ANSWERED, thanks! (Calcium and Minerals

[WormLicker]

Hello, all, thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge.

 

Today I've noticed my calcium dropped to 360, so it's time to purchase my first additive I believe. I just did a water change and I'm trying to keep them minimal, diatoms and dino finally under control. I've done a single 10% change and the aquarium is more or less a month running.

 

My question is; Is it better to use single component additives such as kalkwasser, or something that buffers multiple minerals?

 

I admittedly only have a (mineral) test for calcium. My understanding is that since it's low, the other traces probably are, too?

 

I'm mostly worried about calcium for my plate coral, but it's the only lps and I do not plan on adding more any time soon. 

 

Thank you!

[Jaren45]

If you've never ever dosed a tank before, kalkwasser is a really easy 1 part solution to raise alk/calc. You can either dose it from a single head dosing pump throughout the day, or add it to your auto top off water (not as stable)

 

2 part is a similar story, but gets a little more complicated when you are trying to dial it in. 

 

Both work equally as well and I'd recommend doing some more research before chosing one or the other. Another tip is to NOT switch methods once you start one, I learned this the hard way and ended up losing coral because I thought I was doing the "right thing"

[filefishfinatic]

1 hour ago, WormLicker said:

Hello, all, thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge.

 

Today I've noticed my calcium dropped to 360, so it's time to purchase my first additive I believe. I just did a water change and I'm trying to keep them minimal, diatoms and dino finally under control. I've done a single 10% change and the aquarium is more or less a month running.

 

My question is; Is it better to use single component additives such as kalkwasser, or something that buffers multiple minerals?

 

I admittedly only have a (mineral) test for calcium. My understanding is that since it's low, the other traces probably are, too?

 

I'm mostly worried about calcium for my plate coral, but it's the only lps and I do not plan on adding more any time soon. 

 

Thank you!

seachem has good dosing 

[A.m.P]

If alk is stable from minimal waterchanges, but your magnesium and calcium are dropping you'd probably be fine just buying 2-part and only dosing the calcium+magnesium component. 

My source for Instant Ocean mixes chronically low on magnesium and calcium, so I just dose mag+cal from a cheap brightwell jug I got on sale ages back.

 

Oh, yeah, as mentioned above Seachem's website has easy-to-use dosing calculators.

[Jaren45]

Just now, filefishfinatic said:

seachem has good dosing 

Theirs is dumb overpriced though. OP if you want to use 2/3-part dosing I'd look into the powdered versions. Fritz, brs, brightwell, etc all sell powdered all/calc/mag. Costs me cents on the gallon to dose

[filefishfinatic]

i dose for my fish and microfauna and in hopes to make my gsp grow (i think it is now) i dose reef plus and complete

[WormLicker]

24 minutes ago, Jaren45 said:

.Another tip is to NOT switch methods once you start one, I learned this the hard way and ended up losing coral because I thought I was doing the "right thing"

I've definitely seen this piece of advice before, thank you! 

 

14 minutes ago, A.m.P said:

If alk is stable from minimal waterchanges, but your magnesium and calcium are dropping you'd probably be fine just buying 2-part and only dosing the calcium+magnesium component. 

Alright, cool. I really appreciate the input, I feel more confident that I am understanding the process correctly. Thank you!

[Clown79]

4 hours ago, WormLicker said:

Hello, all, thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge.

 

Today I've noticed my calcium dropped to 360, so it's time to purchase my first additive I believe. I just did a water change and I'm trying to keep them minimal, diatoms and dino finally under control. I've done a single 10% change and the aquarium is more or less a month running.

 

My question is; Is it better to use single component additives such as kalkwasser, or something that buffers multiple minerals?

 

I admittedly only have a (mineral) test for calcium. My understanding is that since it's low, the other traces probably are, too?

 

I'm mostly worried about calcium for my plate coral, but it's the only lps and I do not plan on adding more any time soon. 

 

Thank you!

2 part solution is easier IMO. Ca effects alk and alk effects CA. You want them balanced.

 

First you should be testing daily for 1 week from waterchange day to waterchange day to determine consumption before beginning dosing and it should be based on Alk consumption.

 

So you first want to test newly made sw- those levels are your target levels.

 

Do a waterchange and test a couple hrs after

 

Then for a week test alk and ca every day at the same time.

 

This process provides you with

 

Your target Alk

 

And how much alk/ca drops daily.

 

Then you can determine how much and how often to dose.

 

Blindly dosing to reach a number is not what you want to do. This causes fluctuations, can alter other parameters, which leads to disaster

[WormLicker]

1 hour ago, Clown79 said:

2 part solution is easier IMO. Ca effects alk and alk effects CA. You want them balanced.

 

First you should be testing daily for 1 week from waterchange day to waterchange day to determine consumption before beginning dosing and it should be based on Alk consumption.

 

So you first want to test newly made sw- those levels are your target levels.

 

Do a waterchange and test a couple hrs after

 

Then for a week test alk and ca every day at the same time.

 

This process provides you with

 

Your target Alk

 

And how much alk/ca drops daily.

 

Then you can determine how much and how often to dose.

 

Blindly dosing to reach a number is not what you want to do. This causes fluctuations, can alter other parameters, which leads to disaster

This is a really straightforward method/schedule, thank you. I've been more or less doing some of these steps, unsure how to do them all together. Much appreciated!! 

[Clown79]

1 hour ago, WormLicker said:

This is a really straightforward method/schedule, thank you. I've been more or less doing some of these steps, unsure how to do them all together. Much appreciated!! 

You're welcome🙂