Ca and Alk usage
 

Is it possible for my SPS tank to go through this many minerals in 2 days ???

All I have are small frags ...

7.5 to 6.5 and 430 to 380 in 2 days ???

C'mon, I hardly have any frags and a small amount of LR ...

http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...d/DSC01559.jpg

What's your Mag at Greg? I found that if your magnesium is low your Ca & Alk will drop fast. The close your mag stays at 1400 it will help with the rest.

Thanks Greg for the help

Funny you stated 1400 ...

I just re-tested my Mag ..
It's @ 1400

Tested twice with Elos

+1 Check you Mg, it's always the first to check if the other 2 are weird. It's what determines how much of the other 2 stays in line.

Du'oh! Beat me to it. Coraline will consume it too....

So now what ???

Is my usage out of whack ??

I think it is

I would say that your coral & coralline is just absorbing this much & you just need to up what your dosing. What's your coral growth like? Noticeable changes?

Greg, are you dosing and how much were you dosing before and now? Have you changed salt? Are you adding DIY Ca and Alk and are you manually dosing or using a doser? These may also affect your levels if there are inconsistencies etc...

As your tank matures and the frags start to take off you will have to adjust your dosing amounts accordingly. My two football size clams can drop drop the CA in my 165g 30ppm a day! Thank god for calcium reactors! :)

Decent changes, but I thought not enough to warrant this kind of usage
I mean, come on, it's only a 75g with new frags ...
I'm monitoring and dosing as the days go by, and this is why I started this post
I haven't changed salt and I am dosing with some Seachem stuff to keep up
I'm shocked how much I'm using
Last week I used enough to dose 1 TBSP of Alk and 2 TBSP of Ca just to keep up
All my frags are still little critters, so I don't get it :surprise:

Then like grizz said it prob is the increasing coralline growth.

If your tank params are all good you'll be suprised how quickly things will start to grow! Be proud of your accomplishment and get ready to buy a dosing system!

+1. That too. I find that when I was manually dosing I sometimes forget to dose one or the other and sometimes both. When I invested in a doser, things become more consistent and in addition you simplify things.

Thanks guys .... :wink:

I guess I have to keep a closer eye on my params

I am very surprised how much my tank is using day by day ....

Looks like I'll have to invest in a doser of some kind ...

Go with a calcium reactor. It'll keep you Ca and alk dead on in one shot. I've got one on my 77 gal and wish I'd gone that route right off the bat instead of dosers and mixes.

That's about 16g of Ca consumed, do you see 16g worth of growth and coraline? Measure that much powdered Ca to get a rough idea how much that is.
Regardless, if you're testing is now perfected, and you see that kind of drop, you'll need to add that to maintain levels. :)

I dont have, and dont plan on using, a calcium reactor .....

I only dose Ca and Alk stuff ...

Dosing advice is welcome here ........

I've already decided I don't need to measure that much .... :wink:
My usage is much less than most users :smile:

If you a dosing with a quality two part system the easiest thing to do is test your levels then add the maximum dose of each as the instructions dictate (ie. 5mL per 10gal) then wait an hour and test again to see how much the levels rise. Then measure the levels every 24 hours (preferably test at the same time each day) for 3-4 days and record the drop. Average those readings out to figure your tanks demand then use the first dose measurement to figure how much to add each day.

For example:

If you add a full dose of ca and alk and the levels rise 30ppm and through your testing you find your tank consumes 15ppm per day then you will need to add half the maximum dose on the bottle each day.

So when I dosed manually I found a 4:4:1 ratio of ca:alk:mg was about right.

Hope that helps

Thank you ....

Sorry guys,

I should have said more than just thank you

Thanks for your tips and advice :lol:

I'll work on it and see how it goes over the next week or two with monitoring, calculations and such

After re-reading this thread I see I came across as blowing off advice

I should have pointed out that a Ca Reactor just isn't in the budget right now, so I'm stuck with 2 part for the time being

As suggested, I'll test more frequently for a week or 2 and then I'll get a couple drip containers to start with

I see Kalk wasn't mentioned - that's OK
From what I've read about it I don't want to use it as I don't think I want my Alk as high as 10 or 11

I think kalk has fallen out of favor because of the upkeep required to use it although it can be a great solution for a low to medium demand tank. Premixing the solution is tedious and messy plus the solution is highly caustic with a ph of 12-14. You really don't want that on your hands. Kalk mixing reactors can help but cost almost as much as a basic calcium reactor. There is also issue that since you typically replace you top up with kalk solution if the demand for calcium is too high you can't drip in enough top up to meet the demand.