How do I know if I need to start dosing?

[StaySalty]

I have a 92 gallon mixed tank. Right now, nothing but softies and LPS but would love to have one or two nice sps colonies down the road. I have never dosed Kalk or two part or anything like that. I usually do a 20 gallon water change every 2 weeks or sometimes just do a 10 gallon water change every week with Red Sea Coral Pro salt. I'm feeling like I could be getting better growth...

I was just wondering if there are any tell tale signs that I should be dosing something. One thing i have noticed is that I have almost no coraline algea on my rocks and my tank has been up for nearly 3 years. The back walls do have it though. Should I just test Ca, Alk, and Mg across 2 weeks and see how much they fluctuate? Under what circumstances would I need to start dosing?

 

[nicholasb]

Most L.P.s can grow slowly. some divide heads in two to grow.
When you start dosing your cal should around 420, your alk should be 8-9 d.k.h and mag 1300ppm. Theses levels are not that inportant, but just make it easier if you under or over dose. (you won't go out of the safe zone so easily). When your levels drop by 10ppm alkalinity/carbonate (0.5 dkh) then you dose back up to your stating level. For every 1 d.k.h (18ppm) alk you will loose 6ppm calcium. It may be harder to spot a drop in calcium. Water changes can put back levels, but just test every few days, and use an on line reef calculator to help if you need to when dosing. It could be 6 hours for a drop of 0.5 alk, 6 days, or 6weeks!!.

 

[Doug]

You are on the right track with your consistent water changes and one of the best places to start is to test your water parameters. Since you already have Ca, and Alk test kits you should look at your current levels and then see if you need to adjust them.

 

[leveldrummer]

You really should not ever dose anything unless you test for it and are sure your tank needs it. many times, water changes can keep parameters in check unless you have large amount of corals that grow skeletons.

Get some test kits, and test your water parameters. If you levels are low, try doing a water change and see if that brings it up to a desirable level. Then test again a few days later, and if your parameters are dropping too fast, then its safe to say dosing will keep them in check between water changes.

 

[bertoni]

I'd start by testing the calcium, alkalinity, and maybe magnesium, and work from there.

 

[StaySalty]

Great thanks for the responses. I think what I'll do is start testing every other day for two weeks with my normal maintenance routine and see exactly where my params are at and go from there.