Dosing

[ajhudson15]

Quick question. I currently have the brs 2 part alk and cal. It says to dose in a 1:1 ratio but my Cal is 502. Why would I dose cal with my alk if my call is that high. Or do I need to

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Well, the method and my instructions for the recipe suppose that you are starting where you want the tank to stay, or that you need to get there.

If you think the calcium value is correct (it may not be if you have never dosed. What salt mix?) then just dosing the alk part for a while is fine while calcium declines.

If you are doing water changes with a salt mix that has calcium far higher than your target level, you may find that it stays high and you may not need calcium dosing until the tank demand is pretty high.

That said, 1:1 dosing will keep calcium about where it is, and that calcium level is OK.

 

[ajhudson15]

I currently use aquaforest probiotic salt. I have never dosed calcium but is weird since my tank imo isn't lightly stocked with corals that would use calcium so its weird to me that it is that high. is there a level that is to high. I did read that dosing calcium at the 1:1 ratio likely wont raise calcium because tis already high and it would take so much more to keep raising it. I just want to make sure that my dosing is correct if I only dose alk and not calcium.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I currently use aquaforest probiotic salt. I have never dosed calcium but is weird since my tank imo isn't lightly stocked with corals that would use calcium so its weird to me that it is that high. is there a level that is to high. I did read that dosing calcium at the 1:1 ratio likely wont raise calcium because tis already high and it would take so much more to keep raising it. I just want to make sure that my dosing is correct if I only dose alk and not calcium.

500 ppm is fine. Could just be the salinity is a bit high, or this batch has extra calcium, or test inaccuracy.

 

[ajhudson15]

I run my salinity at 1.026 on the dot. ill assume the batch is high. I am thinking about switching to res sea though.

 

[ajhudson15]

I tested with a calcium hanna checker 3 times and got pretty much the same reading

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

FWIW, some folks have more issues with the Hanna calcium than any other Hanna. Partly it seems that due to the design, the zero point sample needs to be spectacularly clean.

 

[ajhudson15]

interesting. I may pick up another calcium test just so I can double check it to the hanna. My calcium has never been that high in the past and I don't dose and have been using the same salt for months but who knows. I thought maybe the alk that im dosing was raising it and I was supposed to dose them to a 1:1 ratio so the calcium dose can act as a buffer

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I thought maybe the alk that im dosing was raising it and I was supposed to dose them to a 1:1 ratio so the calcium dose can act as a buffer

Nope. Not dosing it should allow calcium to decline.

 

[ajhudson15]

Calcium was at 434 today. Must have been am inaccurate test 3 times in a row lol

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

One of the reasons to dose a two part 1:1 based on alk demand is that it greatly reduces the need for calcium testing. [emoji3]