Should I start dosing?

I

inssanity21

Member
Currently I only use Kalkwasser in my ato, I have alot of Euphyllia, zoas, mushrooms, Duncans, starting some montis, and lots of nems. I did some testing today just from curiosity (5 days since water change with fritz) and my results are as follows:

no2: 0
ammonia:0
Ph:8.0
No3: 0
Calcium: 375
Alk: 11.9dkh
Mag: 1600

I have alot of Euphyllia, softies, Duncans, starting some montis, and lots of nems.
I think my calcium is a little on the low side and everything else seems good, my pre water change readings were:
no2: 0
ammonia:0
Ph:7.9
No3: 0
Calcium: 350
Alk: 11.6dkh
Mag: 1400

So should I dose instead of just Kalk? If dosing what supplements would you recommend?
 
Irsug1

Irsug1

Premium member
Looks like you could add a little calcium. Also your alk looks high for a zero nutrient tank.
 
I

inssanity21

Member
I'd imagine that it's not truly 0 on those, I'm using the red sea tests. However the calcium is consistently low with it, the no2, no3, and ammonia have registered .05 to.1, 2to5, .2 respectively. I'm going to try dosing calcium manually for a little bit
 
G

gig em

New member
Your Ca is definitely low in comparison to Alk. I like consider doing potassium nitrate to raise your nitrates to give your corals a little bit of nutrients.

Why not go with a calcium reactor? That way you're not only replacing Ca, Alk, and Mg, but also all kinds of trace elements that are needed by corals. Can't do that with kalk solution.
 
GugsJr

GugsJr

TeamCR
As others have said your All seems high. Before you start doing I usually recommend tracking it for a month or two so you can see your starting points and how much you are dropping per week, day month etc.

That way you don't over dose
 
I

inssanity21

Member
I have actually been testing everyday at the same time since I posted this, and my tests have all been in the same range as listed above (not all 0 these times)other than the calcium. I started manually dosing that and I have been getting 400-420 as I have been dialing in how much to add daily.
I have a hard time keeping my ph stable in the basement (working on that too, used to max at 8.0 and dip to 7.65 at night verified with test kit and apex) so the calcium reactor is out
 
goatous

goatous

New member
Do you know why your Mag and Alk are so high?
You could bump up your Ca, but would first get your Mag and Alk in a more reasonable state.

Once you have the Alk, Ca and Mag at target and stable, monitor without dosing to determine your demand. Ca and Alk should drop the fastest and you should be able to get an idea of how much your LPS and Monti's are consuming. BRS has a nice two part dosing calculator to help figure out how much you need to dose based on how much you need to raise the tank. Mag drops slower, but you should figure out after a week or two how much Mag to dose (if any).

I would figure out where the excess Mag came from, I target 1300 ppm, and I suspect you are getting more than you need from your water changes.

I like dosing 2 part because it is easy to increase the dose as the demand increases.

A lot of other dosing supplements out there, but I don't know much about them.

If you get a 4 channel dosing pump you can hit the commonly dosed items; Ca, Alk, Mag, Alcohol/Vinegar
 
GugsJr

GugsJr

TeamCR
Your pH is probably most affected from the stale air in the basement ( if that's where your skimmer is ) also your your other parameters can affect it. Don't chase everything at once, try and get your alk to "normal" level because that can affect your corals especially your sps. Then I'd worry about Can and Mag.

Also have you tested your salt mix?
 
I

inssanity21

Member
I have actually never measured anything other than temp and salinity of the water I mix, maybe I should start. My water change is 20 gallons every other week with fritz rpm starting 3 water changes ago from aquaforest probiotic, I shake the salt mix extremely well before mixing every time. I have been reading about alkalinity and that source water can have an effect on it, I use a brs 6 stage rodi and it has 0 tds at the 3rd junction (new media about 200 gallons ago) and Fritz aims for 8-9dkh.

Yeah I have ran the ph tests with fresh air and all that, its definitely stale air. I have one small window that is cracked with an air pump in front of it. That has it hover around 7.9 with the fuge on an opposite schedule steadily. then I got a c02 scrubber on the skimmer and its been around 8.3 max and 7.9 low. I am going to find a way to get fresh air to the skimmer without it being an eye sore and go from there.
 
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