Just Started Dosing, need help.

[NervousReefer]

So as the title states I just started dosing after I noticed my cal/alk/mag were low. No corals yet, 1 fire shrimp, 1 cleaner shrimp, 3 chromis, 2 clowns and 5 astrea snails, 6 cerith snails, 8 red leg hermit crabs and 1 bangaii cardinal. 50 gallon tank with sump.

cal 380
alk 7.8
mag 1050 ( I tested with a different test kit, red sea and it read 1250)

I'm using the brs 2 part cal/alk/mag system, I got my alk up to 8.6, i would like to get it to 9. I dosed calcium to get it to 420 however I noticed about 10-15 minutes after dosing, the calcium remained the same (380). I used 2 different test kits, red sea and api, I didn't want to dose again and raise it too high.

What am I doing wrong? I've read about calcium precipitation, could that be it? Should i dose calcium again or should I dose magnesium first and then do cal?

Thanks.

 

[TheOne]

Why are you dosing a tank that has no corals? What size tank and do you do regular water changes?

 

[krbshappy71]

I was curious about this as well, I am new, is it something that should be done to prep the tank before corals go in? Following....

 

[C. Eymann]

So as the title states I just started dosing after I noticed my cal/alk/mag were low. No corals yet, 1 fire shrimp, 1 cleaner shrimp, 3 chromis, 2 clowns and 5 astrea snails, 6 cerith snails, 8 red leg hermit crabs and 1 bangaii cardinal. 50 gallon tank with sump.

cal 380
alk 7.8
mag 1050 ( I tested with a different test kit, red sea and it read 1250)

I'm using the brs 2 part cal/alk/mag system, I got my alk up to 8.6, i would like to get it to 9. I dosed calcium to get it to 420 however I noticed about 10-15 minutes after dosing, the calcium remained the same (380). I used 2 different test kits, red sea and api, I didn't want to dose again and raise it too high.

What am I doing wrong? I've read about calcium precipitation, could that be it? Should i dose calcium again or should I dose magnesium first and then do cal?

Thanks.

You need to be waiting at least a few hours after your additions to test,
Also are you using a reef calculator to approximate amounts needing to be dosed?

 

[Retro Reefer]

Get your Mg in line before worrying about cal & Alk.. 380 and 7.8 are fine for a empty tank, I keep my Alk in the high 7’s and cal hovers a little over 400 in my heavy stocked 16 month old tank.

 

[C. Eymann]

Why are you dosing a tank that has no corals? Do you do water changes?

No coral doesn't mean there arent calcifying organisms in the tank, coralline, snails, tube worms etc etc all will use up minerals.

 

[Idoc]

So as the title states I just started dosing after I noticed my cal/alk/mag were low. No corals yet, 1 fire shrimp, 1 cleaner shrimp, 3 chromis, 2 clowns and 5 astrea snails, 6 cerith snails, 8 red leg hermit crabs and 1 bangaii cardinal. 50 gallon tank with sump.

cal 380
alk 7.8
mag 1050 ( I tested with a different test kit, red sea and it read 1250)

I'm using the brs 2 part cal/alk/mag system, I got my alk up to 8.6, i would like to get it to 9. I dosed calcium to get it to 420 however I noticed about 10-15 minutes after dosing, the calcium remained the same (380). I used 2 different test kits, red sea and api, I didn't want to dose again and raise it too high.

What am I doing wrong? I've read about calcium precipitation, could that be it? Should i dose calcium again or should I dose magnesium first and then do cal?

Thanks.

I wouldn't worry about it. You don't have any corals and the fish don't care about those specific items. If those levels are way lower than what your salt is supposed to mix up to, then it could possibly be 2 things... either you have a bad batch of salt or your test kits are inaccurate (or you're testing incorrectly). You don't need to dose if you don't have corals.

Also, you can control most of those parameters with water changes when you do start into corals. Only dose when water changes aren't keeping the parameters where you want them.

 

[TheOne]

It just seems like it would be much easier to do a water change unless you like growing coralline.

 

[NervousReefer]

You need to be waiting at least a few hours after your additions to test,
Also are you using a reef calculator to approximate amounts needing to be dosed?

Yes I’m using the brs calculator

 

[NervousReefer]

Why are you dosing a tank that has no corals? What size tank and do you do regular water changes?

 

[NervousReefer]

50 gallon. I haven’t done a water change yet but I’m thinking this weekend

 

[NervousReefer]

I was under the assumption that the other animals in my tank need those trace elements too not just coral.

 

[TheOne]

I would do the water change and then test again. My tank is 160 gallons, started over about 10 months ago, added about 30 corals two months ago and I haven't had to start dosing yet.

 

[NervousReefer]

Get your Mg in line before worrying about cal & Alk.. 380 and 7.8 are fine for a empty tank, I keep my Alk in the high 7’s and cal hovers a little over 400 in my heavy stocked 16 month old tank.

 

[NervousReefer]

I would do the water change and then test again. My tank is 160 gallons, started over about 10 months ago, added about 30 corals two months ago and I haven't had to start dosing yet.

I'll do this before I start dosing again, thanks for replying.

 

[James Franks]

As others have said you should probably just focus on water changes to keep up your trace elements without having corals in it.

With that said when i figure out how much i need to dose i typically test elements daily for a month and see how much of these elements are being used then plug it into one of the reef dosing calculators.

 

[NervousReefer]

I was curious about this as well, I am new, is it something that should be done to prep the tank before corals go in? Following....

That's was my thinking too but water change or dose?

 

[NervousReefer]

As others have said you should probably just focus on water changes to keep up your trace elements without having corals in it.

With that said when i figure out how much i need to dose i typically test elements daily for a month and see how much of these elements are being used then plug it into one of the reef dosing calculators.

Ok so how often should I do them? I've read you shouldn't disturb the sand bed while changing out the water, is that true?

 

[James Franks]

Ok so how often should I do them? I've read you shouldn't disturb the sand bed while changing out the water, is that true?

I typically do 10% every 2 weeks. I prefer smaller more frequent water changes over one large one per month.

 

[TheOne]

I also do 10% every other week that is 20 gallons. My alk has been steadily dropping to where I will probably start dosing within the next month. I have around 30 corals in my tank though.