The Thing About Dosing That Troubles Me.

The proportion of calcium to buffer that's needed by every tank will be different. It can take some time to get the ratio of input correct for your inhabitants, but usually parameters will stabilize once you find that sweet spot. As far as the fluctuations you are seeing, auto dosing doesn't ever really stop that. Reef systems are adaptive environments with constantly changing needs. Keep testing and keep adjusting slowly and you will get there.

Also, Seachem makes a product in their Aquavitro line called Balance which balances out the carb/bicarb ratios you're fighting. I add the recommended dose after each water change to reset the ratio in my tank and have had much greater stability with it.

 

Decided to re-calibrate my PH probe and now I'm getting a reading of 8.05 which is what I was striving for. My plan with the dosing is to dial it way back and just start from scratch. I use Red Sea coral pro salt which runs around 12.7 dkh, 470 Ca, and 1400 mag(I think). Do a water change and just keep testing every few days to see when the numbers start to drop, if at all. I appreciate all the feedback.

 

yeah, you also have to have a decent amount of sps, or enough coralline growing to start draining levels that water changes could not keep up with.