Dosing And Kalkwasser

[Josh]

I have done some reading and i think the approach i want to take is doing kalk through my topoff (to add ATO) and use the same water cannister for both my frag and display tank (sump). Both are in the same basement room.

That will help my alk/ph/calcium however i still should need magnesium and "trace" element dosing. I know water changes typically handle the trace elements however i am thinking of dosing it anyways.

What doser do you guys recommend? I am thinking of getting a 4 port and using 2 for DT and 2 for FT.
Mag / trace on each. Probably just 2 cannisters each with a line from each tank.

What are your thoughts on this? Should this system work? Do you require a kalk stirrer to properly do this? Or are their DIY methods that possibly would work?

 

[EZMac]

Hello, from what ive seen you can add it to your ato resivoir just make sure your pump isnt right on the bottom of resivoir as not to suck any settled powder.
Some add a simple air stone or pipes to the bottom to keep water agitated. I am thinking about doing this also. I dont really want to add more equipment unless i have to.

 

[TORX]

Trace elements is a real touchy one and there are a lot of mixed feelings about dosing them. Seeing that they are in such low concentration (less then 0.1ppB sometimes), any multi purpose trace element additive could actually raise some trace elements to dangerous levels while leaving others still low. There are also reports that trace elements are bound to the chemical balance of other elements in the water and any swing in those trace elements could possibly lead to other larger problems. I personally use the Fauna Marin Balling salts system and love it. I use a 3 channel kamoer doser for calcium, alk, and magnesium. There are additives in the cal and mag to help raise some trace elements, but it is still risky. if you are looking for the best deal on a kamoer, then I would have to recommend aquastyleonline.com. Only $199usd and I think free shipping.

I have never used kalk, so I can not give my feelings on which is better. But I only have to top up the reservoirs every few weeks. So pretty simple to me.

 

[Steve Peters]

I suggest dosing 2-part and not the kalk. Kalk tends to get messy. If your stocking is fairly high the kalk may soon prove not to be enough. Pumps will require cleaning regularly. Trace elements are replenished through regular water changes. If your getting a doser then why bother with kalk?

 

[Josh]

Yeah originally i had thought to myself, ill just dose both tanks separately. Zero reason i couldnt just use the same cannisters and have both dosers pull out of the bottles. Reason i started toying with the idea of kalk / dbl 2 part was simply to save money on dosers. Originally i was going to buy two 4-port dosers, however after reading reviews for the jebao dp4 i saw a good 10-20% of the reviews had people talking about how they stick in the ON position and nuke tanks and that made me seriously start to reconsider my original plan.

From All ive read Kamoer is a solid doser. Maybe since my frag tank is soft coral only i can hold off on dosing for the time being and just focus the on the DT.

@TORX i actually bought the 3 part "trace" that comes with the fauna balling salts. Picked them up on my last online order. Ive yet to add any yet. I think you definitely made your point about the trace element dosing.

I have noticed most Dosers come in 4 port, yet most people dose Ca/Alk/Mg what do people use their 4th port for?

Thanks for the link Torx i may end up just ordering 1 and ignoring the frag tank for now. Frag tank is easy to do water changes the DT not so much (temporarily due to renos)

http://www.jlaquatics.com/dry-goods...uarium-dosers/kamoer-f4-wifi-dosing-pump.html
Once you factor in USD->Cad + duty i think this might come out as a better deal?

 

[TheGreenStag]

i use Kalkwasser through my ATO and have never had issues. I use KW as it helps to elevate my PH a little (my sump is in the basement). It has maintained the stability for me when it comes down to Alk and Cal..i dose Magnesium once every month using Randy Holmes 2 part receipe. Most recently to keep up with my tank's consumption rate i started dosing Alk and Cal using my Jebao 4port doser in addition to the KW .This doser has been with me for the past 4 years and i have never had issue untill recently the last 2 port stopped working which i don't care as i never used them anyways. I have only used the first 2 port for Cal and Alk and they work awesome. Longstory short Kalkwasser works and if your tank is not full of corals with heavy stock you will be just fine. KW has so many advantages increase your PH, stabilise your Cal and Alk. Its a win win if you ask me...

 

[kapelan]

Jebao twice chipper doser.
That's from my experience:
I've tried PH probe from Milwaukee for $70CA - it worked 1.5 year
Then I bought PH probe on ebay from china for $20CA - it worked 1.5 year.
Question: where I will by the next probe?
The same logic applicable to dosers: motors/heads are the same. Electronic block made in china anyway.
From kamoer we just paying american labor expenses.
If you want real quality - it would be a doser based on step motor.
But in this case the question is coming why do we need so high precision?

 

[Josh]

Its not really about the build quality its the fact that most of the reviews i read said they fail in the ON position and will drain entire bottles of alk/calcium and nuke the tank. If its a matter of changing heads and fixing things thats no problem im pretty handy. At least with the other brands when they fail they seem to fail in the OFF position.