[Edward]

Hi
Carbon, sometimes made of coco fiber, is necessary for removing Chlorine. Chlorine is harmful to the main RO membrane.

There are two choices to use the lights. First option is to run 220W for 8 hours. Second option is to run 110W for 10 hours and the other 110W for 6 hours in the middle. The second option is very attractive and creates dynamic environment. I recommend additional 4W to 7W incandescent single bulb for night light, running only few hours for viewing pleasure.

You have built nice stuff. We need something to clean the water surface. The easiest and most reliable is the HOB filter. It takes surface oily film down. You can leave the unit without filter inserts only for the benefit of the waterfall and gas exchange.

CO2 controllers are not CO2 regulators. They are pH regulators instead and this causes problems in low KH waters. It will never work properly. You need a simple needle valve adjusted to 1 bubble per second and forget about it. No pH no KH testing.

You have the GH – Ca = Mg correct. For the Ca and PO4 I use Hagen Nutrafin kits. CaSO4 can supply all the necessary Ca in RO water, 20 – 30 ppm Ca works the best for plants and the test kit. There is really no need to add anything else to the RO water. Don’t worry about KH, plants and most fish don’t need it.

KNO3, K2SO4, KH2PO4, MgSO4 and TE mix are good to get from Gregg or local hydroponics or plant supplies store. The CaSO4 is good to get from a Chemical supply store. One pound will last you for ever.



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Originally Posted by adamt

4. Is it possible to auto dose any of these fertilizers? I was thinking about buying a reefdoser so It would make maintenance a bit easier.

Yes, great idea. This is where the TDS conductivity meter comes in. A double AquaMedic Doser does the job.



Get four Check valves. One goes on the end of intake hose inside reservoir. Next goes right on the output from the doser. These are necessary for proper operation.



Two one-liter reservoirs are needed. Here is the recipe for your 60gallon aquarium.
Reservoir #1:
K2SO4 23 grams
KNO3 26 grams
KH2PO4 2 grams
MgSO4 16 grams

Reservoir #2:
TE Trace Element Mix 32 grams

Then fill up to 1 liter with RO water. Adjust your doser to inject 15 ml in the aquarium once a day every morning. The reservoirs will last over two months. Now it is a matter of deciding what conductivity maintain in the aquarium. Because water conductivity goes up due to plants metabolism and fertilizers we can monitor and regulate maximum allowed conductivity in the aquarium. Good value is around 300 uS. When it goes over the 300 uS then turn your RO on. Don’t over do it. Old water is valuable. It kills algae and grows quality plants.

So the only testing you need to do is TDS and Ca. The CaSO4 is a powder and can not be dosed liquid because it doesn’t dissolve. Luckily it needs to be added only after several weeks.

If you need to recalculate the fertilizer amounts for other dosing rate feel free to ask.



Thank you
Edward