Video courtesy Jimmy Pop Colson.

The 4 Most Common Aquarium Systems and how to dose each using the Coral Essentials Range.

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We recommend starting a ramp-up dosing system that begins with 25% of your total calculated dose, and increase in 25% increments over the course of a couple weeks.

Note in any Coral Essentials Dosing Guides 1 drop is equal to 0.5ml.

Type 1 Tank with Sump and Skimmer

For this setup you will need to add Calcium, Alkalinity and Magnesium as you are not running a calcium reactor. You will need to test you tank to determine the consumption levels of Calcium, Alkalinity and Magnesium. There are 2 options you know have, Full Manual Dosing and the Coral Essentials Method.

For Full Manual dosing add quantities of our Primary Care range as detailed in Table B below to match the usage of your tank. You will also need to manually dose the Coral Power Trace range as indicated in Table A below.

For the Coral Essentials Method, make up the solutions as per Table C using a 500ml bottle of Coral Essentials Calcium and Coral Essentials Carbonate. Also add the three Power Trace solutions to the dosing water as per Table C. You then manually add the Ca dosing water and Alk dosing water to match your tank’s measured consumption. You will also need to add Coral Essentials Magnesium as per Table B based on your tank’s consumption. No Trace is added to the Magnesium Solution.

Type 3 Tank with Sump, Skimmer and Dosing Pumps

For this setup you will still need to add Calcium, Alkalinity and Magnesium as you are not running a calcium reactor. You will need to test you tank to determine the consumption levels of Calcium, Alkalinity and Magnesium. There are 2 options you know have, Full Manual Dosing and the Coral Essentials Method.

Add a suitable quantity of our Primary Care range into your dosing pump reservoirs (DO NOT MIX Ca and Alk dosing water in the same reservoir, they must be separate) and set your dosing pumps as detailed in Table B below to match the usage of your tank.

Add 50ml of Trace A and 50ml of Trace B to 900ml of RO water to make up a 1 litre solution and place in your dosing reservoir. Add 50ml of Trace C to 950ml of RO water to make up a 1 litre solution and place in a separate dosing reservoir. You will need to set your dosing pumps as indicated in Table D below.

For the Coral Essentials Method, make up the 1 Litre solutions as per Table C using a 500ml bottle of Coral Essentials Calcium and Coral Essentials Carbonate and place is separate dosing reservoirs. Also add the three Power Trace solutions to the dosing water as per Table C. You then set your dosing pumps to add the Ca dosing water and Alk dosing water to match your tank’s measured consumption. You will also need to add Coral Essentials Magnesium into a separate dosing pump and as per Table B add based on your tank’s consumption. No Trace is added to the Magnesium Solution.

Type 2 Tank with Sump, Skimmer and Calcium Reactor

For this aquarium setup, you should not need to add Calcium, Alkalinity or Magnesium as you are running a calcium reactor. Adjust your calcium reactor so that it matches the consumption of Ca and Alk in your tank. You will need to test the levels of Calcium, Alkalinity and Magnesium regularly to determine and then ensure you have the right settings.

You will need to perform Full Manual dosing of the Coral Power Trace range as indicated in Table A below.

Low SPS Dominant

Type 4 Tank with Sump, Skimmer and Calcium Reactor

For this aquarium setup you should not need to add Calcium, Alkalinity or Magnesium as you are running a calcium reactor. Adjust your calcium reactor so that it matches the consumption of Ca and Alk in your tank. You will need to test the levels of Calcium, Alkalinity and Magnesium regularly to determine and then ensure you have the right settings.

Medium SPS Dominant

Table A – Dosing Table: Manual Dosing of Power Trace A, B and C

Product	Rate	Dosing Low SPS	Dosing Med SPS	Dosing High SPS
Power Trace A	Daily	Daily 0.5 drop / 100L	1.0 drop / 100L	2.0 drop / 100L
Power Trace B	Daily	Daily 0.5 drop / 100L	1.0 drop / 100L	2.0 drop / 100L
Power Trace C	Daily	Daily 0.5 drop / 100L	1.0 drop / 100L	2.0 drop / 100L

Table B – Dosing Table by Usage: Primary Care Range, Ca, Alk and Mag

Product	Concentration (ppm)	1ml of Product will Raise Element Levels b
Calcium	200,000ppm	2.0ppm in each 100L of tank water
Carbonate	200,000ppm	2.0ppm in each 100L of tank water
Magnesium	200,000ppm	1.0ppm in each 100L of tank water

Table C – The Coral Essentials Method – Ultimate Control

Make up your Calcium water to a concentration level of 100,000ppm. In 1 litre of the 100,000ppm calcium water add 2 ml of Coral Power Trace-A and 2 ml of Coral Power Trace-B. Fine tune the Power Trace quantity as needed to produce the best results for your tank. Dose the solution based on the Calcium uptake/usage.

Make up your Alkalinity (Carbonate) water to a concentration level of 100,000ppm. In 1 litre of the 100,000ppm carbonate water add 2 ml of Coral Power Trace-C. Fine tune the Power Trace quantity as needed to produce the best results for your tank. Dose the solution based on the Alkalinity (Carbonate) uptake/usage.

Dosing Water	Primary Care	Add RO Water	Power Trace
Calcium (for 1L)	Calcium 500ml	500ml	Trace A & Trace B add 2ml
Alkalinity (for 1L)	Carbonate 500ml	500ml	Trace C add 2ml

Fine tune the amount of trace added to each based on growth, color and vitality. Soon enough you will be adding micro-elements at the optimum ratio for your tank.

Table D – Dosing Table: Dosing of Power Trace A/B and C via Dosing Pumps

Product	Rate	Dosing Low SPS	Dosing Med SPS	Dosing High SPS
Power Trace A/B	Daily	0.5 drop / 100L	1.0 drop / 100L	2.0 drop / 100L
Power Trace C	Daily	0.5 drop / 100L	1.0 drop / 100L	2.0 drop / 100L

Dosing with Coral Essentials