Could I be dosing more efficiently?

[biokeeper]

Hello!
I have a relatively newer tank (160g) that is less than a year old but using live rock from a previously established 40g. I’m wondering if I’m dosing correctly or should be dosing something else to encourage my corals to grow/thrive.

Currently I only dose ESV B-Ionic Part 1 (about 10 ml daily) to maintain my alk, which drops around .1-.2 dkh daily. My calcium and magnesium don’t really drop much at all. My pH is usually around 7.9.

I do have a few corals. Mainly Euphyllia and some montipora species. Not really sure if I’m on the right track for dosing or if there’s something else I should be doing to encourage further growth on my corals which will then lead to them actually using the other elements such as calcium. At the moment, the corals seem to be doing ok but I wouldn’t say they are thriving. The only other thing I can think of is trying to get my phosphate/nitrate in a more “ideal” ratio and maybe that will encourage growth….

tldr: not sure if I’m on the right path right now, dosing only alkalinity (as that’s my only value that seems to drop steadily)

Any advice is appreciated.

 

[TheHunterYall]

Dose the part 2 anyway. Dose in equal parts. Calc usage is probably in the error tolerance of the test kit.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

At 0.2 dKH per day going into calcification, the calcium decline is very small (0.5 ppm per day). It would take weeks to detect that accurately.

For magnesium, the decline is more like 0.05 ppm per day and it would take MONTHS to detect that accurately.

But, IMO, you might as well get into the habit of dosing both parts equally since the calcium part is only adding that tiny amount and will not cause problems. Only avoid dosing the calcium part if calcium is ALREADY too high (such as over 550 ppm). The calcium part adds more than just calcium.

If you did not dose the calcium part regularly, then once you did detect the drop, you'll likely need to add all of that volume you didn't dose to make the correction.