New to Dosing Ca, Mg and Alk...and would like some advice

[lastlight]

Agreed on getting magnesium to 1350 - 1400 before you bother adding the other two. They likely won't balance properly if magnesium is that low.

And I think it's on the BRS site but I'm pretty sure it's recommended to not raise alk more than 1 dkH a day and calcium 10ppm?

If my levels are low i follow those guidelines.

[RPatsula]

Thank you everyone for your replies. Yes my salinity went down a little bit, it used to be at 1.026 and it went down to 1.02 due to a water problem I had about three weeks ago. I am slowly bringing it back up. I do not have any calcium deposits on my equipment or any calcium precipitation. I am still skimming fairly wet, to get rid of my algae problem. I will just dose the magnesium to begin with and get it back to an acceptable level. I think I will do it fairly slowly and introduce the magnesium back in over a period of five days. All my corals are still looking good. I had a green hair algae breakout on my sand bed but I think that was due to overfeeding with my plankton.
I will also look over the articles you suggested as well. Sometimes it just gets a little bit overwhelming as well as confusing but I am slowly learning. I will post again once I have started adding the magnesium.

Thank you
Rick

[daplatapus]

This is the link to the BRS reef Calculator:
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/reef-calculator

According to that page the Mg shouldn't be raised more than 100 ppm per day
Ca shouldn't be more than 50 ppm per day and dkh shouldn't be raised more than 1.4 dkh per day.
I've used this calculator quite a few times and it's been spot on every time.

You're totally right, it can be very over overwhelming, but there's lots of help here and there are many willing to share their experience and knowledge. Ask away!

[lastlight]

Originally Posted by daplatapus

According to that page the Mg shouldn't be raised more than 100 ppm per day
Ca shouldn't be more than 50 ppm per day and dkh shouldn't be raised more than 1.4 dkh per day.

oops i was way off! guess i just made up my own safety factor. calcium must be less of a risk. they're basically saying you can make up any shortfall immediately in one shot.

[greyreef]

Bringing up your salinity will help correct the problem as slinity is an overall measure of salts, if low will make Ca and Mg low as well!
Just go slow, try not to overcorrect
From the sounds of the look of your tank, your doing a great job!

[michika]

Another suggestion for dosing; write down what you did, when you did it, and HOW you got that calculation. In short, show your work. This has helped me numerous times as I've had to think back to what I dosed or how I came to that particular conclusion, etc. Notebook and a pen are a cheap and easy combination.

[somewherebeyondthesea]

Originally Posted by michika

Another suggestion for dosing; write down what you did, when you did it, and HOW you got that calculation. In short, show your work. This has helped me numerous times as I've had to think back to what I dosed or how I came to that particular conclusion, etc. Notebook and a pen are a cheap and easy combination.

+1 I do the same