Lo calcium

[antjtc]

I started dosing soda ash w my new dosing pump and got my alk from 7.5 to 9.5 over a few days and appears to stay at 9.5. My ca has been steady at 450 during time my alk was in the 7.5 area when I was hand dosing soda ash four times a day over past few mths. I dose eight times now w my new dosing pump past few days. My mag is 1350 and has been stable. I use kalkwasser in my ato and I have 80 gal of water to deal with. I have only four small sps frags. A small frogspawn and med hammer, xenias, and a few mushrooms. Could my increase in alk result in a hundred pt drop in ca over the fews days I've increased my alk? I see no precipitation of ca in my tank. Or could my increase in alk cause my corals to start growing and consume more ca?

 

[bertoni]

Corals consume alkalinity and calcium at the ratio of 2.8 dKH per 20 ppm calcium. If the calcium has dropped more than that ratio would imply, I suspect water changes or testing issues might be skewing the result. Raising the alkalinity could encourage more growth, though.