How are you maintaining Calcium in your SPS Nano's?

[Sahin]

My parameters are as follows:

 

Ph: 8.3

Ca:340

Alk:7

 

Dont have a kit for Mg, but I use H2Ocean salt and carry out 30% water changes each week so I feel with this salt Mg should be adequate.

 

I have about 20 SPS frags in the tank and they are sucking up the calcium. I suppose Alk is on the low side too?

 

I dose Kalk via top off but it appears that it isnt enough. I bought C-Balance (which is a two part ionic supplement), we dont have B-Ionic in the UK. I only had this stuff for 1 day so not sure how it will perform. The stupid thing is, it doesnt say on the bottle by how much C-Balance will raise the Calcium etc!

 

I dont want a Calcium reactor.

 

So, how are you guys meeting the Calcium demands of your SPS?

 

Is my Alk and Ca in a balanced ratio or do I need to raise Calcium to higher levels before using C-Balance?

 

Ideas/suggestions/advice very appreciated!

[DoubleD]

You have to adjust the ratios based on the amount of Ca being consumed. Which means testing all the time...until you get it right.

 

This is what I've gathered from talking to people that cultivate SPS for sale and for show, as I have been looking into getting into some cultivation myself.

 

The advantage of a Ca reactor is that it is more stable as it pulls Calcium out as the system needs it.

 

I don't dose calcium other then water changes right now because I only have a few pieces.

[jeffblly]

I have recently switched salts to H2O and have the same params you have. I am having to dose alot more calcium now than I did with Oceanic. I have tested mag and it is higher than what most salts have. I dont have very many SPS so I dont think they are using calcium any more than before.

 

I use C-Balance but I still havent been able to raise the calcium and alk consistently but I might start dosing 5ml daily per the instructions to see if that helps.

[reefer916]

I do my daily water changes and dose B-Ionic 2 Parts to balance out my Ca and Alk. You'll have to mess around with your dosing because each tank consumes different amounts of trace elements depending on the coral load. I keep mine in the 420-450 range by doing daily 1-2 gallon water changes and a 5 gallon weekly water change. In addition, I dose daily 2-Parts and Mg every other day.