Reef Discussion

[Priscacara]

G'day ppls, been going to ask this for a while now but didn't want to hijack a tj and I'm lazy so it has taken a while.

There seems a disturbing trend (to me at least) of people setting up new tanks on various forums and straight away they are dosing. I know those that use zeovit do it from the start, if it works then great but it isn't something I plan on using at this stage of the hobby.

Have I missed something or has something changed in the past 6 months? Or did I just read a lot of different articles to those that are dosing? This is a genuine question and not having a go at anyone that is dosing. From my research you dose to replace minerals or nutrients that are taken up by corals and also to keep your parameters right in regards to ph and alk etc. If your tank is brand new and all you have in there is live rock with some hitchikers then there is nothing that will be taking up anything you would need to replace, the cycle of the tank will be causing fluctuations but I can't see how dosing would be helping that in any way as it is part of the cycle so all you would really be doing is messing it up right?

My tank is coming up for 7 months old now and I just don't have fluctuations that would require dosing which is part of why I am confused. I have around 30 corals with most being lps , a handful of sps and a few softies. I also have a healthy amount of coraline and the only other thing that takes up minerals would be my 7 pep shrimps and the snails.

I do use NSW and everything does well with it, the only mineral that has depleted by any noticeable amount is calcium and in went from 430 to (gasp!) 420. I have a 400l tank and my wc is around 75L a week so maybe this could be why it stays right, if i did fortnightly changes I would see a bigger decrease I think.

Anyways, all opinions are welcome.

 

[macca_75]

If what you are doing is working (and you are constantly monitoring for changes) don't change it.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

[aussieant32]

I started to do it as after 3 weeks my calc and alk were low, so I dosed it until the levels were right, but I kept dosing and levels got toop high, my fault entirely. You are only going to need to dose what you need to dose, each system is different.

 

[Buddy]

I only started dosing in my nano when I added my clam and I noticed the alk wasn't keeping up with just water changes. If just water changes are keeping your parameters in check then its all good.

 

[Joshwaaaa]

I see no problem with dosing from new, just take the first week or 2 to see what your tank is using and exactly how much. Then from there work out your dosing schedule to suit. If your numbers start creeping up back off your dosing if they start going down increase. The main thing is as with all new tanks testing and lots of it, every single thing you can test. As with everything in this hobby consistency is the key and if you can keep your alk, cal and mag perfect from the get go then why not?

I started dosing from new tank, but I did put all the contents of my nano straight in with a heap of base rock so there was a few corals, nothing big. Tank is now 3-4 months old (cant remember when I started it :D ) and I still don't have any big colonies only SPS frags and a few LPS and I currently go through around 40ml of 2 part alk and 15ml of cal a day, to maintain 6.5 alk and 410 cal extremely constant which is what you want.

 

[Buddy]

I don't have a problem dosing from new either, but if you haven't got anything that is depleting your parameters then don't worry about it. I just keep my level at the same as my nsw so when I do a water change there is no fluctuations. From memory its 1300 mag, 8.5 alk and 420 calc.

 

[Priscacara]

Tx for the input. Still not sure why there would be a need to dose a new tank with nothing in it though, there shouldn't be any changes requiring it. Having said that though, if you are getting variations then something must be using it so dosing is needed. Even with just lr in a tank it is still a living eco system so everyones will always be a bit different, its part of the fun :)

 

[chrispc66]

The frequency and amount of water changes, plus stock levels has a bearing on element levels.

I've seen huge tanks packed with colourful SPS colonies change out 1000L every week without any dosing. Personally I need to dose my system at 380L heavily stocked despite changing 100L per week.

It's the variety of systems that makes this a truly interesting hobby, there's thousands of ways to success......:)