Hello everyone. I was just trying to get so advise if I should dose calcium. Been test last to months and calcium is at 400. Have 4 corals( zoa, war coral, candy cane and unknown) some I can tell a growing and some just look happy. Just wondering if I dose would it help the corals grow. I do spot feed reef roids 2 times a week. It's a 55 gallon tank that I have it all in
To dose calcium or not to dose
- Thread starter Milkmonster
- Start date
If your numbers aren’t keeping up with water changes it could be worth it. Most this corals aren’t going to be sucking up calcium like SPS or a clam would. You could start putting kalk in your ato water and see how that does for a while.
Agree with hiimsean. I dose Kalkwasser in my top off and things stay stable. No need to heavily dose if you don't have corals that consume lots of calcium. If you do water changes frequently, most of the calcium and other elements will be replenished depending on the salt brand you use anyways.
Everything is stable and corals look good just want them to start taking over my tank lol
400 is not a bad number to have for your calcium. If you really wanted to you could do a tea spoon of kalk into like a 5 gallon bucket for your ATO. That would help raise pH a bit and your coral could grow a little faster due to that.
Ph is at 8.4. I have only had them for a little over 2 months. I do 5 gallon water change every week. Everything is always at the same levels when I check them. Just new to the saltwater life. I also don't have an ato I just add a gallon of water every 2 days.
Could I add kalk to my water when I do a water change.
What size tank do you have and which test kits are you using?
I do a drop method when I add my new water back In After I do a water change. Do you think it would be ok to add it with the new water
Well there is sediment that forms at the bottom of the water when you mix Kalk and let it sit for a little bit . You do not want that in the tank. So mix it in another container and be careful when you pour it into the RODI water.
I not a nasa scientist lol. K thanks for all the help
Keep asking your questions. We are here for you to help.
I would add it separately. Your salt mix should already have x amount of calcium/alk. Test your parameters after you do a water change, then wait a day, and test again to see how much calcium your tank is using per day. Once you figure out that number, mix your kalkwasser appropriately.
Tank is a 55 gallon and use Petco saltwater master test kit and calcium magnesium and iodine are the cheaper ones also
Yeah those are the ones I use for calcium and magnesium and iodine.
You mostly want to keep track of the big three. Alkalinity, calcium and magnesium. Iodine/Iodide should be pretty far down on the frequency you test.
I agree with Tanster that you should be using better test kits. Salifert, Red Sea, even the cheap ATI kits.
Also you can't just add calcium, you need to add Alk too. That's why the recommendation for Kalk, because it adds both in equal amounts. Testing Alk instead of Cal will give you a better indication about the demands on the aquarium. With just four corals you are probably good with just you're water changes right now. Maybe bumping them to 10 gallon would be beneficial too.
If you're interesting in some articles on reefing I'd be more than happy to post some links for you.
That would be awesome if you would post links always trying to learn
