Calcium stable / Alk drops..what to do?

[reeferx2]

Hi all, so after my water changes my Calcium is at 450 and doesn't really drop below 430 until it's time for my next water change. My DKH however plummets during the course of a week. Starting at say 9dkh after a WC and dropping at a rate of roughly 1dkh per day. 

 

I've been using the Part B only from my Kent Nano AB, but lately I've been wondering if there's a better way. I have no use for the Part A any longer and would hate to keep buying both. 

 

Dosing the Part B every 2 days or so seems to keep the Alkalinity fairly stable. 

 

If I'm too worried about this please also let me know. I simply have a small mix of softies and LPS in my 6 gallon. I haven't seen DKH fall below 6, however all my reading suggests that it's best to keep it stable. 

[dandelion]

I don't dose calcium either. I just dose alkalinity to keep my tank stable. I would keep doing whatever you do, dose alk daily and maybe test calcium every time after water change. Over time you may notice your calcium drops below your desired level and then you can dose calcium to correct it.

 

Some people say that you should be dosing a balanced additive because corals consume calcium and alkalinity on a 1 to 1 ratio. I do not dispute that but from my personal experience I do not see calcium go down with alkalinity. Moreover because the amount of calcium in seawater is so much higher than carbonate, you will have to run out of carbonate many times for calcium to get to a very low level. An analogy is you have 100 oranges and 10 apples and you consume one of each every day. After five days you will only have half the apple left but you still have 95 oranges, which is fairly close to what you have in the beginning. That's why I only replenish oranges (calcium) once in a while but try to keep my apples (alk) at target.

 

Short answer is: Dosing alkalinity only works well for me, but some people prefer dosing at a balanced ratio.

[reeferx2]

Thanks for the lengthy response, it definitely seems like you and I are in the same boat. 

 

May I ask what you're using you supplement only Alk? A lot of the products I come across are a two part system. 

[dandelion]

57 minutes ago, reeferx2 said:

Thanks for the lengthy response, it definitely seems like you and I are in the same boat. 

 

May I ask what you're using you supplement only Alk? A lot of the products I come across are a two part system. 

I use the SeaChem reefbuilder. It is very inexpensive and you get a lot out of it because it is solid powder. What I do is go on eBay and get some jewelry scale that measures down to 10mg (0.01g) for less than $10, then measure out a specific amount and mix it with 500mL of RO/DI and store in a pop bottle. It creates a stock solution that raises 1 gallon by 1 dKH per 1 mL.

 

This is exactly the scale that I have. Very handy too for measuring out medications.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Portable-200g-x-0-01g-Digital-Scale-Jewelry-Pocket-Balance-Gram-LCD-Herb-Gold-/391359300202?hash=item5b1ed5026a:g:fgEAAOSwwPhWjGAg

[Clown79]

I dose 2 part esv bionic. As you dose alk and it rises, ca tends to drop so to keep them balanced, i prefer 2 part liquid doser. 

[reeferx2]

Interesting, now that my alk has been steady at about 9dkh I'm going to test my Calcium later.