Let's talk about Alkalinity, Calcium and Magnesium in an SPS Tank

Mag always takes a large amount of dosing to get to acceptable levels. But once you get your levels up, you will dose less frequently...
 
so what are everyone's opinion's/ideas on ALK level in the 7.0-8.0 range that are using biopellets or vodka dosing? It seesm that the alk should be in this range opposed to 9-11dKh.

also keeping Cal level in the low 400's & Mag 1300-1350.

What if any downside is there to a lower dKh of say 7.5? does this lower level create any possible problems? Will this affect any corals other than SPS negativley? LPS, softies etc....

Thanks,
 
110galreef said:
so what are everyone's opinion's/ideas on ALK level in the 7.0-8.0 range that are using biopellets or vodka dosing? It seesm that the alk should be in this range opposed to 9-11dKh.

also keeping Cal level in the low 400's & Mag 1300-1350.

What if any downside is there to a lower dKh of say 7.5? does this lower level create any possible problems? Will this affect any corals other than SPS negativley? LPS, softies etc....

Thanks,
Click to expand...

Low alkalinity will have a big effect on a lot of corals.
Corals not only use calcium to build their skeletons,but the carbonate alkalinity also plays a big roll in it.If the alkalinity is to low,SPS and LPS cant build their skeletons and start to decline pretty quick.

Similarily high ranges of alkalinity can cause rtn to set in
 
capn_hylinur said:
Low alkalinity will have a big effect on a lot of corals.
Corals not only use calcium to build their skeletons,but the carbonate alkalinity also plays a big roll in it.If the alkalinity is to low,SPS and LPS cant build their skeletons and start to decline pretty quick.

Similarily high ranges of alkalinity can cause rtn to set in
Click to expand...
at what point does that happen about.

Seems many have run 7.0 while in the ULNS with biopellets?
 
So I am curious about how/when everyone adjusts their alk when dosing 2 part. I am plagued with slow growth in my tank even though the levels are steady and in the right range. My corals have great color but really slow growth. I was wondering if it had something to do with how I adjust my levels. I keep my alk at 8.5 and Ca at 420 using limewater in my topoff and just a few ml of 2-part daily.

I am wondering if things would grow faster if I added more alk/cal even though my levels are stable, testing to make sure the corals are using the additional alk/cal that I am adding so it doesn't spike. I just figure that maybe their growth is being limited by the lower amount of dosing that I currently use even though things are stable with the current dosing levels.
 
My Alk is 11dKH, Ca 380, and Mag 1230. It's okay to just add Ca supplements to raise Ca a bit right? Or will doing this impact other parameters negatively? I have a 29g Biocube and do 10% WCs every week. I'm using Sera Marin Ca as my supplment. I also use Sachems PH 8.3 powder in my RO for maintaining PH a couple times a week.
 
you can add just Cal to bring it up to where you want. If the supp you use has other things in it, thse will rise to tho
 
Hello, I have about 60g total volume, pretty heavily stocked, all sps. Growth is good, but my alk drops 2-3 dkh a day, so I'm thinking about getting a dosing setup. I am using 2 part alk from BRS and calcium have been using reef fusion. The reef fusion has mag in it so I have not been dosing separately for it or testing... I was wondering if I should get the 2 or the 3 dosing pumps. Alk, Calc and Mag? How often do you guys dose Mag? could I just do 2 part and rely on water changes for Mag?
 
schoolisbad1 said:
Hello, I have about 60g total volume, pretty heavily stocked, all sps. Growth is good, but my alk drops 2-3 dkh a day, so I'm thinking about getting a dosing setup. I am using 2 part alk from BRS and calcium have been using reef fusion. The reef fusion has mag in it so I have not been dosing separately for it or testing... I was wondering if I should get the 2 or the 3 dosing pumps. Alk, Calc and Mag? How often do you guys dose Mag? could I just do 2 part and rely on water changes for Mag?
Click to expand...


I only dose cal & alk daily, i only seem to need to dose mag like every 4 weeks and at that it only is around 1300 when I dose it manually. WC for me pretty much keep it in check.

I do have a 3 pump doser, but the Mg amount is so little I just manually do it w/ a WC when needed. Seems on my setup 7-8 oz speard out over day bring it up from 1300-1370's
 
Hi guys .. this is a great topic i was looking for such a thing .... i used to lose lotsssssss of my corals SPS and i used to add the Calc+mag from the trace elements by JBL and i start changing to Acua care type 1 calcium reactor + additional tube for mag and i have added the acuamedic kalk reactor everything is working fine and i have start adding recently new sps corals tell now it is fine ... but my main issue is the mag what ever i do it stays low never exceeds 1000 or 950 sometimes which impacting the color of the corals , calc is fine i have it 400 steady and alk ~10 to ~12
http://glassbox-design.com/2008/aquacare-turbo-chalk-calcium-reactor-review/
and recently i have added acuamedic nitrate redactor NR 1000 http://www.swelluk.com/aquarium/aqu...edic-nr-1000-nitratereductor-1000ltr-435.html
since i could not reduce the nitrate lower than 1 so what ever i have done.
it is became a dream to see full algae live rocks it is converting very slowly now i am running my tank for more than a year
my tank dimension
H80cm X W50cm X L100cm = its almost 100g i am using MH 150w - 20000k
pls your idea how to end this dripping death :)

Mazen
 
Fieroguy19 said:
So I am curious about how/when everyone adjusts their alk when dosing 2 part. I am plagued with slow growth in my tank even though the levels are steady and in the right range. My corals have great color but really slow growth. I was wondering if it had something to do with how I adjust my levels. I keep my alk at 8.5 and Ca at 420 using limewater in my topoff and just a few ml of 2-part daily.

I am wondering if things would grow faster if I added more alk/cal even though my levels are stable, testing to make sure the corals are using the additional alk/cal that I am adding so it doesn't spike. I just figure that maybe their growth is being limited by the lower amount of dosing that I currently use even though things are stable with the current dosing levels.
Click to expand...

are you feeding your corals.
Np pellets or carbon dosing increases the bacteria level in the tank. Some sps corals will feed on this bacteria
One of the reasons for carbon dosing is to bring down and keep down your nitrates and phosphates.
this in turn allows you to feed alot more so feed the heck out of your sps corals to get them to grow.
Once they start growing you will be able to determine the alk and calcium needs
 
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