Dosing 2 Part

[MiniMoose]

I'm somewhat new to the hobby, I've been doing it for around a year. I'd like to start dosing 2 part and I'm hoping i could get some insight as to what my calcium, alkalinity, magnesium and ph levels should be. I've seen alot of different ranges but I'm not sure what ones are good for an lps tank. My peramiters are cal- 455 mag-1280 alk- 125 or 6.8 and ph 8.5/8.6

 

[Salty Cracker]

Honestly for lps I would just stick to water changes, skip the 2 part... mostly useful for sps.

 

[Canadianeh]

I don't have any SPS right now and only have LPS and 2 BTAs. Since I also want to get SPS in the future, I prefer to prepare my water to be SPS ready, and at the same time I get to practice and get used to in dosing. Of course this (dosing) will be considered unnecessary extra expenses since my tank is only LPS right now.

 

[Bece13]

It's not about preparing the water to be SPS ready. Doesn't matter what you keep, your water parameters should be right.
It all depends on how much Alk, Ca and Mg your particular system is using. If you only have few lps, no sps, your system should use very little ALK, Ca and Mg so if you want to dose it will be ridiculous small amount (not really an expense) especially for a small tank. That is why your water changes will take care of it. When you get into heavy sps you will see that water changes will not be enough, not even top off kalkwasser will not do it and you have to get into 2 parts dosing (actually 3). And every system is different and dynamic (it will change as the sps grows), that is why you have to determine first your consumption and then adjusted from time to time.
Don't fix anything unless you have a problem.
Read this: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2002/11/chemistry

 

[Fishit]

i don't think you need to dose two part I agree simple water changes once a week will take care of what you have now! If you decide to get a bunch of sps and see you need to start dossing because they are using more of the three element than a lps tank will use !basicaly what I'm saying is if you start dossing in your lps tank and then go sps there is no having the water ready the tanks needs will drastically change once you go more sps and looking at your Need at the moment only thing down is your alk but yet your ph is pretty high so that would say there is no need at me moment for calcium or mag

 

[Fishit]

But if you are going to your going to want a dossing pump alk should be spread out over the lights out hours to keep ph stable and you don't want to be forgetting to dose some days adding allot others the trick is you need to keep all things stable and happy

 

[Canadianeh]

True. It will be unnecessary as I will be doing extra for a tank that does not need the dosing. I prefer to get a hang of it before actually getting SPS.

Question: how drastic of change in a month if term of alk, cal, and mag usage if someone is adding one frag of LPS every 1-2 months?

 

[Fishit]

I had a fully stocked 75 gal half sps half lps and did 5 gal water changes a week and that tank was amazing with great coral growth now I have my 180 fully stocked with allot more sps so I use two part now only because the tank needs it all peramiters where dropping even with my 20 gal weekly water changes but from what you posted your parameters are pretty good other than your alk but with you ph where it is 8.5 alk should not be that low try another test kit to answers your question adding one or two frags of lps a month won't change anything but ....... If you do not do religious water changes then your also changing your peramiters constantly say you do 5 gal every week for 3 months then don't do them for 4 weeks that's going to through stuff way off

 

[jroovers]

I think your parameters are good, I strive for Ca - 420 ppm, Alk 8dkh, and Mg 1300 ppm. I've never tested for pH in any of my systems so can't help you there. Maybe if anything bump your alk up so its 7 or above. Stability is what you want... over the short terms for LPS you may not need to dose, but I think its a good idea to get your systems on dosers before adding sps if that is the direction you want to head. From a husbandry perspective, I think you'll have a greater chance of early success with frags by getting in the habit of dosing 2-part and testing your parameters regularly in order to keep your parameters stable. So I think your foresight is great in this regard. I don't think you'll see much of change in your parameters with adding a LPS frag or two every couple of months, if at all. But over time hopefully the demands will increase as you add more and more corals, especially SPS.

 

[Canadianeh]

I think your parameters are good, I strive for Ca - 420 ppm, Alk 8dkh, and Mg 1300 ppm. I've never tested for pH in any of my systems so can't help you there. Maybe if anything bump your alk up so its 7 or above. Stability is what you want... over the short terms for LPS you may not need to dose, but I think its a good idea to get your systems on dosers before adding sps if that is the direction you want to head. From a husbandry perspective, I think you'll have a greater chance of early success with frags by getting in the habit of dosing 2-part and testing your parameters regularly in order to keep your parameters stable. So I think your foresight is great in this regard. I don't think you'll see much of change in your parameters with adding a LPS frag or two every couple of months, if at all. But over time hopefully the demands will increase as you add more and more corals, especially SPS.

That is the point of my post. Get yourself a hang of it and your system ready if you want to go to SPS direction.

 

[jroovers]

That is the point of my post. Get yourself a hang of it and your system ready if you want to go to SPS direction.

Sounds like a good idea to me. Also, from a cost perspective, 2-part is pretty darn cheap, and initially if you are only dosing a couple of mls of each per day, the cost is very nominal. So pretty inexpensive. The only cost really is the dosers, but if you're going to be heading that route anyway, at some point you are going to incur that cost. If you're not in a rush you may luck out and get something decent through the classifieds

 

[Canadianeh]

Sounds like a good idea to me. Also, from a cost perspective, 2-part is pretty darn cheap, and initially if you are only dosing a couple of mls of each per day, the cost is very nominal. So pretty inexpensive. The only cost really is the dosers, but if you're going to be heading that route anyway, at some point you are going to incur that cost. If you're not in a rush you may luck out and get something decent through the classifieds

I got Jebao doser for $50 from here but not using it right now. I am dosing by hand. It gives me false satisfaction feeling