Calcium dosing question

[Trillaman954]

I dosed my 20 gallon hex with foundation calcium+ liquid. This tank has no sump, skimmer, etc.  only activated carbon power filter in cartridge. Calcium was at 340 so I dosed 40ppm and now it’s at 380. I am slowly trying to bring it up to 450 to be able to add hard corals. I have 2 clownfish, lawnmower blenny, 12 hermit crabs/snails. And a conch. For corals a Xenia frag and a zoo frag. This tank has been running for a month and a half, cycled with live rock, dry rock, live sand, and 2x bacteria dosing and the 2 clownfish. 
My question is was it okay to have added the calcium directly to the tank near high flow or should I have dosed by diluting the calcium in ro/di fresh or salt water?

[ml86743]

5 hours ago, Trillaman954 said:

I dosed my 20 gallon hex with foundation calcium+ liquid. This tank has no sump, skimmer, etc.  only activated carbon power filter in cartridge. Calcium was at 340 so I dosed 40ppm and now it’s at 380. I am slowly trying to bring it up to 450 to be able to add hard corals. I have 2 clownfish, lawnmower blenny, 12 hermit crabs/snails. And a conch. For corals a Xenia frag and a zoo frag. This tank has been running for a month and a half, cycled with live rock, dry rock, live sand, and 2x bacteria dosing and the 2 clownfish. 
My question is was it okay to have added the calcium directly to the tank near high flow or should I have dosed by diluting the calcium in ro/di fresh or salt water?

I'm sure there is varying opinions but I just dose directly into high flow.  What salt brand are you using?  That 340 number seems a little low for a new setup with little uptake.  

[Murphs_Reef]

Yep if your dosing directly to the display tank pour in at the highest flow area and it will be fine.. 

It would be best to split the dosing into smaller chunks so you don't increase to quickly. So take it over a few days and you'll be fine.. 

 

Nothing happens quick in a reef tank so do t go mad, bring the levels up slowly and your golden 

[Schön]

Alkalinity is much more important than calcium until it's in proper order; there's no point in dosing. The aquarium has a small volume, if there's insufficient water changes, magnesium can also become problematic. By the way, the target calcium level should be adjusted to match the calcium level of the mixed seawater used, tested with the same test kit. It's pointless to dose calcium to reach 450 if the calcium level in your replacement water is only 340, it just stress your corals, or if your alk low, it just participates. A one-month-old tank is very early, and while it's not impossible to have an instant tank, there's no room for error in it, or things can go awry. I would be extremely cautious with dosing in this situation.

[Trillaman954]

2 hours ago, Schön said:

Alkalinity is much more important than calcium until it's in proper order; there's no point in dosing. The aquarium has a small volume, if there's insufficient water changes, magnesium can also become problematic. By the way, the target calcium level should be adjusted to match the calcium level of the mixed seawater used, tested with the same test kit. It's pointless to dose calcium to reach 450 if the calcium level in your replacement water is only 340, it just stress your corals, or if your alk low, it just participates. A one-month-old tank is very early, and while it's not impossible to have an instant tank, there's no room for error in it, or things can go awry. I would be extremely cautious with dosing in this situation.

I really respect this response. So I’ll slow it down and focus on brining down alkalinity. Lfs ran test and told me alk was high, ammonias and nitrites were trace. I never thought about the replacement waters calcium levels. I was also told that hard corals deplete calcium so if the corals i have in the tank aren’t hard corals then I’m just wasting money chasing calcium numbers trying to get 450 for my softies. 

[mcarroll]

It may depend what you mean by "soft corals".   Leather corals are often categorized with soft corals, but they have similar calcium/alkalinity requirements as "traditional" stony corals.

 

As for chasing numbers, make sure you're chasing them in the right order if you're going down that road.   In order of significance:  salinity, alkalinity, calcium, magnesium.   Which ones are "off" and by how much will dictate what you need to do to fix it.  In general, if only one is "off" you can dose to fix it.  If too much is wrong, it's better to fix it with water changes.  (Big water changes if things are really messed up.). If calcium is really the only think "off" then you should be able to add the whole dose up to your target level.  BUT considering how far "off" calcium is from your target, I suspect dosing is not the right answer in your case.

 

Speaking of water changes, at least once (maybe each time your buy salt) you should run the same tests on a freshly-mixed batch of saltwater to see what that's like.  This way you have an ideal what impact water changes "should" have when you do them.  It's possible for a batch of salt mix to be "off", so this is worth testing for quality control reasons too.