New to understanding Calcium/KH

[ZmyDust]

Hey there!  Looking for some help from those that understand ideal ranges for calcium and KH.  This is the first full test I’ve done in several months. The tank has been up about 4 months now and has had no issues. Have several softies and 1 hammer, 1 torch, 1 Favia. Looking to get the water parameters right for max coral growth and health.  I know the calcium and KH are in the low range.  What would products would you recommend?

 

Salinity: 1.025
PH: 7-4 to 7-8
Nitrates: 10 ppm
Phosphate: 0
KH: 6 dKH (107.4 ppm)
Calcium: 340-360
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0

[Thrassian Atoll]

Bump your salinity up to 1.026 first and see what your numbers are.  You don’t have a lot of LPS or SPS.  What salt are you using?

[ZmyDust]

1 hour ago, TILTON said:

Bump your salinity up to 1.026 first and see what your numbers are.  You don’t have a lot of LPS or SPS.  What salt are you using?

I could try that. I’ve been using Two Little Fishies AccuraSea salt.  

[seabass]

Supposedly, AccuraSea1 parameters at 1.026 are:

• Calcium - 420mg/L
• Alkalinity - 8 dKH
• Magnesium - 1300mg/L

To me, I would target calcium at 420ppm, and alkalinity at 8dKH.  That way water changes just bring you closer to your targets.  Stability is important.

 

4 hours ago, ZmyDust said:

Phosphate: 0

Which phosphate kit do you use?  You should be able to detect some phosphate.  If using a high range kit like API, consider switching to a low range kit so that you can monitor it.

 

In case you do need to dose:

 

There are some decent two part dosing solutions out there.  BRS two part works well, as does ESV B-Ionic.  However, with your current corals, water changes might be sufficient.

 

Maybe consider dripping Kalkwasser in at night to help maintain levels once they are back up to target levels.  It will help your pH levels too.

[ZmyDust]

Thank you all for the advice!  Makes more sense now. It’s a 32g tank and I’ve been doing weekly 5g water changes. I just did one and tried to bump the salinity up slightly so I’ll test again soon and see where that leaves me.

 

yes I am using the api phosphate test kit and it appears to be 0. I will have to get a lower range kit. 

[mcarroll]

On 8/3/2019 at 9:12 PM, ZmyDust said:

Nitrates: 10 ppm

Fine.

On 8/3/2019 at 9:12 PM, ZmyDust said:

Phosphate: 0

Keep 0.03 ppm or more in the water at least until the tank has had a chance to mature.

 

Brightwell and Seachem both make phosphate products that should work.  

On 8/3/2019 at 9:12 PM, ZmyDust said:

KH: 6 dKH

Combined with the lack of available phosphates, I'd be worried about this...or any alk reading under 7 dKH.

 

I'd target 8 dKH.

 

ESV B-Ionic, Brightwell, Two Little Fishies, Tropic Marin, et al.  

 

There are a million products and a million right ways to dose....if you haven't done the reading yet, now is the time.

(here's the webcached version...not sure if the original is elsewhere now or what...but it gave me a server error at the original URL. 😞)

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:sJm1fkwQIVoJ:https://www.advancedaquarist.com/2003/2/chemistry&client=safari&hl=en&gl=us&strip=1&vwsrc=0

[mcarroll]

(See above too.....sorry for the split post)

 

On 8/3/2019 at 9:12 PM, ZmyDust said:

Calcium: 340-360

420 ppm would be ideal, but there isn't usually much impact from having calcium too low or too high.  Just the same try to keep it dialed in with alkalinity.  🙂