Dosing BRS two part

[kateater]

I recently started dosing BRS two part and everything was going good. My daily consumption for alk and calcium has been pretty stable for two weeks. One day I would dose "X" ml of soda ash and then the next day "X" ml of calcium. This weekend I did my bi-weekly 25 gallon water change and now my numbers are elevated and I haven't dosed or needed to dose in two or three days. Has anyone experienced this when they do scheduled water changes? I even used two different API test kits to verify. Seems odd that my calcium jumped from 420 to 480 without any dosing. My tank is a DSA 215 with a 75g sump, so I estimated my total water volume around 220g. It's all soft corals and shrooms with one small single head of frogspawn. Trying to get parameters stable before I start adding additional LPS.

Salinity 1.025
PH 8.2
Nitrate 0 (API)

Test log:
6/5/16 DKH 8 Calcium 400 dosed 470ml calcium and 171ml soda ash

6/6/16 DKH 9 calcium 420 mag 1440 (first time using test could be off)

6/7/16 DKH 9 calcium 400 dosed 470ml calcium

6/8/16 DKH 9 calcium 420

6/9/16 DKH 8 calcium 420 dosed 161ml soda ash

6/10/16 DKH 9 calcium 420

6/11/16 DKH 8 calcium 400 dosed 161 soda ash and 470ml calcium

6/12/16 DKH 9 CALCIUM 420 prior to 25g water change.

6/13/16 DKH 9 calcium 440

6/14/16 DKH 9 calcium 480 mag 1360

 

[ritter6788]

What salt mix are you using? Have you tested it before adding it to your tank to see if the calcium is higher?

Looking at your coral list you may not need to be dosing much if at all right now. If you're not getting a drop in parameters then dosing and water changes can elevate the numbers.

 

[kateater]

What salt mix are you using? Have you tested it before adding it to your tank to see if the calcium is higher?

Looking at your coral list you may not need to be dosing much if at all right now. If you're not getting a drop in parameters then dosing and water changes can elevate the numbers.

Reef Crystals and I haven't tested the fresh saltwater. I understand the consumption is going to be minimal but the 60ppm calcium jump just seemed odd. I could have missed counted my drops on the calcium test on 6/13/16. lol

 

[ritter6788]

Reef Crystals and I haven't tested the fresh saltwater. I understand the consumption is going to be minimal but the 60ppm calcium jump just seemed odd. I could have missed counted my drops on the calcium test on 6/13/16. lol

I use Reef Crystals and get about 480-500 with an API test. If you were at 42o, dosed calcium and did a water change 480 isn't out of reason. With the API you could be off a drop or 2 or not get the sample water exactly the same and get a little variation test to test. I wouldn't worry about it and wouldn't bother dosing anything at all unless you start getting a drop in parameters that water changes won't keep stable.

 

[kateater]

I use Reef Crystals and get about 480-500 with an API test. If you were at 42o, dosed calcium and did a water change 480 isn't out of reason. With the API you could be off a drop or 2 or not get the sample water exactly the same and get a little variation test to test. I wouldn't worry about it and wouldn't bother dosing anything at all unless you start getting a drop in parameters that water changes won't keep stable.

Thanks

 

[kateater]

I use Reef Crystals and get about 480-500 with an API test. If you were at 42o, dosed calcium and did a water change 480 isn't out of reason. With the API you could be off a drop or 2 or not get the sample water exactly the same and get a little variation test to test. I wouldn't worry about it and wouldn't bother dosing anything at all unless you start getting a drop in parameters that water changes won't keep stable.

How do people deal with this that use dosing pumps? Seems you would have to recalculate often.

 

[ritter6788]

How do people deal with this that use dosing pumps? Seems you would have to recalculate often.

Get your numbers close to your newly mixed salt water and there will not be any fluctuation when you do water changes. Once you start g rowing stony corals and clams you'll get a drop in paramters and dosing should replace it as it is used. Once you get your dosing stable water changes won't budge your numbers much if at all.

 

[jerseypete]

I recently started dosing BRS two part and everything was going good. My daily consumption for alk and calcium has been pretty stable for two weeks. One day I would dose "X" ml of soda ash and then the next day "X" ml of calcium. This weekend I did my bi-weekly 25 gallon water change and now my numbers are elevated and I haven't dosed or needed to dose in two or three days. Has anyone experienced this when they do scheduled water changes? I even used two different API test kits to verify. Seems odd that my calcium jumped from 420 to 480 without any dosing. My tank is a DSA 215 with a 75g sump, so I estimated my total water volume around 220g. It's all soft corals and shrooms with one small single head of frogspawn. Trying to get parameters stable before I start adding additional LPS.

Salinity 1.025
PH 8.2
Nitrate 0 (API)

Test log:
6/5/16 DKH 8 Calcium 400 dosed 470ml calcium and 171ml soda ash

6/6/16 DKH 9 calcium 420 mag 1440 (first time using test could be off)

6/7/16 DKH 9 calcium 400 dosed 470ml calcium

6/8/16 DKH 9 calcium 420

6/9/16 DKH 8 calcium 420 dosed 161ml soda ash

6/10/16 DKH 9 calcium 420

6/11/16 DKH 8 calcium 400 dosed 161 soda ash and 470ml calcium

6/12/16 DKH 9 CALCIUM 420 prior to 25g water change.

6/13/16 DKH 9 calcium 440

6/14/16 DKH 9 calcium 480 mag 1360

To me it seems like your adding way to much. In order to get the proper amount to dose you have to find out what your tank is using. Stop dosing . Do a water change. Test your parameters. Write everything down. Wait 5 days test again . Then subtract from your first numbers. Say cal was at 450 to start. And after 5 days it was at 390. You dropped 60 over 5 days. Which is 12 a day. Go to brs site and use their calculator. To figure out how much you have to add in order to raise your water volume 12. Then that's how much you need to add per day. So if you had dose pumps you program them to add 12 ml over 12hrs. So it would be 1ml an hour. So your parameters stay stable all the time. You hardly need to adjust. My tank is pretty much full of coral. So I don't really add anything anymore. I only test my water once every 2 months when I do a water change. And my parm. Barely move.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I personally think it is most likely just random variation in the test result.

The water change wouldn't have caused the jump (to get a jump of 60 ppm with a 10% change would mean the new salt water had more than 1000 ppm calcium, which is not likely), and both 420 ppm and 480 ppm calcium are perfectly fine, so there's nothing to be concerned about.

 

[kateater]

I personally think it is most likely just random variation in the test result.

The water change wouldn't have caused the jump (to get a jump of 60 ppm with a 10% change would mean the new salt water had more than 1000 ppm calcium, which is not likely), and both 420 ppm and 480 ppm calcium are perfectly fine, so there's nothing to be concerned about.

I knew they were within an acceptable range I was just puzzled about the jump. I haven't dosed calcium since the water change and I'm still reading 480. Guess I'll keep testing until it drops. I ordered 11 SPS frags from reefersgarage today, that should help consume some calcium lol