Calcium question.

Pauliex77x · Nov 16, 2020

So my calcium was a bit low at 350 ppm so I dosed about 15ml (3 capfuls) of seachem calcium which is the maximum dose for a 20g tank in a day. About 20 mins after dosing all my corals and my nem closed up pretty good. I also used a bit of lemon juice on an aiptasia I found on my rock.

Could the calcium make everything unhappy and close? Or could the lemon juice have thrown off the PH?

myinvalidname · Nov 16, 2020

I doubt the lemon juice did anything. But you can always measure your pH.

I’d be more concerned that you only had to dose Ca... did you measure the alkalinity? Those usually get used up together. If you only dose one, your ratio can get out of wack. Also low alkalinity leads to potentially more pH swing, since the alkalinity is also your pH bigger.

Pauliex77x · Nov 16, 2020

Alk was 9.3
Cal 350
Mag 1170

Like I said added the 3 capfuls or 15ml roughly of the calcium.

Llyod276 · Nov 16, 2020

Pauliex77x said:
So my calcium was a bit low at 350 ppm so I dosed about 15ml (3 capfuls) of seachem calcium which is the maximum dose for a 20g tank in a day. About 20 mins after dosing all my corals and my nem closed up pretty good. I also used a bit of lemon juice on an aiptasia I found on my rock.

Could the calcium make everything unhappy and close? Or could the lemon juice have thrown off the PH?

Anybody ever try dropping a bone in their tank to see if the calcium levels change?

metzer · Nov 16, 2020

you may want to bring up your magnesium some and re-check your alk/ca along the process

Pauliex77x · Nov 16, 2020

metzer said:
you may want to bring up your magnesium some and re-check your alk/ca along the process

The mag was going to be next. Since corals all closed right after the cal dose I won't dose it until at least tomorrow now.

Everything was open and happy until the calcium was added.

Pistondog · Nov 16, 2020

Llyod276 said:
Anybody ever try dropping a bone in their tank to see if the calcium levels change?

This would be similar to adding a rock. The calcium is bound so no net effect to the water level.

metzer · Nov 16, 2020

Pauliex77x said:
The mag was going to be next. Since corals all closed right after the cal dose I won't dose it until at least tomorrow now.

Everything was open and happy until the calcium was added.

Did you dump it in all at once and it precipitate and sink to the bottom or did you slowly add some in over say 15 minutes in a high flow area?

Llyod276 · Nov 16, 2020

Pistondog said:
This would be similar to adding a rock. The calcium is bound so no net effect to the water level.

If I remember my minimal geology, calcium acts like a glue for rocks. However in bones it's not so tightly bound. But then again you'd need some acidic water... and last I checked, acidic water makes things die faster... eh. Hmmm. Got it!!! add yogurt!!!

Pauliex77x · Nov 16, 2020

metzer said:
Did you dump it in all at once and it precipitate and sink to the bottom or did you slowly add some in over say 15 minutes in a high flow area?

I mixed it with RO water and added it slowly to the return chamber of my AIO.

Pauliex77x · Nov 16, 2020

I understand that changes in chemistry sometimes annoy corals so them closing isn't something I'm concerned about. I just wanna make sure that 15ml of calcium isn't going to wipe my tank out.

Llyod276 · Nov 16, 2020

Dude read the directions, most are 5ml per 50g. So yeah 15ml is gonna be ~6x the dose. Lethal, well go ahead and try it and see what happens.

Pauliex77x · Nov 16, 2020

Llyod276 said:
Dude read the directions, most are 5ml per 50g. So yeah 15ml is gonna be ~6x the dose. Lethal, well go ahead and try it and see what happens.

I did read the directions. It says that the 15ml I added is the maximum dose that is safe to add. I actually said this in my OP.

Llyod276 · Nov 16, 2020

Cool man. Do it up!

Pauliex77x · Nov 16, 2020

Things are opening back up. I'll dose half the amount next time to be safe. Thanks.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 17, 2020

Almost certainly it has nothing to do with the calcium dosing, but which product exactly? Seachem has more than one, and one, IMO, is a very poor choice.

Pauliex77x · Nov 17, 2020

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Almost certainly it has nothing to do with the calcium dosing, but which product exactly? Seachem has more than one, and one, IMO, is a very poor choice.

Yes I believe it's the poor choice one. It's the one marked calcium not the reef advantage. It's only for maintaining calcium it says not for making adjustments.

I made your home made ALK solution for my dosing pump and I want to do the same for calcium but I'm having a hard time finding the calcium powder needed. Any suggestions?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 17, 2020

I recommend avoiding Seachem Reef Calcium because it will add calcium, and some uncertain amount of alkalinity.

The reason I say uncertain is that that organic material in it chelating the calcium may or may not be metabolized before something else happens to it, like precipitating out onto surfaces. Any portion of it that is metabolized will add alkalinity.

I discusses this with Seachem many, many years ago, and they recognized the issue at the time, but still refuse to alert folks to this problem.

Pauliex77x · Nov 17, 2020

Thanks. I'm gonna scrap the bottle and find a better product. Having trouble finding the product you recommended in your article to use.

Shirak · Nov 17, 2020

BRS has small packages of pharma grade calcium chloride. 20 gallon tank though you could just do a large water change. What salt are you using? Have you checked salinity? If Ca and Mg low could also be your salinity is low What are you using to measure salinity?

probably should also ask what test kits are you using for Ca and Mg