ATO and dosing

[MadReefer]

I am trying to figure a way to make my daily manual dosing easier. Let's assume I dose ALK, Cal, vinegar, and Mag at 20, 20, 30 and 40ml respectively. Let's also assume my 5g ATO last 3 or 4 days before I have to add more water. Can I multiply the daily dosage by the number of days the top off water last and add the chemicasl to the ATO bucket? So I would add 80ml Alk and Cal, 120ml Vinegar and 160ml of Mag to the ATO. Or is my math way off course.

Thanks
Mark

 

[redfishbluefish]

Can't do it! The alk will precipitate the cal. Also, I'd double check your mag add. Not sure whose brand you are using, but twice the volume of either alk or calc per day sounds high. Now it might be that the brand you have is more diluted than what I use. I'm only adding 40 mls per week.

 

[MadReefer]

Paul,
Thank you for the reply. I should clarify that I made these numbers up so I could multiply easier.
This is not what I actually dose. Just wanted to make my life easier but guess not.

 

[howze01]

Not only will it precipitate but you also don't use the entire ATO bucket do you? I know there's always a half gallon or so in the bottom of my bucket. It sounds as though a dosing pump on a timer would be a good solution to your question.

 

[malulu]

even you can out all the medicines into one bucket, one BIG potential problem is:
in case something else goes wrong... like wet skimming... you would end up keep topping off with a lots of stuffs all in a very short period which could kill your life stocks.

this applied to all in general:
- make sure the skimmer output can be monitored (like an wasted collector or an ATO kill switch...etc.), which when wet skimming occurred, it will stop the skimming flow...
- for all dosing, do not hook it up to ATO, and instead have dosing pumps, digital timer, or controller to restrict how long/many it should run for as smallest amount as possible with each occurring... (ie. instead once a day, do it 6 times a day...etc.)