Dosing

[RayAllen]

For those who have been in the hobby a while. After talking to Tony I want to start dosing my tank with B-Ionic. I have never drip dosed before so what is the best way to do this? Do I need to buy any equipment or do I just need a gallon jug, clamp, valve and airline hose? I should have checked out Tonys closer, lol.

Ray

[ErikH]

Dose kalk through your ATO! I stopped dosing B-Ionic some time ago.

[RayAllen]

Ok, Whats the diffrence between B-Ionic and Kalk. And by Kalk i assume you meen Kalkwasser Powder aka Calcium Hydroxide. I have a 1lb container of Kalkwasser. Dont want to start a debate on which is better because I know everyone has success by using diffrent products.

My ATO shoots water into my sump probably at half gallon intervals when the float valve fluctuates. Is that ok, if not how do I use my ATO to slowly ad it into the tank?

[RayAllen]

Basically Im trying to avoid purchasing anything else I have to plug in, lol. If I do not have to buy a dosing pump id rather figure out a way not to need one.

[ErikH]

They are both great imo, kalk is just easier. The only thing you would really have to test is ph and Mg, but the mg would be taken care of by water changes. Once you get your levels EXACTLY where you want them dosing kalk will pretty much keep them static. 2 tsp per gallon of RO/DI and only make enough to last a week. Have the ATO kick on about an hour after lights out, and it should help maintain your ph and Dkh through the night. Being that you have a small system, kalk is probably the easiest. Make sure the ph of the rodi with kalk is at 12.0 It may temporarily raise your ph above recommended levels if you run it during the day. It's so simple, but there are so many people that say otherwise. I had to try it myself before I was sold on it.

[ErikH]

Oh yeah, I picked up a cheapy tester from Jeremy at B&B for my PH. I had to adjust it with calibration fluid 3 times right off the bat, but since then it has held steady, and I use it every day. I think it was 40 dollars?

[RayAllen]

I need to get myself a better PH tester before I start dosing. Which do you use Erik?

[RayAllen]

Cool thanks for the info.

[ErikH]

it's a milwaukee..... That is the only thing I would worry about. The rest is pie.

[Fish4life]

I had problems when i tried to dose with the ato. If for some reason, the ato malfunctions your left with a white tank and a toxic pH level. not to mention its harder to regulate supernatant addtions from powder additions. i would recommend a kalk reactor. I will never go back to ato dosing again.

cheers,

kurt