Dosing your make-up water

SSalty

SSalty

Team Liquid Force
Has anyone dosed thier make up water with calcium, alk, mag, before doing a water change? A local guy has been doing this with good results. He will mix up the saltwater and used 3-part to raise the levels to where he wants it. By doing this, he says it easier to maintain the levels between water changes.

What are your thoughts.
 
I have heard that same thing from a guy I know in denver. the say the buffer their water befor they add it. Ive personally never tried it but hey what could it hurt:Cheers:
 
By the way seasalty where about in north dakota you at. i go there for work on the rig every month. Im working around killdeer, Close to dickinson:mrgreen:
 
ltljoker said:
By the way seasalty where about in north dakota you at. i go there for work on the rig every month. Im working around killdeer, Close to dickinson:mrgreen:
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Cool man!

I am in Bismarck. You should make it down here. My buddy owns the LFS. He has a lot of nice stock.
 
I was under the understanding that if you used a good quality salt made for corals, that all the parameters would already be in line. Is that wrong?
 
dcantucson said:
I was under the understanding that if you used a good quality salt made for corals, that all the parameters would already be in line. Is that wrong?
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No such thing. Some salts are better than others, but IMO no salts will have the exact parameters that you would like.
 
There is no perfect salt mix. If there was then we would all be using it but IMO there is no reason to dose anything in PWC water unless you test for it and see that it is lacking. Rule number 1 is never dose anything unless you have tested for it and see that it is lacking.
 
Thats why I test every new batch of water before doing a water change.That way I can bring up whatever happens to be low.But I also like to use a salt thats got higher levels of calcium and carbonate.
 
Melosu58 said:
There is no perfect salt mix. If there was then we would all be using it but IMO there is no reason to dose anything in PWC water unless you test for it and see that it is lacking. Rule number 1 is never dose anything unless you have tested for it and see that it is lacking.
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I will be testing.
 
I would not dose at all unless your tests show a specific shortage. Dose only if a specific chemical is consistently low and only when regular water changes do not solve the problem.

Even with the best salt a tank may have lots of corals and coralline that suck calcium, alkalinity and etc. out of the water faster than water changes can replenish them.
 
I'm a loser then. I've never tested my 'just made' water. I figure if it isn't good enough then I should get some other brand. IMO it should be spot on. Isn't that why we pay good money for it?
 
Unless the salt you use has parameter way different that the parameters you keep your tank at (and it shouldn't since there is such a big variety of salt to choose from), there is no real need to dose anything. With so many choices in salt, it makes no sense to me to use salt that has 350ppm ca if you keep your tank at 450...or salt that has alk at 7 when you keep it at 12. There are enough choices so you can use salt that's close to the parameters of your tank.
It comes down to simple math. If you keep your calcium at 400 and do a 10% water change with salt that has 350 ca, your tank will only drop to 395...or if your salt is 450, it (your tank) will rise to 405. Not really a big difference and not really alot to worry about.
 
yote said:
Thats why I test every new batch of water before doing a water change.That way I can bring up whatever happens to be low.But I also like to use a salt thats got higher levels of calcium and carbonate.
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Can I ask what type you are using? Is it Oceanic?
 
ccCapt said:
Unless the salt you use has parameter way different that the parameters you keep your tank at (and it shouldn't since there is such a big variety of salt to choose from), there is no real need to dose anything. With so many choices in salt, it makes no sense to me to use salt that has 350ppm ca if you keep your tank at 450...or salt that has alk at 7 when you keep it at 12. There are enough choices so you can use salt that's close to the parameters of your tank.
It comes down to simple math. If you keep your calcium at 400 and do a 10% water change with salt that has 350 ca, your tank will only drop to 395...or if your salt is 450, it (your tank) will rise to 405. Not really a big difference and not really alot to worry about.
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In a dominant SPS tank your are going to have to add calc, alk supplements regardless the salt you use. My point being rather than dosing two part throughout the week why not dose your make up water to get the parameters up to where you want them? This way you won't have to go through the hassle of dosing everyother day, or whatever your tank requires.
 
SSalty said:
In a dominant SPS tank your are going to have to add calc, alk supplements regardless the salt you use. My point being rather than dosing two part throughout the week why not dose your make up water to get the parameters up to where you want them? This way you won't have to go through the hassle of dosing everyother day, or whatever your tank requires.
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SPS - Stability Promotes Success
You will not have stability if you have a high demand and don't dose every day.
For example, you do not want to raise your ca to 500 and let it drop on it's own down to 400 before your next water change. And if you do let it drop that much, you will not be able to raise it back up by water changes only....which leads back to daily dosing for stability....if you have the demand.
And just to make it clear, I'm talking about a SPS dominant, high calcium, high alk demand system. If you have the demand and need to dose, water changes will have very little affect on your parameters, as I mentioned with the math calculations above.
 
Melosu58 said:
Can I ask what type you are using? Is it Oceanic?
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I used Oceanic up until this past Feb,when I set up my 125.Never once had any problems with it and never had to bring anything up before doing a water change.
Then I used SeaChem Reef until about a month ago,when I got my hands on a free bucket of Brightwells salt that I'm trying out.
 

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