ATI Essentials is a fantastic system for improving the health of your reef aquarium with a simple, equal dose of three solutions, but getting started with any new dosing system can be intimidating. We’ve put together a few tips to help you begin using ATI Essentials with minimal fuss.
Step one:
Mix the concentrated powder and liquids from the kit into your water. Each bottle is diluted with 9 parts water. We recommend mixing each solution fully in a large 5 gallon bucket that has a tight-fitting lid available, like the kind available from Home Depot, instead of trying to measure out parts of the concentrate.
Step two:
Decide your initial dosage of ATI Essentials based on your tank makeup. The values below are for each solution – all 3 parts should be dosed equally.
Few Coral; New Aquariums — 5 mL/25 gallons of system volume
Low Demand (soft corals, anemones) — 10 mL/25 gallons of system volume
Mixed Reef (Soft, LPS, SPS) — 25 mL / 25 gallons of system volume
Heavy Demand (SPS, clams) — 50mL / 25 gallons of system volume
Step three:
Test your alkalinity at the same time every day. As your system gets used to ATI Essentials, your alkalinity may fluctuate. Your target is a stable KH value that lands between 7 and 8. It doesn’t matter if it’s 7.1, 7.9, or anywhere in between, as long as the KH value remains the same day over day.
If your alkalinity is trending up, lower your dose of all 3 ATI Essentials. If your alkalinity falls, raise the dose of all 3 ATI Essentials.
As you continue using ATI Essentials, periodically perform a full system analysis using ATI Labs. While most tanks thrive on ATI Essentials alone, some systems may use more or less of a specific element than ATI Essentials provides, and ATI Labs is a great way to learn if your system requires a little extra care, and get specific dosing recommendations for our individual ATI Elements if you do.