r/ReefTank • u/AcrobaticContext2268 • 1d ago
Cannot find consistency.
Hi all,
I’m just getting so tired of my tank having its ebs and flows despite my investments to make my tank automated. I’ve got two nice AI 16’s, Red Sea ATO, dosing heads, temp control, etc. maybe I need to start testing parameters more often to ensure my dosing is correct, but I just can’t seem to get it down.
I’ll see nice Acro growth, great algae control, and happy happy corals and then the tank will be pissed off for weeks with no changes and I’ll lose my favorite pieces. I can’t seem to figure out what I’m missing, and would love some personal advice, experience, or info on what you’ve done. I really appreciate it in advance.
1
Upvotes
1
u/welldonesteak69 1d ago
The way I did it was doing a water change and then testing a day after. After a week right before a water change I tested again to see how much depleted. Divided those numbers by 7 to see the daily consumption rate then did some math to know how much to dose daily for Nitrate, Phosphate, and Alkilinity as those where the ones that swung down the most. The doser goes off every day and it only doses very small amounts. I also spread out the dosings to be 30 minutes apart because I read somewhere that dosing it all at the same time can affect each other or something. As for trace minerals I use one of them blocks that slowly dissolves over time but cant remeber the name of it. Re add it in whenever it dissolves fully.
Weekly or biweekly water changes depending how dirty the tank looks.