Do I need to dose Kalk if no reduction in Ca

[accline]

Hi there, I’m not new to reefing, but was out of the hobby for about 7 years, and got back in it about two years ago. Things have drastically changed and I’m trying to play catch up. I have a 120 gallon tank with very little demand as of yet. Here recently, I’m really trying to get a handle on reef chemistry. I’ve read many of Randy Holmes-Farley’s great articles and have looked at BRS’s YouTube videos. I’ve been testing my water for the past month and not seen the Ca reading drop at all. My few small corals are healthy looking, but are not exploding in growth. How do you know when to supplement with Kalk or a two part dosing solution or...

Also how do you know if you need to dose trace elements?

One more thing I’m confused about. For years I was told to have no nitrates. I could never achieve that, but had very low readings. Now I see where folks are dosing No3. What? I feed every night and my readings are about 20. I’m quite confused ‍. Thanks for any help. If you want to reference articles, I’m good with that as well.

 

[hafer12]

You can have a couple large frags, or a bunch of small frags and get by with only bi-weekly 20% water changes. As u add more coral and and the frags start to grow maybe just test alkalinity and calcium once a week, I would test after doing a waterchange. Then test the following weekend. That way when u do notice your tanks demands cant be met by w/c, it time to dose. I use a brs 2 part to meet my tanks demands.

 

[hafer12]

Live corals need a low nitrate and phosphate to survive. Aquarium equipment has advanced! I think they say 3-5 ppm of nitrate and .03ish for phosphates..

 

[Dr. Reef Verified Sponsor]

Hi and welcome back to reefing.
First rule of this hobby; do not dose unless required and which means you can test for it.
So in order for you to dose kalk or anyother suppliments. First need to test for it. Make a log. Figure out how much tank is consuming per day and then dose accordingly.
Regarding trace elements. Regular water changes is all you need with a good reputable salt.
Nitrates in a reef need to be under 10 ppm but not zero. At absolute 0 people have reported brown corals and less growth/ faded colors etc.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

One more thing I’m confused about. For years I was told to have no nitrates. I could never achieve that, but had very low readings. Now I see where folks are dosing No3. What? I feed every night and my readings are about 20. I’m quite confused ‍. Thanks for any help. If you want to reference articles, I’m good with that as well.

Almost everyone was struggling with nitrate and phosphate. Very few people actually drove them too low. Now, with more powerful tools, they can easily get too low, and we have learned that matching natural levels isn't best, opening the way for dinos and exposing the fact that our corals don't get as much natural foods.

Are you monitoring alkalinity? I'd use that as the gauge of needing calcium too.

Trace elements are harder to gauge, and the need can be totally unrelated to alk and calcium demand.

 

[accline]

Thanks for the replies so far. My tests have shown Alk: 9.5 and Ca: 410 as of Friday. I did a water change of 9 gallons on Sat and was going to test water today. Tank is a 120 gallon tank.

Would it be a good idea to get a professional water test and compare it to my numbers. I’m not sure I’m reading the tests properly (operator error ). I’m really not a chemistry nerd , my brother was the one who had that. Wish I could’ve borrowed his brain . Just want some growth, and to be responsible in owning these beautiful creatures.