Dosing - besides Ca and Alk, what do you guys dose
- Thread starter gskidmor
- Start date
allsps40
New member
Really? You sure about that? My tank is not large but it is heavily stocked with growing sps colonies and frags. All I dose is kalk and it keeps my ca around 460-500 and alk at 7-8 and problem and I am not even at full saturation yet. It has been done many times for years, reefs run only on kalk dosing for ca and alk.
r-balljunkie
Registered Reefer
i think people underestimate kalk only tanks. some of the most beautiful SPS tanks ive seen run on kalk only.
if you're tank gets to ridiculous proportions, and coral densities, then switch over to a kalk reactor. Sometimes, less is more in this hobby. KISS
C
allsps40
New member
Very rarely. Water changes normal take care of my mag demands.
Frags hardly make a dent in alkalinity and calcium levels and one could get by with just kalk dosing for such a tank.
Read the write-ups of the TOTMs in RC which feature SPS dominant displays - most if not all of them utilize calcium reactors or 2-part dosing for their systems.
I have telling every person who buys coral from me that imo the best route to go is a calcium reactor with the arms extra coarse high mag media. I don't dose anything else not even ph and my corals have exploded. Not to mention the fact that i don't have to buy two part anymore. I have a 210g that is slammed full of sps
allsps40
New member
Read my post a bit better. I said my tank is full of GROWING sps colonies and GROWING frags. Frags that are growing quickly will be using alk and ca in the same ratios as a larger colony. Ca Rx is the best way to dose ca but it has a high initial cost and you still need to dose alk. Most people that run a Ca Rx also have kalk ATO to keep up with alk demands and to keep the PH up from the CO2 in the Ca Rx. IME Ca Rx are best used for tanks larger than 200G, anything smaller is wasting money on ca dosing system because a cheaper more simple method will keep up with demands.
I disagree with your statement that users of calcium reactors have to supplement alkalinity needs with kalkwasser. I ran a system utilizing only a calcium reactor and so do several systems in this forum.
Also, your statement hinges on the fact that there needs to be a certain amount of water evaporation taking place in order for an ATO system to kick in and replace evaporated water with kalk-enriched water. There are systems which do not have high evaporation as they utilize chillers and not cooling fans.
I had no issues maintaining calc and alk when I had a couple of frags. But now my 20 frags in a 60 gallon suck up huge amounts of calc and my kalk could not keep up and I am upping and upping the calc portion of my two part just to keep up...
so while I agree with needing a calcium reactor or two part. I think growing frags soak it up like a sponge...
allsps40
New member
Really it all depends on the setup and what the system demands. Making a statement like kalk alone cant keep up with the demands of a sps system is false because it has been done time and time again. Calcium reactors are not a good method of dosing alk but they will keep ca and mg levels solid and once setup and dialed in are worry free.
Kalk, 2 part and Ca Rx are all very good methods of maintaining ca and/or alk levels. Use what you like and works for you best.
It is simply the amazing amount of bad information that happens in this section. A CaRx supplies ca and alk in the correct ratio needed for coral growth. Allsps40, have you ever used a CaRx or even seen one? Saying that a reactor is not able to keep us with the alk demand only shows that you are clueless as to their operation and function. They do not keep up with mg demand but ca and alk are easy for them to do. Trying to educate people on devices that you do not understand is not very helpful, and i know you try to be helpful. Mag has to be dosed and you can add a mag component but it is dependent on very low ph to work, and many still have to dose mag as needed.
Kali works well as long as the ability to dose enough is met, some of us cannot rely on it, not enough evap to work. I dose mag occasionally and at times calcium and alk a couple of times a year as needed. I also dose a little vinegar when the bio pellets are offline.
Kali works well as long as the ability to dose enough is met, some of us cannot rely on it, not enough evap to work. I dose mag occasionally and at times calcium and alk a couple of times a year as needed. I also dose a little vinegar when the bio pellets are offline.
