Dosing equal parts??

[Drichards]

What's everyone's feeling on dosing equal parts of calcium and alkalinity? Are your dosing volume schedules off set to achieve your targets? Or if you dose 20mls of alk your also dosing 20mls of cal? I've heard different points of view on this subject. Some dose according to there tagets and others automatically match the dose. My Calcium is bit on the high side. I always just dosed equal parts because it was my understanding it would best for tank chemistry. Everything looks good and has been growing, I just can't seem to leave anything alone.

 

[cab395]

I've also always dosed equal parts. I use B-ionic and take solace in the fact that it's pre-mixed and in the correct ratios. In this case it makes sense to dose the same volume of each because it matches the ratio in which the corals use them.

If you are mixing your own there is always a chance that the ratio is off and you're unknowingly adding proportionally more calcium than alkalinity. I've also noticed in the past that when I chase calcium, it throws things out of wack pretty quickly (probably because I'm adding them in a ratio other than how the coral use them). I follow alkalinity primarily and dose the calcium to match the volume of alkalinity I need to dose, then I periodically check calcium to make sure thinks are in check.

 

[Chris A.]

Some food for thought on this subject ( which I know someone will try to correct me )
Every tank is different, some might consume equal parts and some might not. If you add carbon of any sort to your tank , on purpose or not, it might consume more alk. If your nitrates are high it might consume less alk and there’s probably another 100 different situations. If you see your tank consuming more alk then calcium, just increase it without over thinking too much. We need to make this simpler and enjoy the tanks.

 

[JPags]

I used to dose equal parts in my old tank. I have an apex with a trident so I start with equal part dosing but the dosing is adjusted via the trident readings. Keeps my reeding very solid and I can say that the dosing is not equal because I use more Kh than calc since I can see if fill Kh more