Dosing preferences for a 29 gal biocube?

[joker577]

Boomer (and others of course!) I was hoping you could chime in on a good dosing system for my 29 gallon biocube. I know there are endless possibilities and 2 part dosing systems and the list goes on and on so hopefully with what I plan to keep you can help me out
I plan on keeping a variety of SPS mainly, acros, milles, montis, etc. with the addition of probably 2 clams. As I'll be at college I'm trying to keep the dosing methods as simple as possible but of course I won't just be adding without testing.

 

[lvsuckerfish]

how old is the tank? and how much are you using up in ca alk and mag a week? as for a simple water change can be ok for "" frag tank lol once full grown system then i would looking into doseing a 3 part system

 

[joker577]

Oh I'm sorry I should've clarified.. well I used to have this 29 gal biocube then sold it 2 years ago for a 75 gal and I was just using small 2 part buffers (so old I can't even remember now :lol and stuff like purple up which now I know is really iffy. I bought the tank back from my friend with everything for $50 so while I'm at the beach now it's back at home cycling during the 2nd week. It's basically just starting up so I'm not using anything up in the tank yet

 

[lvsuckerfish]

Purple up I found really works well when you bake the rock lol when i say back 24 hr lighting and high temps 90's will get the rock nice and purple. other then that it will kick all params out of wack. so starting out weekly water changes will be good for a long time. until you get mini colonies then look into a 2 part or 3 part system cheap systems you can get from BRS or TBS I think is the name of the other sponser on the site.

 

[joker577]

BRS and TBS? Can ya be more specific :eek2: I plan on starting off with a few SPS starters soon since I'm getting a 250w gieseman nova next week

 

[lvsuckerfish]

bulk reef supply and tb aquatics.... are you planning on dosing soon also?

 

[joker577]

Well I'm working for the last 5 1/2 weeks of summer and I'm gonna donate about $200 a week to the tank... i'll probably end up getting a good test kit like salifert and yes I would like to start dosing soon after I check params

 

[lvsuckerfish]

hmmm ok so are you taking colonies out of the 75 or am I missing something? I guess i am tring to figure out why you want to dose on a new tank with small frags? when water changes will be suffice. as you can dose but no need to if you do water changes. until the corals start eating up the 3 ca alk and mg and chalices really eat up mg not so much stonies.

 

[joker577]

Oh no, I meant that in a couple months after I start to get more I know I'm gonna need some type of dosing system... I took down my 75 gal about a year ago to help pay for my 1st semester tuition and I just now got back into it. I was just trying to find out now before I actually need to start dosing what you guys prefer as the best/easiest solutions

 

[lvsuckerfish]

aww ok sorry i was getting confused yeah I persoanlly use the brs brand it is all the same though. I buy 3 juggs from walmart or you can buy the kit from them like 30 bucks I believe with juggs measureing cups and all.

 

[Cwazy Clown]

if you plan on starting from frags, doing water changes every week or so, you wont need to dose until your stony corals all become mini colonies.

In my 8g, which houses 14 different sps as of now and 6 of which are already mini colonies of 3"+ multibranches, doing water changes once a week of 10-15% maintains my Ca at ~410 and my dKh at 9.

But when I do start dosing... I'll be using Randy's recipe

 

[johnpeezy]

I have been using the two part system from two little fishes for my 20 gallon. I have been dosing with them for about a year now and I haven't used even half of the bottles.

BTW do 2 or 3 part solutions expire??