Do I need to start dosing??

[bvanfish]

My tank is about 2 months old and my dkh swings a little but stays on the low side. My LFS said it may be time to start dosing kalkwasser. Does anyone agree? I’d like it to be more stable for calcium alk and ph. This seems like the solution.

does anyone have a good doser that they recommend / ph monitor? I don’t have a ton to spend but also don’t want to have the swings / have to rebuy the pump in a few months.
Thanks for the help!

 

[bvanfish]

Also what doser and ph meter would you use

 

[mdb_talon]

"swings a little bit stays on low side" is hard to say whether it time for dosing. What sort of swing are you talking about between water changes. How much drop in dkh do you see over the course of a week? What salt are you using? If it's a low alk salt then your dkh will stay on the low side. If it's a high alk salt then with regular water changes it is often enough to keep it where you want it in new or low demand tanks.

For cheaper dosers I like the jebao doser if doing 2-part. If doing kalkwasser I would look more at something like this below. I using it to dose about 4 gallons a day and it works great. I did have to buy the dosing head with better tubes rather than the silicone that comes with it because they cracked too quickly but the pump has worked great. With something like this though you have to use a smart plug or similar to have it on timers. For kalkwasser you can also just add it to an atom if you use one. Not a fan of it myself, but works fine in the right setup.

Mini peristaltic pump 24V with...
For PH monitor I like the Milwaukee like this.

MC120 PH Monitor w/Probe & Mounting Kit - Milwaukee Instruments

Shop The Best Saltwater Aquarium Equipment & Supplies at Saltwater Aquarium. We Carry Everything you will Need for your Fish Tank.

www.saltwateraquarium.com

 

[bvanfish]

So I fluctuate between like 120-140 alk and my calcium has been decreasing each week. Started at like 450 4 weeks ago and is now 380. I have been testing on Wednesday or Thursday and I do my water changes on sundays. I get my salt water premixed from my LFS the use fritz salts. I have a few lps and some mushrooms etc. but I want to be adding more corals.

I am thinking of doing kalkwasser with a kamoer x1 pro2 for the WiFi and reliability. I just need to figure out a ph monitor.

I have a 25 gallon tank and use a gravity ato

 

[Lavey29]

No way a 2 month tank needs anything more then weekly water changes.

 

[bvanfish]

No way a 2 month tank needs anything more then weekly water changes.

I don’t get why my alk is low and calcium and mg are dropping like this then. I usually do a 15-20% water change weekly and haven’t missed one. I’m not dosing anything or running carbon or anything else

 

[bvanfish]

These are my coral


1 - green with blue tip hammer
1 - pink hammer
1 - spicy lemon favia
1 - dragon soul favia
1 - Yuma mushroom
1 - Florida recordia mushroom (blue, orange, green)
1 - Florida recordia mushroom (orange, yellow, teal)
1 - Mia’s pot of gold favia
1 - branching cyphastrea - my favorite
1 - GSP mixed type frag
1 - blue ridge coral

 

[Lavey29]

I don’t get why my alk is low and calcium and mg are dropping like this then. I usually do a 15-20% water change weekly and haven’t missed one. I’m not dosing anything or running carbon or anything else

2 month tank is unstable which is why you describe swings in first post. Also you have no control over the quality of the salt water you are buying. Do you test it fully each time before it goes in your tank? What does it mix at

 

[bvanfish]

A swing over the course of a week from 8.3 to 6.7 is “normal” in a new tank? That doesn’t seem a bit extreme?

test it meaning for SG? I’m consistently 35 on that. Other than that I’m not testing calcium, mg, etc on it before going in no. But I assumed if they used fritz salt it would be solid

 

[Lavey29]

These are my coral


1 - green with blue tip hammer
1 - pink hammer
1 - spicy lemon favia
1 - dragon soul favia
1 - Yuma mushroom
1 - Florida recordia mushroom (blue, orange, green)
1 - Florida recordia mushroom (orange, yellow, teal)
1 - Mia’s pot of gold favia
1 - branching cyphastrea - my favorite
1 - GSP mixed type frag
1 - blue ridge coral

What is you salinity?

 

[bvanfish]

35 ppt or 1.026 consistently I’ve seen it go to 1.025 3 days out of the last 2 months

also I am 45 mins from my LFS so the ph drops .1-.2 they tell me so I assume it’s usually 8-8.2

@Lavey29 or @mdb_talon could it be anything else? I really would rather not start dosing and only rely on water changes but it seems like the uptake is over taking wcs?
Sorry newb here so maybe I’m just wrong?

 

[52728299]

I'm curious, do the corals seem upset? Have you ran tests to compare? How big are your coral colonies?
I started dosing all for reef with a bit more corals than you 5 months in. 53g system 10% wc once a week. But I dose very little, like 5ml every other day to stabilize alk.

 

[bvanfish]

My one hammer has been upset the past week or so which is what started all of this. I was looking back on my numbers. I’ve been adding coral slowly. Like 1-2 every week or so. They aren’t big by any means. The blue ridge is like r inches talk by 3 inches wide that’s the largest. But other than that like frag plug sized

 

[damsels are not mean]

So you are taking the test to the LFS? A drop like that sounds highly unlikely in a new tank with only a couple stony frags. I suspect testing errors are at play.

 

[mdb_talon]

So I fluctuate between like 120-140 alk and my calcium has been decreasing each week. Started at like 450 4 weeks ago and is now 380. I have been testing on Wednesday or Thursday and I do my water changes on sundays. I get my salt water premixed from my LFS the use fritz salts. I have a few lps and some mushrooms etc. but I want to be adding more corals.

I am thinking of doing kalkwasser with a kamoer x1 pro2 for the WiFi and reliability. I just need to figure out a ph monitor.

I have a 25 gallon tank and use a gravity ato

That's a ~1.1dkh swing which is not a huge change. However if calcium has went from 450 to 380 and is trending downward that could possibly indicate a need to dose, but would expect alk to also trend downward(rather than just go down and back up). However if you initially had high nitrates it could have originally dropped your alk some and if nitrates are dropping consistently since it could be keeping alkalinity more stable.

I would start testing just prior to each water change it makes it a bit easier to see what the weekly swing is. Also at a minimum figure out if the store is using fritz red or blue... or better test the alk on the new water.

I doubt you would need much if any dosing, but a 2 month old tank can definitely need dosing. If you started with live rock with coralline then that itself can necessitate dosing pretty much immediately. You don't have a lot of coral, but a handful of lps in a relatively small tank can require dosing if it is happy and growing, but again if you got Coraline algae in there it in itself can suck up a lot of alk/calc

 

[MyFirstCar]

If it turns out your levels are true, I really like all-for-reef if your tank is small enough that it's not too pricy. Makes dosing really easy to start with and you can focus on your time on other things.

 

[bvanfish]

@mdb_talon Ya I take it to them because that nice machine. It seems to be calibrated and pretty consistent over the past weeks. My alk has been 103 nitrate 3 , 110 nitrate 1, 123nitrate 4, 149 nitrate 10, 120 nitrate 8.

that’s a good idea maybe I’ll test before the water change, test the water change water, then after the change to see. I’ll call and ask what level they are using ( I didn’t even know there was levels).

my lemon favia has grown a lot since being in my tank so maybe it is up taking a decent amount

 

[bvanfish]

If it turns out your levels are true, I really like all-for-reef if your tank is small enough that it's not too pricy. Makes dosing really easy to start with and you can focus on your time on other things.

Would you think all for reef over kalkwasser?

 

[Lavey29]

35 ppt or 1.026 consistently I’ve seen it go to 1.025 3 days out of the last 2 months

also I am 45 mins from my LFS so the ph drops .1-.2 they tell me so I assume it’s usually 8-8.2

@Lavey29 or @mdb_talon could it be anything else? I really would rather not start dosing and only rely on water changes but it seems like the uptake is over taking wcs?
Sorry newb here so maybe I’m just wrong?

Well you have a nano tank with minimal soft and LPS corals. New tanks are typically unstable and parameters fluctuate. Weekly water changes should suffice. However each tank is unique. The low mag may be affecting your alk and cal levels. Mag only drops at 1/10th the rate of alk and cal so it makes no sense for it to be low with weekly 20% water changes. Something is off here. Have you got a second opinion test done on your parameters?

 

[bvanfish]

@Lavey29 I haven’t for mg, ca, alk. I was thinking of buying Red Sea test kits for them to check myself.

Alk 103 nitrate 3 mg 1247, 110 nitrate 1 mg 1193, 123 nitrate 4 mg 1199, 149 nitrate 10 mg 1157, 120 nitrate 8 mg 1166.