Possible to no longer need to dose?

[reeferx2]

Long story short, my tank has matured and coraline began growing really well. As such my cal and mag levels were depleted. I began dosing for about a month where they were brought to 440 and 1350. For the last 2 weeks the levels have stayed constant only doing 20% water changes. Does this make sense???

 

For what it's worth, I maintain a .025 spec G and was dosing with kent A B, and brightwell magnesium.

My tank is a 6gal with about 9 mixed corals.

[VW_TDI_02]

With tanks that small you can usually get away without dosing and just doing water changes since it is pretty easy to do a 30% water change. An easy way to tell is to simply test your water right before you do a water change and see what your levels are. Personally I dose the water I use for water changes so that new water is at the levels I want the tank to be at and since I have a new tank with only a few coral I don't need to dose just yet

[reeferx2]

Before I began dosing, even with regular water changes, my cal and mag levels were simply too low. We'll call it 350 and 1200. After about a month of dosing daily the parameters rose to their current figures.

 

I was under the impression that I would now need to dose regularly, but after my last 2 water changes they've held steady before, after, and during the entire week in between. I just found that to be odd. I have been monitoring this very closely and testing my water daily.

 

I'm merely trying to figure out if this is a normal thing. This is my first reef tank, it's been running for 2 years now.

[VW_TDI_02]

It's tough to say anything is "normal" because every tank is different. What does the newly mixed water you use for your water change check out as? If you aren't dosing then your tank should have the same or lower values than what you're using for your water change.

 

Dosing typically is not necessary on smaller tanks since water changes are so easy to do. Doing a 30% water change on a 10 gallon tank is way easier and cheaper than doing it on a 300 gallon tank. It gets to the point that the typical 10-15% water changes aren't enough so you have to dose. Either that or you tend to slack on your water change schedule.

 

To sum it up, people dose tanks when the tank consumes more than what the water change puts into the tank. How big of a water change and your tank obviously factor into that. I had to dose in my 20 long set up because I had a good bit of LPS and a SPS frag rack in the bottom and weekly water changes couldn't keep up.

[Clown79]

Yup, dosing is required when corals start using up the parameters which also changes with growth rate.

[reeferx2]

What I find strange is that when I began dosing, after about 24 to 48 hours the mag and calcium levels would drop.

 

I literally just checked my water, my mag and calcium have been the same all week.

 

This is what I'm having a hard time understanding. How I can I possibly have the same calcium and mag levels as last Thursday? I haven't dosed a damn thing since the 17th of this month.

[tanacharison]

If you are concerned I would have a lfs text your water as well. Often different test kits will produce slightly different results. Have you checked your levels before and after your water change? If I had to guess your salt mix could be making new saltwater at higher parameters than whats in your tank. Increasing your water parameters enough so after a week when you test again they are back at your target.

 

If everything is happy I would consider this a win. Doing a water change is easier and often more beneficial than dosing.

[reeferx2]

Yea, I'very been checking my parameters every day since November 3rd and have everything written down. My hunch is that back in November my consumption was so great that it was keeping numbers low.

 

Dosing over the last month and half might have brought things to where they need to be and now I'm getting away with only water changes alone.

 

What had left me scratching my head is that the whole time I was dosing, I was able to see levels rise and fall. Once that stopped happening brought me on the boards for questioning, lol.

 

I did in fact bring my water to the LFS to see where my magnesium was at because after 5 days of it testing the exact same I thought maybe I had a bogus test kit. A contributing factor to that was that it was newly purchased. My previous salifert kit was reflecting changes, the new one wasn't. Which could be purely coincidental that my tank stabilized at the same time I got the new kit.

 

Like you said though dude, if I'm testing daily and things are remaining constant without dosing then it's a huge win. Just really found it funny that calcium even is staying consistent. It's been 440 since last week.

 

Doing a WC today, I'll keep you guys in the loop for those that care to know, lol

 

Also worth mentioning that 2 colonies I thought were toast are making a huge comeback. I'll get you guys some pictures later on. Everyone likes pictures!

[Clown79]

I've had it happen to me, I think its most likely consumption dropped so numbers are stable. If you notice corals growing, your numbers will change again