When to start dosing?

[JodiI]

So I've googled and haven't been able to come up with an easy answer.

29g biocube with mostly softies, but also some LPS (Duncan, hammer) and some montis (cap and encrusting). I'm new to SPS, all three of these were given to me. I have no immediate plans of adding any more SPS. I've never had any trouble with LPS and generally prefer the movement.

The tank has been doing very well recently, with lots of growth in everything. Then I noticed that the purple coralline all had white rings around the edges like it was receding. But all the corals were growing really well. So I tested my params.

Mag 1260
Alk 7.4
Calcium 350

Everything else was tip top shape.

I see now that the calcium is low. Apparently these montis are soaking that up. My question is this - it's a small tank and I'm trying to keep it simple. I'm doing 4-5ish gallon water changes in Saturday's, but that's not keeping the calcium in line. At what point do I start dosing? I'm not going to add a reactor or anything since it's a small tank and it seems like overkill.

Teach me your (simplest) ways, sage SPS reefers. Google is full of ideas, but I'm unsure of the best way to proceed.

 

[Andrew_bram]

If you are not dosing you are not growing

 

[quillin35]

Not true I never dose and have great growth in my mixed reef. I do weekly water changes and feed regularly.

 

[Rigo07]

This is the first time I'm dosing and my corals are growing way faster then when I didn't dose

 

[TheRealChrisBrown]

Simplest way would be to manually dose additives. Places like BRS have online calculators. I happen to like this one, once I figured out where it was asking me to input my total water volume :crazytown:: http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html I like that one because it has a wide range of products for each element.

For example you have 29 gallons of water and your calcium is 350. Say you wanted to raise it to 400 and you have ESV's B-Ionic supplement. It tells you 91 mL would raise your calcium to 400. It also gives you a warning to dose that amount over a few days, good advice. Slow changes are better, I have found.

 

[SynDen]

Ya with a tank that small, you can get params inline with doing more frequent changes, but for simplest way to keep it up would have to be Kalkwasser mixed in your ato. Its what I use for my mixed reef, and my growth is almost out of control at this point.

 

[Legonch]

Awesome calculator Chris. Bookmarked that for future use. Loved the other calculator that shows tank water volume, tank weight, etc.

 

[Andrew_bram]

Not true I never dose and have great growth in my mixed reef. I do weekly water changes and feed regularly.

I guarantee that if you dose your corals would grow faster there's a great article from Randy Holmes Farley the states 40% water changes daily is what it would require to maintain your levels

 

[szavoda]

350 Calcium is a bit on the low side, but I would be surprised if you saw problem based on it. Perhaps a lack of growth, but negative effects seem odd.

For dosing, I use Randy's two part. Best place to look for info on that is ReefCentral (it's birthplace). The chemical needed to make Calc is best bought in bulk, but if you needed to get some, just ask me. it would not take much to last you forever in that tank size.

Shawn

 

[szavoda]

I guarantee that if you dose your corals would grow faster there's a great article from Randy Holmes Farley the states 40% water changes daily is what it would require to maintain your levels

Interesting, but that figure is highly subjective as to the amount of consumption. For some, weekly water changes may work, but I admit that I suspect it would not require much.

 

[Andrew_bram]

It really is a great article worth the read and helps with starting points. He just understands chemistry way better than me.

 

[szavoda]

Yea - Randy is my hero - did you have the article link by chance?

 

[Andrew_bram]

Yea - Randy is my hero - did you have the article link by chance?

I will pm when I find it.

 

[JodiI]

350 Calcium is a bit on the low side, but I would be surprised if you saw problem based on it. Perhaps a lack of growth, but negative effects seem odd.

Guess I haven't really seen negative effects. The three montis and the Duncan are all doing really well. Much better then I thought they would do. White growth edges everywhere, and the encrusting one is soon to have the plug covered. The only thing I noticed was the odd coralline ring, which is just what led me to test (and may not even have been caused by calc anyway - I just notice every dang thing in this little ecosystem).

Thanks for all the info. I'll look into the products. I do manual top off daily (about 1 cup of evap daily - just part of the routine). So adding to that would be simple. Or kalk in the water changes.

 

[Andrew_bram]

To OP think of it like this if you are dosing proper amounts your corals are getting what they need when they need it. If you are only using water changes say once a week or bi weekly those levels drop then quickly raise. If you want to have the most successful reef tank you can stability and consistency are key.

 

[jda123]

If either get too much lower than that, your tank can/will crash. PH will start to swing, one thing dies... which kills a few more... which kills a few more. If you have real aragonite sand or rock from the ocean, this can help to buffer by melting a bit when the alk gets too low - basically a calcium reactor in your tank and you are dosing even though you don't know it.

Baking soda and Calcium Carbonate are cheap and easy. Kalk is easy too, but needs to be dripped into the tank, not added a cup a a time. A cup of saturated kalk could raise the PH in my 300G system over 9 for a little bit.

 

[timnem70]

Your alk is a bit low at 7.4 as is your Mag. You'll find that with only a couple Small Stonies the uptake of those incredibly important parameters won't change much but are really important to level off. That being said with my 30 gallon,i just do water changes and dose very smal amounts to derive stable numbers. Do it slowly.

 

[Dr.DiSilicate]

For your tank I'd look into 2 part dosing. Will not take much but your tank will need dosing now that you have corals growing. Dosing should happen when regular water changing can not handle the needs of the tank. Research 2 part a little and make sure you have good test kits. You can manually dose at first if you are patient at all. The fun begins now! Haha

 

[MuralReef]

Talk to me at school tomorrow. I need to swing by one of these days and check out your setup so I know exactly what you have going on.

 

[quackenbush]

I have found great results with Salifert All In One. 5ml per week for my 24 gal cube.

Maybe I'm missing something, but for 30 gallons or less with a light stony coral demand, I'm don't see how the extra time and energy for a 2 part would be worth the cost savings.