Dosing help, please :)

TBH, I would seriously consider opening that BRS box and using it, KC.

Let's put the pricing in perspective. A 1 gallon container of dry calcium carbonate additive from BRS is $17. When added to water, that's about 6 gallons of additive.

For SeaChem Reef Complete, you pay $32 (according to MarineDepot) for 2 liters, which is about 1/2 gallon of additive. The additive has magnesium and strontium, which you then cannot control separately, and may have too much or too little of. Each capful will raise calcium by about 10 mg/L.

They say to raise the calcium by 20 ppm in a 50g tank to add 25mL of Seachem. BRS says you need 100 mL. Seachem is supposedly 4x more potent, but that 2L still only goes as far as 2 gallons of BRS solution for calcium, while not allowing you to control magnesium, which is going to be differently utilized depending on what you have in the tank.

In sum, you get 3 times as much BRS solution as you do with SeaChem, at approximately half the cost of the SeaChem, and requiring about 20 minutes more work each time you need to actually make the solution. Fill bottle with RODI, pour in the amount of additive, shake - that simple.

 

My BRS stuff is great. Its so simple to use. I have mine run by my controller to keep up with demand. I have a feeling I am about to have a coraline explosion.

 

I've had a coralline explosion while using it, even without dosing pumps.

I did get the pumps though, and that makes it so much easier.

 

I'm almost in need of dosing pumps at this point. Dosing 150ml a day is begging to get annoying.

I'm just not sure I want to rely on a pump. Too many horror stories of nuked tanks...

Calcium reactors are beginning to look good. This hobby just never ends...

 

I keep feeling the same way. I really like how its working but I dont want to put my faith in the pump. I do have it controlled so if my pH drops below 7.85 my Ca dosing will stay off and also at 8.34 my alk dosing pump will stay off as well. I don't use the pH as a trigger to turn on the pumps to dose, I just use the timer for that.

I really think I want a calcium reactor in my system. I did some kalk dosing for a while with a doser and while it was easy as pie, I didn't like the setup I created.

 

You didn't forget, you said a 90 gal. 30 gal. sump.

 

Thanks for all the great information guys. I think I'll start by opening my BRS stuff and reading the directions. I can't remember what exactly I bought. I think it might be Ca and Alk.

I'll post if I have more questions. Thanks!!

 

Not that I have heard it all, but I have never heard of a nuked tank from a faulty pump. The only thing I have heard and it is quite clear to avoid is setting up a siphon. Dosing pumps would make life much easier and spread the dose out over time and make your tank much more stable.

Most dosing pumps are anti siphon, very reliable, and quite simple. Controllers are quite reliable. I had a safety statement that if PH was above a point to turn off Alk and alarm. Never once was more added than I wanted.

Ca reactors can fail too. Actually... sit down right now and think of every piece of equipment you rely on right now and if it failed your whole tank would die. It's a life support system keeping things alive that would die with out it.

 

Any peristaltic pump will be anti-siphon by design. The real danger with nuking tanks is when you dose kalk or use a calcium reactor and don't have a pH monitor set up.

 

Many good points here, and thanks for bringing them up.

I suppose all the nuked tanks I've heard about with dosing pumps is the fault of the users in that they, one way or another, had a pump running for far too long. A dosing pump is something I am beginning to consider, and I know there would be much benefit to be had from one.

I, however, do not run a controller. I'm low tech in that regard, simply due to me preferring to have complete control over things, rather than depend on components which have potential to fail. I realize this isn't a bulletproof approach, but it's the one I've chosen to take (at least up to this point).

That's a very valid point with the failure of a Ca reactor, and it's definitely something else that has crossed my mind.

At the end of the day, I don't know what I want to do, but know I need to do something.