Low calcium and alkalinity recommendations

[hbubley]

Hey all,

I did my friday water change last night on my DT (75g), and my saturday morning testing just now.

Test results
Calcium: 433
Alkalinity: 7.1

Before adding all my many corals, my alkalinity was hanging around 10-12 :/ What products do you guys recommend and at what dosing amount?

 

[Saltyreef]

Hey all,

I did my friday water change last night on my DT (75g), and my saturday morning testing just now.

Test results
Calcium: 433
Alkalinity: 7.1

Before adding all my many corals, my alkalinity was hanging around 10-12 :/ What products do you guys recommend and at what dosing amount?

Corals consume those elements to survive.

For easy no nonsense hand dosing i like the ESV B-ionic line.

Just get the trio, alk, cal and mag so you are ready.

But, do you know the alk of your salt mix?
What are you using to test the salinity?

 

[hbubley]

Corals consume those elements to survive.

For easy no nonsense hand dosing i like the ESV B-ionic line.

Just get the trio, alk, cal and mag so you are ready.

But, do you know the alk of your salt mix?
What are you using to test the salinity?

The alk of the salt mix was around 10 (measured it yesterday before filling), I use IO reef salt.
I'm using this to measure my salinity:
Salt water testing tool

Thank you so much for the response!

 

[Saltyreef]

Also, heres a dosing caculator. Select the correct product and water volume first.

Reef Chemistry Calculator

 

[hbubley]

Also, heres a dosing caculator. Select the correct product and water volume first.

Reef Chemistry Calculator

Thank you so much!!

 

[Saltyreef]

The alk of the salt mix was around 10 (measured it yesterday before filling), I use IO reef salt.
I'm using this to measure my salinity:
Salt water testing tool

Thank you so much for the response!

No worries.

Typically the reef salts and pro salts are elevated in their element levels and it makes for a wildly swinging enviornment for the corals if you are targeting NSW parameters.
You may want to use regular IO which has an alk closer to 7.5.

Also, that salinity tester may be ok but does it have any calibration prodecure for the salinity?
Typically reefers use ATC refractometers or floating hydrometers for the highest accuracy. Some like conductivity meters like Mr. RHF lol.
You can look up how to make a 35ppt standard to test with your meter and see how far off it is. Then apply that to your results if you cannot calibrate it.

 

[hbubley]

No worries.

Typically the reef salts and pro salts are elevated in their element levels and it makes for a wildly swinging enviornment for the corals if you are targeting NSW parameters.
You may want to use regular IO which has an alk closer to 7.5.

Also, that salinity tester may be ok but does it have any calibration prodecure for the salinity?
Typically reefers use ATC refractometers or floating hydrometers for the highest accuracy. Some like conductivity meters like Mr. RHF lol.
You can look up how to make a 35ppt standard to test with your meter and see how far off it is. Then apply that to your results if you cannot calibrate it.

Wow, wasn't expecting to get so much great information! I'll test out my salinity meter now and put in an order for a refractometer this weekend. Hopefully I haven't been incorrectly mixing for the past few months...

 

[Saltyreef]

Wow, wasn't expecting to get so much great information! I'll test out my salinity meter now and put in an order for a refractometer this weekend. Hopefully I haven't been incorrectly mixing for the past few months...

No problem theres tons of good info on this forum...and tons of conflicting info lol


I prefer tropic marins floating glass hydrometer from brs. Its the most accurate ive encountered without the need for calibration.
Then what i did was buy a small plastic coralife deep six hydrometer and used the large glass hydrometer to "calibrate" it with a sharpie mark on the true 1.026 reading.
Now the heavy glass hydrometer stays in a drawer and i can throw around the cheap plastic one all i want.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Hey all,

I did my friday water change last night on my DT (75g), and my saturday morning testing just now.

Test results
Calcium: 433
Alkalinity: 7.1

Before adding all my many corals, my alkalinity was hanging around 10-12 :/ What products do you guys recommend and at what dosing amount?

At the moment, those values are fine.

You can raise them if you want to, or monitor to determine if they (especially alk) go lower).

THis has more:

Optimal Parameters for a Coral Reef Aquarium: By Randy Holmes-Farley

[note: edited on 5/29/2022 to update the nitrate and phosphate sections with higher recommended levels.] One of the main roles of an aquarist with a coral reef aquarium is to ensure that the conditions are right for their tank inhabitants. There are many different attributes of the aquarium...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[hbubley]

At the moment, those values are fine.

You can raise them if you want to, or monitor to determine if they (especially alk) go lower).

THis has more:

Optimal Parameters for a Coral Reef Aquarium: By Randy Holmes-Farley

[note: edited on 5/29/2022 to update the nitrate and phosphate sections with higher recommended levels.] One of the main roles of an aquarist with a coral reef aquarium is to ensure that the conditions are right for their tank inhabitants. There are many different attributes of the aquarium...

www.reef2reef.com

Thank you!! I bought Brightwell A and B to have on hand, I think I might slowly dosing part B to bring up alkalinity a smidge. I think if I start now when it's not super critical I can go extremely slow and build up my confidence dosing

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Thank you!! I bought Brightwell A and B to have on hand, I think I might slowly dosing part B to bring up alkalinity a smidge. I think if I start now when it's not super critical I can go extremely slow and build up my confidence dosing

Sounds like a fine plan.