dosing question

[Drewpy]

I try to keep my calcium level about 390 or 400 and my alk around 11....
However the instant ocean salt i use is consistantly much lower then that for both. I dose seachem reef advantage calcium and reef builder to bring the levels up and use seachem test kits as well...
I usually dose fresh IO salt water to get the desired levels... Then add that water to tank during water changes... (this along with dosing the tank seems to work)
My question is that is it better to dose calcium or alk first or does it not matter?
Right now i dose calcium in thed freshly made salt water until the level rises where i want it, then wait a day and dose alk to bring that up as well...

My goal is keep the levels where i want without having them fluctuate during water changes... I thought i read somewhere dosing alk can deplete calcium levels so that is why i dose the calcium first... is this true? Whats the best way to meet my goal?

thanks for any help

 

[bertoni]

The order of dosing doesn't make much difference, really, in this situation.

Dosing calcium will reduce alkalinity, and vice versa, but the effect is only significant if one or the other is too high.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

You probably don't need much alkalinity supplement to reach 11 dKH in the IO, since that is about where it usually comes out, but boosting the calcium is a fine idea. I do that for my water change water, as well as boosting magnesium to offset tank loses.

 

[FDinPA]

It has also been my experience that IO mixes up pretty close to 11dKH. If you are getting substantially lower results I would say that it very well may be your water source. I have been blessed with outstanding well water that buffers very well.
Jonathon, I would not say that dosing calcium automatically lowers alkalinity (at least not to the point that it shows up on my test kits). I like to think of it more as the water can only hold a finite amount of either (and both) in suspension before something falls out (A laymans analogy). He should very easily be able to maintain the levels that he desires. My personal circumstance is that I very rarely have to build dKH but I have to dose calcium daily with my top off water and I have yet to see a drop in alkalinity.
To be honest I have never paid attention to what order I dose things in. In my case it would most likely be the pickling lime... because that is what sits closest to me on the shelf!