Do you need to calcium dose with softies?

[reptileguy112]

I have never cal dosed but I do 10% water changes every other day. I have a healthy open brain in there also. I also have never tested calcium but my corals look fine. my only problem is frogspawn and hammers pretty much die immediately after entering tank.

 

[ritter6788]

Monitor alkalinity before worrying about dosing calcium. Alk is used up in a reef tank much faster than calcium. Have you tested for it?

 

[Tom Davey]

Soft corals wont use ca but the brain, frog spawn, and hammer will use it. How old is your tank? I learned the hard way that some stuff wont grow well until the tank is about a year old. I would test all of your parameters there could be a Nitrate issue which will kill some stuff.

 

[reptileguy112]

I just sold my old 40g and I am picking up a new 20g today. This specific tank is a month old or so but I skipped the cycle using water from the 40g. I have not tested alk. I will order some test tubes for it and if the alk is bad what do I have to do to fix it?

 

[Tom Davey]

There are Alk buffers you can add to your tank. Keep in mind the Ca and Alk work together to form a balance. There is a good post about it I recently read I will look for it and post the link here.

 

[ritter6788]

I just sold my old 40g and I am picking up a new 20g today. This specific tank is a month old or so but I skipped the cycle using water from the 40g. I have not tested alk. I will order some test tubes for it and if the alk is bad what do I have to do to fix it?

Did you use the same rock from the old tank or did you add new rock too? You can't just skip a cycle by using water from an established tank. The beneficial bacteria is on the rocks and substrate and not so much in the water.

 

[Tom Davey]

http://web.archive.org/web/20021127040526/http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2002/chem.htm

 

[reptileguy112]

Yes old rock, I thought it would start a cycle because I used old sand from the tank also but it didnt start a cycle

 

[ritter6788]

Are you dosing any additives to the tank?

 

[reptileguy112]

do dosing, just lots of water changes and a skimmer

 

[cope413]

10% every other day?!? Even for a small tank, that's a lot of salt

 

[maroun.c]

I'd test for Alk Ca and MAg in any tank as rocks and walls simply look nicer when covered with Coraline.
Coraline, growing shells and any other clacification in the tank can lead to the loss of those three and eventually levels drop. Definitly no need to test or dose as much as you would on a tank with SPS.

 

[reptileguy112]

Ok, I do lots of water changes because I herd from friends with huge nice tanks filled with lps and sps that they have never dosed or test with calcium because you just have to keep replenishing it with water changes and salt.

 

[d2mini]

I have never cal dosed but I do 10% water changes every other day. I have a healthy open brain in there also. I also have never tested calcium but my corals look fine. my only problem is frogspawn and hammers pretty much die immediately after entering tank.

The simple answer is you need to test.
Never dose anything without testing first, and you should be testing the big 3 (Alk, Calc, Mag) if you have coral in your tank.
There is no way for us to tell you what you should or shouldn't dose if you are not testing.

 

[reptileguy112]

Ok, already ordered the tests. Thanks

 

[eric3316]

Why not just do a larger change weekly instead of every other day. Even so, 40% water changes a week is way more then you should have to do. And on top of that to think of dosing anything on top of that much water changes sounds crazy. Is your tank filled to the brim with corals?

People dose there tank usually because they have a lot of corals taking stuff in and they don't do a large enough water change to replenish what is needed or do water changes often enough.

With the amount of water your changing a week everything is getting replenished and then some with your new mix of saltwater.