In need of help from experienced sps keepers!

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by Wretch

Just going to jump onto Jason's thread here.

So if your calcium is going down but alk and mag are holding steady/very slow decline is that normal?

over what time span are you testing the calcium to see its drop? how much of a drop compared to alk?

[Wretch]

Originally Posted by reefwars

over what time span are you testing the calcium to see its drop? how much of a drop compared to alk?

Well my calcium isn't dropping holding steady at 450 but its being dosed a tiny bit, 12ml a day. I was dosing my alk the same but it was going up slowly every day. So I turned the alk off for now. I check my magnesium(1350) once a week after my water change. Add if needed. Have been checking calcium and alk every day since adding doser.

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by Wretch

Well my calcium isn't dropping holding steady at 450 but its being dosed a tiny bit, 12ml a day. I was dosing my alk the same but it was going up slowly every day. So I turned the alk off for now. I check my magnesium(1350) once a week after my water change. Add if needed. Have been checking calcium and alk every day since adding doser.

testing calcium drops daily is pretty much impossible to do on hobby test kits the margin of error is to high for such a low drop , test it weekly and find out what the weekly drop is , basically if your calcium is holding steady at only 12ml but alk is rising a bit then both need to be a lower dose , try 8mls and see what happens. eventually calcium will find a happy medium with alk.


tinkering for a bit with both is ok at first but if your using an equal measurement dosing product like 2 or 3 part then youll eventually need to set both the same.


as they say dose based on alk numkbers not calcium numbers. so test alk daily for a while and calcium once or twice a week and find what both needs are

[reefwars]

fwiw coraline is a huge consumer of cal and alk that is often overlooked , alot of reefers think they are getting no growth yet their calcium and alk is being depleted because well......it is , coraline uses as much or in some cases more than hard corals do

after a while you'll find that alk consumption doesnt happen in the evening ( or at least very little ) as much as during daylight as daylight hours ph is higher and corals and other animals are photosynthesizing

[Wretch]

Originally Posted by reefwars

testing calcium drops daily is pretty much impossible to do on hobby test kits the margin of error is to high for such a low drop , test it weekly and find out what the weekly drop is , basically if your calcium is holding steady at only 12ml but alk is rising a bit then both need to be a lower dose , try 8mls and see what happens. eventually calcium will find a happy medium with alk.


tinkering for a bit with both is ok at first but if your using an equal measurement dosing product like 2 or 3 part then youll eventually need to set both the same.


as they say dose based on alk numkbers not calcium numbers. so test alk daily for a while and calcium once or twice a week and find what both needs are

Thanks. I am letting the alk return to normal levels as it was going up with dosing then did a water change and that raised it even higher.

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by Wretch

Thanks. I am letting the alk return to normal levels as it was going up with dosing then did a water change and that raised it even higher.

yeah best to hold off water changes while you figure out your dosing levels , if you take weeks i mean yes keep your maintanance going but don't do random changes while your trying to set your doser

[Wretch]

Originally Posted by reefwars

yeah best to hold off water changes while you figure out your dosing levels , if you take weeks i mean yes keep your maintanance going but don't do random changes while your trying to set your doser

OK then if I have my dosing locked in an my numbers are calcium 450 alk 8 and mag 1350 won't my water changes with alk somewhere around 10 constantly have me too high? or am I missing something?

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by Wretch

OK then if I have my dosing locked in an my numbers are calcium 450 alk 8 and mag 1350 won't my water changes with alk somewhere around 10 constantly have me too high? or am I missing something?

right now while consumption is low yes it will , how much depends on your water volume and the size of the water change. later this may be a bonus or a bigger pita depending on the target goal