turn PS off for chem dosing?

[pohtr]

I was told by the lfs guy that if I leave the pumps running when I'm adding calc, phytoples, strontium,molydenum, iodine or essential elements, etc. that the stuff ends up getting filtered out by the PS. He said to either turn off the PS or the return pump for a couple of hours when dosing.
Opinions?

 

[teen]

i wouldnt turn it off.
are you testing for all the stuff your adding?

 

[ninjamini]

teen is right. Dont add anything to the tank that you can not test for and determine that you need. Dont "dose".

 

[pohtr]

Well one of them is phytoplex and the other is calcium. My calc is at 330. I'm holding off on strontium, molydenum, iodine, & essential elements, cause I'm getting conflicting info as to whether to use them or not. They're not stuff you test for anyway, right?

 

[teen]

you can test for strontium and iodine. not sure about molydenum, and essential elements is basically waht you replace by doing water changes (so is all the other stuff).
and your tank produces a decent amount of phytoplankton on its own, so imo, theres no need to add that.
yuo may want to look into a magnesium test kit and alaklinity test as well, especially if your trying to raise your calcium, considering they all are connected in one way or another.

 

[pohtr]

I have the alk test and my alk is at 3.0
I also have the magnesium test but it is ridiculously complicated so I haven't tested for it yet. I've heard that the salifert test kit is way easier than the Red Sea that I have, but I haven't changed out tests yet (lfs is very far away).
But back to the first question, if I have to dose then I should leave the PS running? The lfs guy's logic of the skimmer trapping what you add is faulty?

 

[teen]

a small percentage will get skimmed out no matter what. id leave all pumps and the skimmer on while dosing.