Doser Help Needed (set-up)
 

So I received my Marine Magic doser from Eli today. Thanks Grizz for dropping it off.

Now, the instructions are pretty bad, at least for me seeing I have never used one.

I know Eli has some info posted in his thread, but I need other info to start.

1) I have seen the Ca/Kh mixed in 4 litre bottles... to what concentration should it be mixed??

2) I cant remember what I was going to ask.

3) Dose both ca/kh daily, or alternate days?


I know I will ask more later. SO thanks for now!

I haven't started dosing 2 part yet, but I had just read this. I think alot of your answers will be found.

That's perfect. Thanks.

Hope I can help....

The holy grail of 2-part dosing http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php

Thanks thanks!

yeah, you definitely want to start with your Mg. Get it right before trying to adjust the others.

I believe I was told the opposite, but either way, I just got my doser going to raise my alk a bit and it is working great. Thanks again Eli.

According to those very experienced .... :smile:

Magnesium both helps to buffer the pH from falling, and reduces the precipitation of calcium. Think of magnesium as the fulcrum of a teeter totter. Without magnesium at the level it should be, it is difficult to keep calcium and alkalinity at a steady and proper level. Natural seawater generally contains 1280 ppm of magnesium. Low magnesium can be one of the factors of nuisance algae growth, and most reef keepers agree that 1350 ppm works best in our little glass boxes. I prefer to dose magnesium to ~1350 ppm before adjusting calcium and alkalinity.

Good to know. I will keep that in mind once I get my alk up.

Many people say roughly triple you calcium also. This usually ends up around 1300-1350 anyways.

One thing to keep in mind also, is that you may have trouble getting your kh up if your mg is too low. If your mg is extremely low, than anything you add to boost your kh may very well precipitate out right away.

Where did you put the check valves?

I use H2Ocean. I never have mag below 1300-1400.

I rarely dose it.

I've actually only used IO salt so far. Never had any real Mg issues until I stuck in 2 electric flame scallops that a fellow reefer had ordered and couldn't put in their tank due to an untimely hospital visit. It may have been coincidence, but ever since they've been in there I can't keep my Mg over 1290 if I don't dose every other day or so. My alk is spot on at 9.3 dkh. My Ca used to stay consistently at 410 or so, but since a few additions including the clams it seems to hover around 360. I've boosted the Ca dosing and am ordering another dosing pump for the Mg tomorrow from the BRS group buy. I think because I'm not regularly dosing Mg my Ca is having a tough time keeping up.

Not sure if this is a typo. I haven't heard that and would think you'd have precipitation issues with Ca so high. But I'm fairly new to the hobby despite reading on RC probably everyday for the last 12 months. Any clarification would be cool - always ready to learn.

Oh, I can see how that was misconstrued. I don't mean triple your current calcium levels, I mean keeping your mg at triple what your ca is.
For example, if your ca is 410, then you should be fine with mg around 1230. So a ca of 450 ppm aligns pretty well with mg of 1350 ppm.

I use kein's build thread as a guide line. He did a great step by step write up.
I dose my alk late at night at a few different intervals. An dose calc in the morn over a few intervals.

Set your time first the. Go into timer mode press enter and then enter again to adjust the different timer settings.

I only use s4 speed setting.

Be sure to press save through all the screens otherwise the new settings wouldn't be saved.

Hope this helps.
If someone covered this already sorry for saying it again.

I prefer the Balling Method over the RHF Two Part as it allows your magnesium to be better controlled. IME one of the keys to maintaining a healthy reef is stability of all the parameters. Magnesium is important for allowing the calcium and carbonates to be maintained at the proper levels. It is also a very important mineral in biological processes of life. Therefore keeping it stable is something to strive for. Adding a dose of Magnesium once a week does not do this. Adding the Magnesium in with the two part solutions does not allow individual control of the Magnesium levels. There are times when the coral growth rates slow down or speed up. This can lead to Magnesium being too high or too low as the additions of Calcium and Carbonates increase or decrease.

I agree about mag, if you are saying small doses daily instead of once per week?

A small daily dose is better than a large weekly one. Even better is multiple small doses per day via dosing pump.

+ 1

This is a recipe that I use and recommend to everyone.1st knowing where your chemicals come from and their quality as this recipe is best suited for these Chemicals,I have tried other product being sold out in the market as they all work but it stands to how its graded,each chemical has a difference in ion exchange and weight,..
1st you need to keep a constant husbandry of doing your recommended water changes 5%/week or 10%/every other week or 20%/monthly.
2nd test your water prior and a day after your water change.by doing so you will find out the readings of your salt added to your tank.Do another reading the day after to find out how much your system uses,accommodating your system accordingly to the recipe below or your own.
3rd adding chemicals shouldn't be hard but enjoyable:biggrin:
Below recipe is for normal PH reading (8.1 _8.3) measuring of chemicals is best as weight instead of using a measuring cup.
1a)Calcium chloride dehydrate,dilute 500grms (aprox.2.5cups) in a 1 gallon of RO water.
1b) Soda Ash,dilute 593grms (aprox.2.25cups) in a 1 gallon of RO water.
3c) Magnesium,by weight totals 64oz ratio 3/5.Mix 5 cups of Magnesium Chloride with 3 cups Magnesium Sulfate in a 1 gallon of RO water.
Now on to the addition of chemicals.
In my experience and with the fluctuation of PH in some systems it is best to add all chemicals during the night time of the system and in this sequence 1st magnesium then Soda and last calcium,you could have this added in one setting or throughout the night witch what I do.

For having a balanced chemicals and ion exchange you need not to play too much with individual chemicals as the extra ions of one chemical will have effects on your system in the long run(again I must push the husbandry of water changes)

Adding your chemicals
After doing the initial readings and finding out your tank needs you need to bring all readings to specs.first add magnesium mix to have a reading of 1350ppm. Second add calcium chloride to have 400 to 450ppm and last Soda ash to have reading of your choice between 7 and 11 DKH.bring your tank parameters to specs should be accomplished slowly and within few days especially Soda ash (as it has the most affect on your PH)

Here is the guidelines to be used on a daily basis
Low demand tank
use 0.3ml/gallon(tank water)/day calcium chloride
0.3ml/gallon(tank water)/day Soda ash
Medium demand tank
use 0.5ml/gallon(tank water)/day calcium chloride
0.5ml/gallon(tank water)/day Soda ash
Heavy SPS demand tank
use 1.0ml/gallon(tank water)/day calcium chloride
1.0ml/gallon(tank water)/day Soda ash
Very important,when adjusting parameters make sure adjustment made to Calcium is equal to Soda ash adjustment and vise-versa.

Now magnesium addition goes for any of the above guidelines
For every one gallon of Soda ash and Calcium chloride added to tank add 610ml of the magnesium recipe.

I hope that explains a little about chemical addition to a saltwater tank.:biggrin::biggrin:

Thanks for the info Eli

Once moved I will order some bulk for my doser that still sits pretty in its carton.

OK... so going to set this up, tonight. Late tonight.

My instructions never indicated how to hook up the tubes or check valves.

Any advice?

I have my check valves just above my bottles.

Oh and tip: wet the tips of the check valves and connectors then slip them right into the hoses.

I didnt have very much hose left over after hoses were setup for 2 bottles.
Plan your hose lengths ahead of time. My total setup was about 30 mins.

So it's just to stop siphon to the tank or from the tank?

Yes, it hardly has enough hose. I definitely need more.

My hoses don't go below my water level. Meaning the fluid just drips into the sump so no siphon possible. So my check valves are to stop any back flow into my fluid containers.

I don't have a doser so I may be wrong. For a doser to be accurate the hoses must always be completely full otherwise the pump well count it's cycles and nothing is deposited until the tubes fill up again resulting in an under-dose. The check valves ensure the tubes are always full to the brim.

This.
If you have a vertical run into your tank, then after the dose, the lines may allow air to creep up the tube, depositing more solution than anticipated, and not as much solution the next time the pump runs.

The pumps themselves will prevent backflow from the tank into the product containers in the event of a submersed line.
That being said, I just stuck mine after my containers so that air doesn't creep in on the input side, since my outputs are a horizontal span with a 1" vertical drop into the tank. My setup really doesn't really need the check valves, but I figured I'd use them anyways.

Finished. Now to figure out dosing.

http://i653.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/2356b864.jpg

Looks nice and clean. Good work.

Tanks mang!

i am a happy user of this dosing pump as well. one question i have is with 3 rollers on the dosing head, the rubber line is always pinched at one or more points, so even without a check valve there shold be no possible way of siphoning happening or fluid motion of any sort without the dosing head turning, right?

I found out last night that without the valves my lines drained back into the bottles.

Good to know. Im using them to splice pieces of airline tubing together, but i will be sure to run them regardless from now on. thanks.