How often to check Alk/Calcium/Mag?
- Thread starter Spork3245
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gone fishin
New member
I check alk and calc weekly and mag every other week. I have my dosing pumps set up on timers and dose calcium late evening and alk early morning.
What corals do you have? I never had to dose with LPS, adding just 4 SPS has made dosing a must for me.
gone fishin
New member
I did not need to dose until I started adding SPS as well.
ghellin
New member
Once dialed in Alk is the one you should test most frequently. I test Alk 3 times a week and Calcium about once a week. If calcium is over 400 Mag is fine. Calcium takes a while to deplete while Alk can be very quick. I do a full test of everything at least once a month, usually every 3rd week or so. My current daily dosing is 130 ml Ca, and 118 ml Alk, (BRS dry chems).
My levels are currently
410 Calcium
1100 Magnesium
8.3 Alk
Not perfect, but not horrendous. Trying to bring it up to 460/1500/8.6 (I just dosed a little of everything, starting with magnesium), my first test about 3 days after adding my first SPS (monti cap) was 350/800/7.2 (I have no idea how my magnesium was so off) so it's come a long way in 2 weeks time. I'm debating on switching salts as IO Reef Crystals seem to have a low mag of 1200.
I'm debating on getting an auto-doser/reactor but am unsure how they work. I guess I need to figure out how much the levels change per day and set the dosers/reactors accordingly...?
410 Calcium
1100 Magnesium
8.3 Alk
Not perfect, but not horrendous. Trying to bring it up to 460/1500/8.6 (I just dosed a little of everything, starting with magnesium), my first test about 3 days after adding my first SPS (monti cap) was 350/800/7.2 (I have no idea how my magnesium was so off) so it's come a long way in 2 weeks time. I'm debating on switching salts as IO Reef Crystals seem to have a low mag of 1200.
I'm debating on getting an auto-doser/reactor but am unsure how they work. I guess I need to figure out how much the levels change per day and set the dosers/reactors accordingly...?
Last edited:
Dkuhlmann
New member
My tank is very heavy LPS with a few easy SPS corals and I use IO Reef Crystals and couldn't be happier, especially since I don't have to dose anything due to using the RC. I do a 10% WC weekly to keep my levels stable. I was doing 20% every other week but decided to go once a week instead.
My latest tests were:
Temp 78
SG 1.026
Alk 8.4
Ca 400
Mg 1500
Nitrates 0
Phosphates 0
I was having issues with the nitrates and phosphates and used NoPox and it worked perfectly. Only dosed for 10 days and keeping them now undetectable
Here is a link to my tank to give you an idea of what I'm talking about. I'll be adding a lot of pictures of new corals this week as soon as I get some time.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2540376
My latest tests were:
Temp 78
SG 1.026
Alk 8.4
Ca 400
Mg 1500
Nitrates 0
Phosphates 0
I was having issues with the nitrates and phosphates and used NoPox and it worked perfectly. Only dosed for 10 days and keeping them now undetectable
Here is a link to my tank to give you an idea of what I'm talking about. I'll be adding a lot of pictures of new corals this week as soon as I get some time.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2540376
Last edited:
Wait, how is your mag 1500 using reef crystals if you don't dose? Reef Crystals shows as 1200 mag for me with a fresh batch? Now I'm wondering if my refractometer is off, hmmm...
cloak
New member
I usually check my levels once every 3 weeks to a month. I tested the big three the other day and my alkalinity was ~7.5, the calcium was ~385 and the magnesium was ~1245. I bumped the calcium up to 450 & the magnesium up to 1350 and I'll let this fall slowly for the next 3 weeks or so and then test again. I am using Kalkwasser in my ATO and this has been working great, but I'm only using one teaspoon per gallon at the moment. I have to mix up a new batch today and I'll add another teaspoon to my 5 gallon reservoir and see how this works. (6)
I use kalk in the ato, which pretty well holds my alk-cal-mg in steady relationship; but testing mg once a week will warn me when it's trending down, and let me dose it up to level. As long as I do that, and the ato kalk keeps coming, alk-cal-mg will remain locked in proportional relationship. I don't have a controller.
No. Has nothing to do with mg, and ph is generally irrelevant in a marine tank. Kalk supplies calcium, which dissolves nicely because the alkalinity is 8.3; and the magnesium, also used but very slowly, holds the alkalinity steady at 8.3. [or wherever you set it by dosing.] To set up kalk, set your mg first at 1350. Then your alk at 8.3. Then your calcium at 420, all in that order. Then start the kalk-in-topoff system up and it should hold steady (given enough evaporation to drive the topoff) until your mg falls below 1200. If you test your mg weekly, you won't let that happen, as you won't let your topoff run dry...
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