When to buy a doser or calcium reactor

[vinnytan]

Hi everyone:

I'm wondering at what point will I need to buy a doser or calcium reactor for corals. Currently i have 5 frags and one being a SPS (slimer coral) I would like to add more SPS corals but worried they will die as i only do water change now.

Will weekly 10-20% water change be enough to replenish the water and how many SPS coral frags can i keep before i need to worry about adding more equipment?

 

[toothybugs]

Test and record your results. You'll see a trend. Things will probably spike a little with water changes; note that as well as anything you do to the tank. Blowing out your rocks will probably spike your nutrient levels a little, etc. You need to look at dosing/ supplementation when your drops are not being met by water changes.

Taking notes on your tank behavior is the best thing you can do to get to know how it works.

 

[Sk8r]

If your tank is under 75 gallons, you can simply toss kalk powder into your ato and it'll do fine. If over that, if heavily stocked with stony, as in wall-to-wall, a reactor becomes increasingly necessary to keep up with their appetite for calcium.

 

[SnoopyDaPimp]

An additional note about what Sk8r said. When you add it to your ATO or top off water test more often when beginning. I did not when I started dosing that way and my Ca got 500+. I watched it for a few more weeks and now have the supplement were it stays fairly constant.