Estimating overall water volume. Does this seem right?

[Philipgonzales3]

So today was my first time dosing 2 part and the instructions for the calcium/alk was to start with 1ml for every 4 gallons and 1.5ml for every 4 gallons or something along those lines.

I have a 50 gallon SCA with the stock sump. I figured with live rock and sand I was at about 55 gallons as a guesstimate. I dosed according to that. That got me thinking that there has to be a way to better estimate the volume. So I found some online calculators.

http://www.garf.org/calculators/TankVolumeCalculator.asp

https://www.sensorsone.com/length-width-and-height-to-volume-calculator/

I entered my values taking into account the actual water height instead of the tank height (this made a difference of about 2 gallons)

Did the same thing for my sump, except of course I used it's water height.

I know a video I watched from BRS said 10% or so won't make a difference because our test kits are likely not that accurate and let's say calcium of 400 vs calcium at 440 was likely not a big deal for example.

But what do you think? Is this accurate? Maybe another gallon or so in the plumbing as a total guess.

 

[Gonebad395]

Why are you dosing do you have something depleting your trace elements? With the 1 coral you have your trace elements will be fine. Your kinda jumping the gun man running way before you are walking. Anything you are losing is easily replenished with a water change

 

[Philipgonzales3]

Why are you dosing do you have something depleting your trace elements?

I'm trying to get my parameters within those recommended for a reef tank. It seems my calcium always comes out low with my IO salt. Or maybe it is being depleted by I don't know what though. I will test freshly mixed salt Friday and compare to my tank. My overall plan is actually not to dose but to switch salts. Someone recommended I dose, before I made up my mind on switching salts. I had already ordered the 2 part so I figured I might as well try to use it, but don't think it will be a good overall plan, vs switching salts.

I am thinking I will switch to Fritz RPM as I've read it's really stable. I've heard RC has high alk swings but then again I've read with 10% water changes alk changes won't be drastic.

My PH is usually 8.1-8.2. Going to test it again tomorrow.



Do you recommend I not dose? I really just did it to see what would happen. According to this calculator I need about 150ml to get up to 400 calcium. This would take me about 10 or more days at the recommended dosage. Since I change 10% of my water every 7 days I'm not sure how that would work. Really just trying to get a basic understanding of dosing I guess.

http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html

 

[Philipgonzales3]

I forgot to mention I have 1 frag that is a macro algea that has similar requirements to an SPS. Not sure if you are on my other threads about it. So mentioning it just to be sure.

 

[Philipgonzales3]

@Hemmdog looping you in. So I dosed part the Calcium and Alk like the directions said. In whatever order it said, I think Alk first and then calcium. I did not dose magnesium. I figured I am pretty close and the bottle said do not go over 1350. Wanted to check before dosing that. Should I continue at 1.5ml per gallon. It looks like i will neef 150ml to get me to 1350 from 1320 so a total of 5 days or so going by the recommended starting dose.

 

[Gonebad395]

I wouldn’t dose until you need to. That one frag you have won’t deplete detectable lvls so you are more wasting money tbh. I’m not against dosing when needed. If your salt isn’t what you want switch it up. But imo you are really far from needing to dose anything you might want to get a few dozen fragsgrowing befor you worry about that m.

 

[Hemmdog]

@Hemmdog looping you in. So I dosed part the Calcium and Alk like the directions said. In whatever order it said, I think Alk first and then calcium. I did not dose magnesium. I figured I am pretty close and the bottle said do not go over 1350. Wanted to check before dosing that. Should I continue at 1.5ml per gallon. It looks like i will neef 150ml to get me to 1350 from 1320 so a total of 5 days or so going by the recommended starting dose.

Yea don’t dose unless your levels are low. You should be good for awhile. That’s good you grabbed that stuff though.

 

[Philipgonzales3]

Oh also

I wouldn’t dose until you need to. That one frag you have won’t deplete detectable lvls so you are more wasting money tbh. I’m not against dosing when needed. If your salt isn’t what you want switch it up. But imo you are really far from needing to dose anything you might want to get a few dozen fragsgrowing befor you worry about that m.

Ok so my frag should still be OK at 320 calcium and 1320 magnesium? It won't die because it's too low. If it'll be fine at those levels I may wait until I switch salts, hopefully in about 1 month. Then after that add some coralline (that's what I want next. I want my parameters to be able to support coralline spreading on my rocks). Then eventually maybe a anemone and some other corals. No idea on anemone care yet that's why I say maybe.

 

[Philipgonzales3]

Yea don’t dose unless your levels are low. You should be good for awhile. That’s good you grabbed that stuff though.

Ok, so sounds like I shouldn't be dosing yet. I'll hold off and switch to either Fritz RPM or maybe RC. Seems like either way should be OK, but I'll try reading some more on it.

 

[Hemmdog]

I would get your calcium to the 400’s though.

 

[Philipgonzales3]

OK so no dosing. I will test my params tomorrow just to see how much they increased. Shouldn't be much. So how about the water volume estimate. Does that sound right?

 

[Hemmdog]

OK so no dosing. I will test my params tomorrow just to see how much they increased. Shouldn't be much. So how about the water volume estimate. Does that sound right?

Not sure, I haven’t done it myself yet haha.

 

[Philipgonzales3]

I would get your calcium to the 400’s though.

Wait so dose calcium? Do I need to dose alk to then? If I dose one without the other what happens? Will the alk go down if I just dose calcium?

There are officially too many ways to reef! Lol. But if my frag will be OK at 320, I will just wait until I switch salts and hopefully that puts me over 400 once I get a few water changes in.

 

[Hemmdog]

Wait so dose calcium? Do I need to dose alk to then? If I dose one without the other what happens? Will the alk go down if I just dose calcium?

There are officially too many way to reef! Lol. But if my frag will be OK at 320, I will just wait until I switch salts and hopefully that puts me over 400 once I get a few water changes in.

320 is to low. Add a small amount of part 1 then more part 2.

 

[Philipgonzales3]

Lol I just noticed it says "well-known member" under my name. Well-known, may not be a good thing. I'm definetly still posting in the beginner section for a while.

 

[Hemmdog]

Lol I just noticed it says "well-known member" under my name. Well-known, may not be a good thing. I'm definetly still posting in the beginner section for a while.

It’s based off trophy points lol. I just became valuable the other day, I felt pretty fancy.

 

[Philipgonzales3]

320 is to low. Add a small amount of part 1 then more part 2.

Technically it's at 350. I'll see where it's at tomorrow. @Gonebad395 @Why-Me should I dose up to 400 calcium or let it be at 350 for now?

I think at this point it would just be preference maybe? Maybe it's best to leave it be until I can keep it stable with higher calcium salt?

 

[Philipgonzales3]

It’s based off trophy points lol. I just became valuable the other day, I felt pretty fancy.

Well I'm sorry that you feel that you weren't valuable before. We are all valuable in our own ways !

 

[Why-Me]

If you can easily attain 400 go for it.
After all the reading I've done I would suggest getting whatever salt you feel is best that your LFS always stocks.
I'm lucky, BRS is 60-75 minute drive from here so I can get whatever salt/dosing supplies I want really.
FWIW I'm going to run the Red Sea blue bucket salt
And I'm unsure whether to go Kalk or 2 part from the start?? I've been doing research on which way to go.
BTW your lights give off a very pleasing spectrum and that lil frag looks happy and healthy.

 

[Philipgonzales3]

If you can easily attain 400 go for it.
After all the reading I've done I would suggest getting whatever salt you feel is best that your LFS always stocks.
I'm lucky, BRS is 60-75 minute drive from here so I can get whatever salt/dosing supplies I want really.
FWIW I'm going to run the Red Sea blue bucket salt
And I'm unsure whether to go Kalk or 2 part from the start?? I've been doing research on which way to go.
BTW your lights give off a very pleasing spectrum and that lil frag looks happy and healthy.

Ok, honestly I will likely order online. I order a lot online due to the fact it's hard to get out to the stores for me. With two kids, and my own hectic schedule sometimes it's just easier to order online. I'll compare a couple of popular mixes before deciding.