xOb_JM


A really good overview.

Agreed. I dose now … but in a 150 gallon set up that's SPS dominant I'm going through 2 to 3 gallons of 2 part a month to keep up. I'm at the point where a calcium reactor seems like a great investment lol, it will pay itself off in short order.

How much does it cost to buy and operate a calcium reactor? My tank is only 75g. Ca reactors need a giant co2 bottle and I have my tank right in my dining room area so I can't have such an eye sore and it will deff not fit in my sump under tank.

[mark]

Depending on make a doser can cost similar to reactor, but there's a huge range for each, specially if consider DIY. Bottles don't need to be huge, a 10 pounder is about 18" high so could fit under a stand, lasted me about 6 months, $20 to refill.

Ca media not much choices but dosing can buy pre-mixed to bulk raw salts.