Cal and Mag question

[Antonais1391]

ive been dosing mag and Cal over the past 2 weeks and my alk is getting high yesterday it was 10.4 will dosing larger amounts of cal and mag do that?? also would dosing my alk solution lower it?? if not what would?? my levels whould be where i want them in the next couple of days so i can slow down with the cal mag dosing. thx for the help

 

[bertoni]

If the alkalinity is high enough, just back off on the daily dosing until it stays stable. That takes some experimentation. Dosing alkalinity won't drop calcium measurably as long as the two parameters are in their reasonable ranges. Vice versa for calcium. Dosing magnesium won't affect the other two parameters.

 

[Antonais1391]

so i should hold back on the calcium completely or just dose lets say every other day or every 3 days?? or just till it gets back to 8-9??

 

[bertoni]

Did you mean alkalinity, instead of calcium? I think the level is fine as is, but if you want, letting it drop to 8-9 is okay, too. The usual recommended range is 7-11 dKH, but some people running ULNS methods like to keep it around 7 dKH or so.

Many tanks require daily dosing to keep alkalinity stable. A week or so of daily testing should help you determine what's happening in your system.