Do I need to start dosing?

[RickvDam]

Hello,
Some of my corals are doing amazing while some others are not. After looking at my parameters I’m wondering if I should start dosing.

My Alk is fine, calcium is high but mag is low… Salinity and temp are good and I’ve had these results for a few weeks now.

Alk: 9.3
Cal: 470
Mag: 1280

 

[musel101]

Hello,
Some of my corals are doing amazing while some others are not. After looking at my parameters I’m wondering if I should start dosing.

My Alk is fine, calcium is high but mag is low… Salinity and temp are good and I’ve had these results for a few weeks now.

Alk: 9.3
Cal: 470
Mag: 1280

You can try 2 part dosing if you want to be precise. Or if you do enough water changes, you don’t have to dose.

 

[CBonito]

What size is your tank?

 

[RickvDam]

You can try 2 part dosing if you want to be precise. Or if you do enough water changes, you don’t have to dose.

I do 10-12% weekly. I use red sea blue, so that already doesn’t have that much nutrients.

What size is your tank?

15G waterbox peninsula mini 15. Some corals are growing rapidly, I think thats the main reason for low mag.

 

[CBonito]

You should try All for Reef. It would likely work great in that tank, and it doesn't cause wild, abrupt swings in parameters like 2-part or manually dosing kalk.

Of course, you could also do water changes indefinitely and be fine as well.
If you have growth, don't sweat numbers so much.

You could switch to a salt like red sea coral pro for changes. I use it.

 

[DanyL]

I do 10-12% weekly. I use red sea blue, so that already doesn’t have that much nutrients.


15G waterbox peninsula mini 15. Some corals are growing rapidly, I think thats the main reason for low mag.

In a 15G you should be able to maintain it mostly just by doing weekly water changes.

I suggest keeping your parameters closer to what your salt mix has and fix the values manually only when values are getting imbalanced.

In your current situation where both Alk and Ca are higher I wouldn’t change a thing, in time they’ll decrease to be closer to your salt mix, however you might need to dose Mag if it gets below 1280 and WC doesn’t work maintaining it at that level.

abrupt swings in parameters like 2-part or manually dosing kalk.

All-in-one solutions get imbalanced just as much as 2 part if not more, and when that happens require fixing with.. well - 2 part.

With tanks this size I don’t see any need for an ongoing daily dosing routine, and with that in mind - an All-in-one solution wouldn’t be beneficial in this scenario.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

corals doing well or not has nothing to do with dosing additives to the tank, if coral not happy now, it has to do with parameters or positioning.

On such a small tank, weekly 5 gallon water changes should provide all the elements your tank/corals need. Extremely doubtful that you need to dose anything,

Monitor your parameters, if elements like calcium/mag/alk drop on daily basis every day lower than safe level, then you know what to dose. You should not ask us what to do dose, we can't tell you, you need to test and the tank will tell you what to dose.

to me you parameters look fine, absolutely no need to dose anything.

 

[Tahiti]

Unless you have SPS, weekly water changes should suffice. But if you do decide to dose, I'd highly recommend All for Reef for a nano tank.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Hello,
Some of my corals are doing amazing while some others are not. After looking at my parameters I’m wondering if I should start dosing.

My Alk is fine, calcium is high but mag is low… Salinity and temp are good and I’ve had these results for a few weeks now.

Alk: 9.3
Cal: 470
Mag: 1280

I would not agree that calcium is high (it’s fine well into the 500’s) or magnesium is low (it currently matches average ocean water) and there’s nothing in those values to suggest dosing is needed.

 

[RickvDam]

You could switch to a salt like red sea coral pro for changes. I use it

I was thinking about Coral Pro or Reef Crystals. Might be worth looking into.

In a 15G you should be able to maintain it mostly just by doing weekly water changes.

I suggest keeping your parameters closer to what your salt mix has and fix the values manually only when values are getting imbalanced.

In your current situation where both Alk and Ca are higher I wouldn’t change a thing, in time they’ll decrease to be closer to your salt mix, however you might need to dose Mag if it gets below 1280 and WC doesn’t work maintaining it at that level.

Even with weekly waterchanges my Mag won't go above 1280, sometimes even going down to 1230 (tested an hour after waterchange).

corals doing well or not has nothing to do with dosing additives to the tank, if coral not happy now, it has to do with parameters or positioning.

On such a small tank, weekly 5 gallon water changes should provide all the elements your tank/corals need. Extremely doubtful that you need to dose anything,

Monitor your parameters, if elements like calcium/mag/alk drop on daily basis every day lower than safe level, then you know what to dose. You should not ask us what to do dose, we can't tell you, you need to test and the tank will tell you what to dose.

to me you parameters look fine, absolutely no need to dose anything.

The reason I started looking into dosing is cause of my Euphyllia. My torches are always open and seem happy, but simply aren't extending like a torch should do. I've changed flow and location, and they seem happy. That's when I started getting tips about my Mag. Apparently Euphyllia like their Mag levels around 1400 to fully extend.

I would not agree that calcium is high (it’s fine well into the 500’s) or magnesium is low (it currently matches average ocean water) and there’s nothing in those values to suggest dosing is needed.

Oh I always thought above 500 was considered "extremely high". The only reason I wanted to dose Mag was for my Euphyllia... Might change salts instead of dosing. Heard great things about Reef Crystals.