Curios if its time for dosing

[andys]

Hi All

I have a 40 Gal packed with Sps, softies. wondering if its time to start dosing. here are some of my #'s

alk 107/5.982 dKH
Calc 371
Nitrate 1.5
Salinity 1.025
PH 7.99

 

[chefjpaul]

How are you testing?
Everything seems way low.

Dosing is dependent upon consumption.

 

[andys]

with hanna alk and calc test and nitrate with red sea kit. they have been going lower and lower over the last month

 

[potatocouch]

with hanna alk and calc test and nitrate with red sea kit. they have been going lower and lower over the last month

How's your system looking? everything happy? hunky dory? everything growing per what you expecting?

 

[Urbanknight]

And.......r u doing water changes?

 

[d2mini]

Your alk is low. Natural Saltwater is more around 7-7.5 dkh. I like to keep mine around 8 and that gives me some room for error either way.
Calcium is getting a little low but not too bad yet.

So yes, it does look like you should start dosing Alk and Cal, and you also need to check your magnesium before you do anything. Low mag can inhibit the ability for the water to hold Alk.

Nitrate, Salinity and pH don't really have anything to do with dosing and they all look fine anyway.

 

[andys]

I use Natural saltwater and been doing a water change one a week about 5 gal. every thing looks great. i will check mag right now give me a min

 

[potatocouch]

So yes, it does look like you should start dosing Alk and Cal, and you also need to check your magnesium before you do anything. Low mag can inhibit the ability for the water to hold Alk.

Before you start dosing and if you are doing regular husbandry (i.e. weekly WC) check all those elements in your NSW.

There is a chance that you may not need to dose if WC able to bump up your Mg, Ca & Alk.

 

[andys]

mag is about 1280

 

[d2mini]

FWIW, I have never... ever... in all my tanks... been able to keep parameters up with a WC.
Once all my fresh live rock from tampa is in and coral start going in it's impossible.
With the OP doing a weekly water change and still seeing a consistent drop in parameters, it looks like it may be that time.

 

[andys]

Before you start dosing and if you are doing regular husbandry (i.e. weekly WC) check all those elements in your NSW.

There is a chance that you may not need to dose if WC able to bump up your Mg, Ca & Alk.

Good idea. the wife will be picking up 10 gal tomorrow and i will test it

 

[potatocouch]

With the OP doing a weekly water change and still seeing a consistent drop in parameters, it looks like it may be that time.

Good point! @andys can you elaborate this please:

• When you mentioned, your levels drop over last month .. do you perform the test on monthly basis? So your baseline would be start of the month?
• Do you do WC on monthly basis or weekly basis?

 

[andys]

I do a water change every week (7-9 days) i just started keeping records in the apex. alk was 152 on 2-10-15 and calc was 456 on 2-5-16 but im not sure if thats calc is accurate

 

[reefwiser]

Yes it sounds like your tank is starting to uptake Calcium so you can start dosing. You will see a negative effect after a few weeks of the tank being at that low an Alk level. You need to bring the tank back up slowly to 7.7 to 8.7 Then thru testing you will see what amount of supplements you need to add to keep it there. As corals grow they will require more supplements so you will need to keep an eye on it.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I agree dosing is needed.

Low alkalinity is the bellwether that it is time to begin dosing calcium and alkalinity.

 

[Kungpaoshizi]

Your alk is definitely low, calcium is fairly low.

Just set things up, start with very small doses, and corals will adjust. Then you'll see the need after a bit of time to increase as consumption does. And you'll already have everything set up.