New to dosing for calcium and alk

[Tangina20]

I’m starting to have a large amount of lps and sps in my reef and just started testing for cal and alk. My alk is at 7 and cal is at 340. I’m looking into dosing kalkwasser or soda lime in my auto top off but I read that it can increase ph too high. Right now my ph is sitting at about 8.2-8.3 how much more will kalk raise my ph??

[Clown79]

What salt are you using and what is your salinity?

 

340 is pretty low, alk the lowest it should be.

 

Have you tested magnesium?

 

Dosing is normally done to replenish what corals consume.

 

If your salt is mixing low params, every time you do a waterchange, ot will cause more fluctuations. You would need to dose your newly mixed water.

 

It's far easier using a salt that mixes levels you want and then dose to replenish what the corals are using which will need daily testing to determine.

 

I wouldn't worry too much about ph. It fluctuates all day long, affected by photosynthesis. 

[Tangina20]

7 hours ago, Clown79 said:

What salt are you using and what is your salinity?

 

340 is pretty low, alk the lowest it should be.

 

Have you tested magnesium?

 

Dosing is normally done to replenish what corals consume.

 

If your salt is mixing low params, every time you do a waterchange, ot will cause more fluctuations. You would need to dose your newly mixed water.

 

It's far easier using a salt that mixes levels you want and then dose to replenish what the corals are using which will need daily testing to determine.

 

I wouldn't worry too much about ph. It fluctuates all day long, affected by photosynthesis. 

I’m using reef crystals which starts with a decent amount of minerals in it already. I haven’t Tested mag but I will Put in an order for a test kit. I like to keep salinity at 1.025. Would you recommend 2 part or kalk? 

[Clown79]

Have you tested a newly mixed batch of water to see what it mixes at?

 

Do you prestir the sand in the bag to get a good even distribution?

 

I personally prefer liquid 2 part

[specore]

I personally think 2 part is ideal for nanos.  Kalk is pretty powerful stuff and I don't trust it in tanks under 50g (not that people don't/can't do it).  Kalk is more economical; however, it also is more work to mix and the economics on a small tank just don't save you much.  I probably buy ESV 2 part once a year.  

[mcarroll]

decline of ca probably matches the amount of alk consumed...

 

(guessing since we don't know starting values.)

 

I would not suggest starting out dosing with kalk.

[Tangina20]

4 hours ago, Clown79 said:

Have you tested a newly mixed batch of water to see what it mixes at?

 

Do you prestir the sand in the bag to get a good even distribution?

 

I personally prefer liquid 2 part

What do you mean pre stir the sand??

[Tangina20]

4 hours ago, specore said:

I personally think 2 part is ideal for nanos.  Kalk is pretty powerful stuff and I don't trust it in tanks under 50g (not that people don't/can't do it).  Kalk is more economical; however, it also is more work to mix and the economics on a small tank just don't save you much.  I probably buy ESV 2 part once a year.  

I have a 40 so it’s on the line!

[Clown79]

19 hours ago, Tangina20 said:

What do you mean pre stir the sand??

Its advised to either roll the salt buckets or stir the sand in the bag before each use. This allows an even distribution of the sand before using it. 

 

Until you know:

 

1. What a new batch of water mixes at 

2. What your corals are consuming daily

 

I would not advise dosing at all, blindly dosing only leads to problems.

 

You need to figure out if it's the salt to begin with or coral consumption