Dosing Alk and Cal In Equal parts?

[TannerManno]

People say to always dose alk and cal in equal parts, and that it will balance itself out, but my tank uses far more Alk than Cal. Im just curious as to if its that important to dose equally. I dose 25ml of Alk a day and 5 ml of calcium. Parameters are staying stable, wondering if it will come back to bite me in the long run. Thanks for the help.

 

[blaxsun]

Yeah, with frequent water changes it will always gravitate back towards the default salt values - but that just means you’re overdosing for no reason. And it won’t necessarily balance itself out - especially if it’s not an established reef of several years.

I dose alkalinity the most, followed by magnesium and almost no calcium (my tank is mainly soft and LPS and only a handful of SPS). If I dosed calcium in equal proportions I’d be over 600 between water changes.

If your parameters are stable and you’re testing frequently - I wouldn’t change anything.

 

[TannerManno]

Yeah, with frequent water changes it will always gravitate back towards the default salt values - but that just means you’re overdosing for no reason.

I dose alkalinity the most, followed by magnesium and almost no calcium (my tank is mainly soft and LPS and only a handful of SPS). If I dosed calcium in equal proportions I’d be over 600 between water changes.

If your parameters are stable and you’re testing frequently - I wouldn’t change anything.

Thank you

 

[Alex Cataldo]

Hmmmm, thats interesting. Could you be potentially be running the alkalinity way higher than the calcium? Sometimes when the ionic balance in the saltwater is off, it can seem like one parameter is way off. Also what are the params in your tank cus right now its hard to tell. Your tank could have a magnesium deficiency

 

[TannerManno]

Hmmmm, thats interesting. Could you be potentially be running the alkalinity way higher than the calcium? Sometimes when the ionic balance in the saltwater is off, it can seem like one parameter is way off. Also what are the params in your tank cus right now its hard to tell. Your tank could have a magnesium deficiency

Alk 8.6 cal 430 mag 1500

 

[Sean Clark]

I am not a fan of dosing anything in equal parts, I dose based on test results. If my Mg is low then I will dose it. Blindly dosing because someone told you to is silly.

 

[TannerManno]

I am not a fan of dosing anything in equal parts, I dose based on test results. If my Mg is low then I will dose it. Blindly dosing because someone told you to is silly.

That’s kinda where I’m at to. But I have heard it balances itself out somehow. Just didn’t know if people have success with just dosing what they need.

 

[blaxsun]

Does and supplement what you need, continue with regular testing and water changes and things will generally take care of themselves.

 

[Sean Clark]

That’s kinda where I’m at to. But I have heard it balances itself out somehow. Just didn’t know if people have success with just dosing what they need.

While everyone's experience is their own, I personally have had success only dosing what is needed. If you have and established tank this should be pretty easy. If you are just starting off then I would lean towards the more conventional water change method. That is what is great about this hobby, everyone is always learning. There is no right answer.

 

[TannerManno]

While everyone's experience is their own, I personally have had success only dosing what is needed. If you have and established tank this should be pretty easy. If you are just starting off then I would lean towards the more conventional water change method. That is what is great about this hobby, everyone is always learning. There is no right answer.

I do water changes every other week. But between water changes my tank uses to much Alk and cal up so I dose them to keep them stable.

 

[Hydrored]

Some are also dosing products like Triton 1-4 or Aqua Forest where they are designed to be dosed in equal parts. I just do a small correction dose of only alk if needed other than that I dose equal parts since I use Triton other.

 

[TannerManno]

Some are also dosing products like Triton 1-4 or Aqua Forest where they are designed to be dosed in equal parts. I just do a small correction dose of only alk if needed other than that I dose equal parts since I use Triton other.

See that’s what I’m asking. i dose red sea foundations. I’m switching to aqua forest soon is why I’m asking if they should be dosed equally

 

[Stain]

Thats what I read as well. Thats not what i'm currently doing. If I dosed equal parts on my small system, the ca would be over 500 to keep my alk at 9. I don't want my stuff turning into rocks. I'm using esv 2 part, 20ml alk, 16.5ml ca a day for my tank. Dose what your tank needs/consumes, not what you read people do.

 

[phillybean]

I used Aquaforest as well, their 123 needs to be dosed in the same amounts, not for maintaining Alk/Cal/Mag but for all the extra trace elements. They advise if your tank uses more of one major element, to dose it seperatly without the added trace elements. I quit using it because of the massive amounts it took to maintain. I was dosing nearly 700ml of Alk a day and 500 of Calcium, just got to be to expensive and time consuming to mix every 5 days.

 

[TannerManno]

I used Aquaforest as well, their 123 needs to be dosed in the same amounts, not for maintaining Alk/Cal/Mag but for all the extra trace elements. They advise if your tank uses more of one major element, to dose it seperatly without the added trace elements. I quit using it because of the massive amounts it took to maintain. I was dosing nearly 700ml of Alk a day and 500 of Calcium, just got to be to expensive and time consuming to mix every 5 days.

What are you dosing now? Just trying to save myself a headache. If there is something better to go with from the beginning.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

Not giving advice but Randy's mix/brs 2 part is equal if your using it just trust the chemistry and dose as instructed dont think your situation is 1 off I don't know how it works but if you get on a regular dosing schedule it works and evens out, the information is all over the place on this site no need for new threads about it.....

 

[reefiniteasy]

I use ESV 2-part and have always dosed in equal parts daily. I measure alkalinity using my Hanna checker and dose the corresponding Alk component based on my desired level and then I dose an equal amount of calcium. It has never failed me in almost 3 years.

 

[Gtinnel]

I use Randy's diy 2 part recipe 1, and for alk and calcium I dose them in nearly equal parts but not exactly the same. If you test frequently enough to know what is going on with your parameters then my vote would be to dose what you need to keep your parameters stable and at the level you want them. Most people say to dose in equal amounts because when corals build calcium carbonate skeletons they use the 2 elements in a ratio that should closely match 2 part additives.

 

[phillybean]

What are you dosing now? Just trying to save myself a headache. If there is something better to go with from the beginning.

Just basic 3 part (Randy's recipe), Acropower and a 3.5 gallon / day AWC. Still not really that happy, but corals are growing and look pretty good.

 

[Dkmoo]

People say to always dose alk and cal in equal parts, and that it will balance itself out, but my tank uses far more Alk than Cal. Im just curious as to if its that important to dose equally. I dose 25ml of Alk a day and 5 ml of calcium. Parameters are staying stable, wondering if it will come back to bite me in the long run. Thanks for the help.

Judging by those numbers, Im guessing you are using red sea foundation A and B?

Red sea is not intended to be dosed in equal parts but should be individually tested and dosed.

When people say "dose 2 parts" in equal parts, they are referring to the fixed ratio of how Alk and CA are consumed when making CaCO3 (coral bone). This is fixed at 2.8 DKH to 18 - 20 ppm CAL.

Some 2 parts are designed to match those concentration, like the ESV b ionic. Red Sea concentrations are not.

Red sea concentration raises 1DKh per 10ml Alk and 20ppm of Cal per 10 ml of calcium for a 25G volume. So, some simple math will show you that to match the ratio stated above, it would be 27ml of ALK to 9 to 10ml of CAL. So, as you can see, you are not too far off with yiur 25ml alk to 5ml CA.

Your tanks Alk consumption currently outpaces CA likely bc more alk is used to form MgCO3 - which forms to prevent abiotic precipitation from running high alk/ca. "Normal" MG consumption should be about 10PPM cal to 1 ppm MG. Im guessing your tank sucks up more MG than that? This phenomenon will slow down over time, im not sure why but I went thru the same situation. My theory is that MgCO3 has to come up to a certain levels to maintain CA and alk from abiotically precipitate, and right now it's still catching up to the level it needs to be. Once there, mgco3 will slow down, and so your Alk consumption will slow down too to match the level of CA consumption (probably around 15 to 17ml Alk to 5ml Cal)