dosing question?

[darksilenttype]

Ok I know what I was told to dose for a 100 gallon water volume .

I think now I have a water volume of about 130 so on second week of phase two what do you think the dosing should be I was thinking

1 1/3 cup of carbon in bag in sump

1 1/3 liter zeolites

4 ml start2 twice aday

5 drops of bak/food every other day

5 drops pif twice a week

5 drops of aahc a day at night
5 drops of cv a day at night

any suggestions ?

[gqjeff]

Do you have corals in the tank already? If so I would dose start2 at 1-1.2ml daily total over 2-3 smaller doses say .4ml over 3 doses... Also after 2 weeks go to 2x weekly of bac and food.

Jeff

[darksilenttype]

yes I have corals .I was a little confused about the dosing of start 2 I was told four drops for a 100 gallon water volume .When I ordered the cv I asked if they had any long droppers because the bottle of start2 didn't come with one .So he said that I shouldn't be dosing drops of start 2 and that I should be dosing ml's . So should I be dosing 4 drops of start2 or 4 mls of start2 .And sense I have a larger water volume now I thought I should ask about all of it at once just to be sure .

John

[gqjeff]

John, use the doses I gave you above for your system... You should be dosing 1.2-1.3ml a DAY total of start2.. You can use an old salifert syringe and measure out .4 over 3 doses. Thats what I do.. I use .15 total daily on my 200 net system.. That is roughly 4 drops daily. I do 2 drops in the morning 1 at lunch and 1 at night. You should be dosing roughly 10 drops 3x daily at this early stage/ Also what is your current PO4 readings? That has a lot to do with tailoring your doses so you are not overdosing or underdosing the start2...

Jeff

[darksilenttype]

Ok so .4 mls three times a day is what I should be dosing correct

I will check my reading tonight and post them here . Last time I checked a week ago po4 was at .05

John

[gqjeff]

Yes John do that and report your PO4 back to us.. What are you using to measure PO4 hanna? If not maybe see if a local reefer has one to really get some solid numbers.

Jeff

[darksilenttype]

yes hanna meter

[gqjeff]

Ok yea John go with the .4 3x daily and I think you might have to tailor is lower again in another month or so.. If you notice your PO4 dropping to like .02-.03 cut the dosage in half and see if the PO4 rises.. If not the lower dosage will do just fine...

Jeff

[darksilenttype]

What about the other doses I was thinking they all sound correct for me

[gqjeff]

Yea John the start2 is the only thing that looked out of line..

Jeff

[darksilenttype]

Thanks I will run a po4 test tonight and let you know tommorrow .
Thanks again

[darksilenttype]

OK calcium at 480 kh 7 po4 0.37 po4 is up I may be feeding plankton a little much .

[CAReefer]

Your Ca is a little high in relation to dKH IMO. How are you maintaing those levels? If 2 part, reduce the calcium portion until closer to 420 ppm. If using a reactor, turn of the C02 for a couple days and check the Ca of the tank. You will need to dose some sort of alk during this time to maintain your current level. Here is a helpful link to CA and Alk in a reeftank.
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-12/rhf/index.php

As to your P04 reading, be careful handling the Hanna cuvette. Any oils from your fingers, micro bubbles on the inner walls, undisolved regeant or water on the outside of the cuvette will give high/unrepeatable readings. Don't cap the cuvette with your finger when swirling and handle the cuvette with paper towel or soft lint free cloth. One other thing to watch out for is to be carful wiping down the outside as the 10 ml line will wipe off pretty easily, trust me on this one. Store the cuvettes in RO/DI water when not in use. The instrument is very sensitive and needs to be handled accordingly. I like to add the test sample, cap the cuvette and zero the meter. Add the reagents, swirl till dissolved ~2 minutes. Do an instant read, let the sample sit for a few seconds and do another. You will see the number drop as the reagent settles. FWIW, mine start at .14 then drop to .08 or so. Then do the timed read for the final reading. Afterwards look closely at the sample into the light and look for bubbles on the walls. If there are some, lay the cuvette (still capped of course) horizontally and slowly rotate using the free space to get rid of the bubbles.

HTH
Marshal

[darksilenttype]

I think the problem with the PO4 is that I have been overdosing start 2 for a week I have been adding 8 ml a day at a rate of 4ml each time one in the morning one in the evening . I have stopped adding start two as of today and will not be adding any start2 for 5 days to fix the amount I have over dosed already .after the five days I will be going back to adding start two with drops .How many drops a day total should I be adding for a system of 130 gallons water volume ?
JOHN

[CAReefer]

I dose 12 drops 3x per day with 340 gallons. So i'm thinking about 4 or 5 drops 3x daily. I don't think od'ing start2 would cause a rise in P04. If anything it would drastically and quickly reduce them. IIRC, the signs of overdose of S2 is a diatom type dusting on the glass every day or two.