Maintaining proper calcium

[Salty_josh1]

Hello everyone! Had a question I wanted to run by and see what everyone else thinks.

 

 

I tested Calcium today just to see where its at on my last day before a water change to see how low it is. I added 12 drops to the test so it indicates about 240ppm. I picked up a bottle of Brightwell Calcion and I wanted see if anyone had any advise on it. I says on the bottle 5ml per 50 gallons every other day. My tank is a 30g so my plan was to add 1.5ml at night when I turn the lights out and test 24 hours later to see where its at.

 

 

Current water management:

I use catalina ocean water (1.026) in my tank and do a 4 gallon water change every Wednesday. I keep the temp around 78F. I do NOT dose anything in the tank. I do use TWO automatic replenisher from sealab on Sundays.

 

 

[JavaJacketOC]

That reading seems off, I was under the impression the salinity on this was closer to 1.023 or somewhere around there. 240 calcium seems really low, can you have a LFS double check? You should probably also check your alkalinity before you dose calcium, you may be low on both of those.

 

If it turns out that you're low on either or both of these you should try dosing both parts of the supplement you mentioned.

 

What type of livestock/coral do you have in the tank? If you're not heavily stocked or what you have doesn't use up a lot of Alk/Cal you're probably better off just mixing your own salt or if your LFS offers it, using a high quality mix that that have ready. Dosing can be a hassle in general so if you don't HAVE to do it, I would suggest letting a couple large water changes take care of it then just keep a consistent water change routine.

[Salty_josh1]

They also sell premix at 1.025. I tested KH and it shows 142.2ppm. I am very consistent with water changes, I try to keep everything as consistent as possible. Lights, feeding time, water changes, etc. In the tank I have purple monti about 4 inches big, two heads of green torch, about 20 zoa polyps, and rbta. You suggest mixing my own salt vs natural water?

[CronicReefer]

After you verify that your test is accurate you need to check your magnesium. If your magnesium is not 1200+ then you will have a hard time getting calcium to stabilize in your water. After that your going to want to add more than 1.5mL per day. The product raises one gallon of water by 40ppm per mL so if your tank has 25 gallons of actual water adding 1.5mL will only increase it by 2.4ppm. Your going to want to add 30mL per day which will give you a 50ppm increase. Once you hit 400+ you can stop dosing. You will also need to keep track of your carbonate levels as dosing calcium will affect them slightly.

[mystersyster]

Hello everyone! Had a question I wanted to run by and see what everyone else thinks.

 

 

I tested Calcium today just to see where its at on my last day before a water change to see how low it is. I added 12 drops to the test so it indicates about 240ppm. I picked up a bottle of Brightwell Calcion and I wanted see if anyone had any advise on it. I says on the bottle 5ml per 50 gallons every other day. My tank is a 30g so my plan was to add 1.5ml at night when I turn the lights out and test 24 hours later to see where its at.

 

 

Current water management:

I use catalina ocean water (1.026) in my tank and do a 4 gallon water change every Wednesday. I keep the temp around 78F. I do NOT dose anything in the tank. I do use TWO automatic replenisher from sealab on Sundays.

 

 

Make sure you shake them vile between each drop.

[JavaJacketOC]

They also sell premix at 1.025. I tested KH and it shows 142.2ppm. I am very consistent with water changes, I try to keep everything as consistent as possible. Lights, feeding time, water changes, etc. In the tank I have purple monti about 4 inches big, two heads of green torch, about 20 zoa polyps, and rbta. You suggest mixing my own salt vs natural water?

 

If the calcium test is accurate but Alk is fine I would probably switch over to a mixed salt. Even if you're consistent about water changes with the natural, if the elements in the natural are low, you're not really doing anything but exporting nutrients. And if the Cal is low, some of the other, trace elements probably are as well. Even if you switch over to one of the less expensive mixes like Instant Ocean or Instant Ocean Reef Crystals, you'd see stability in the Cal pretty quickly.

 

I've used IO and Reef Crystals, I like them both a lot. I would just do 20% water changes with each week for the next month then return to your normal schedule and water change amount. You'll probably end up a little below 400 ppm cal which is perfectly fine for your livestock.

[NanoReefer147741]

If you plan on keeping SPS, you shoud consider going with a salt mix tha yields 400+ Ca and 9+ dKH.

 

240, as others have pointed out, is very low. Could be the magnesium, since your dKH is around 7.95 (if your 142 ppm is correct), and its probably not a dKH / Ca balance issue.

 

1.5mL of the dosing seems low. For comparison, I dose 5mL a day of E.S.V.'s B-Ionic two part calcium buffer for my Innovative Marine Fusion 10g (which is around 7.5 gallons of water). Granted I have a good amount of SPS in my tank, I still think 1.5mL won't be enough to raise your calcium to the proper levels.

 

Also, make sure you are dosing equal parts Alkalnity and Calcium, as dosing just one of the components can create an imbalance and a dKH or Ca crash.

 

Good luck!

[tarunteam]

Hello everyone! Had a question I wanted to run by and see what everyone else thinks.

 

 

I tested Calcium today just to see where its at on my last day before a water change to see how low it is. I added 12 drops to the test so it indicates about 240ppm. I picked up a bottle of Brightwell Calcion and I wanted see if anyone had any advise on it. I says on the bottle 5ml per 50 gallons every other day. My tank is a 30g so my plan was to add 1.5ml at night when I turn the lights out and test 24 hours later to see where its at.

 

 

Current water management:

I use catalina ocean water (1.026) in my tank and do a 4 gallon water change every Wednesday. I keep the temp around 78F. I do NOT dose anything in the tank. I do use TWO automatic replenisher from sealab on Sundays.

 

 

I'd suggest doing a large water change instead of topping off with liquid calc. If your calc is that low i bet your other parameters are also out of wack. This way you won't be playing wack a mole with param's as they all influence each other.