Problems with Cal, Alk and Mag levels

Efird1 · May 7, 2012

Problems with Cal, Mag, Alk levels

I have a 180g bow front tank. It is mixed reef with a fairly heavy bio load. I have been dosing Cal and Alk from a 2-part solution for about two months and dosing Mag on its own. My Cal level will not get over 360, Alk over 6 and Mag over 1170. I started out dosing 35ml and am now dosing 45ml of Cal and Alk daily, and 30ml of Mag daily trying to get Cal and Alk to raise.
I do not believe in chasing numbers, but these levels seem low to me and I would like to see them higher even if I don't get to the 'magic' numbers.
I understand the relationship between Cal, Alk and Mag somewhat, but I am perplexed as to why I keep raising the doses and nothing happens.
Is there some other factor I am not aware of or am missing?
Should I just keep dosing more until the levels rise and then cut back to exactly what the tank is consuming daily??

The tank has been running for almost two years, I bought it about 2 months ago and started dosing.

Thanks All,

Loki · May 7, 2012

Just to make sure I get this right. You got a tank that was established and have had it for two months. Was the prior owner dosing? Are the amounts you are dosing base on what they told you? Where did you get the numbers?

I would recommend looking at BRS's (bulkreefsupply.com) reef calculator. Type in your results and all of your information and it will help you get to where you want.

If you are putting in the amount of each cal, alk, and mag per day then your numbers will not change. Maybe the amount you are dosing will be your maintenance dose an you need several larger doses to really bump the levels up.

The numbers I am shooting for are

Calcium 440
Alk 10
Mag 1300

kingb4c0 · May 7, 2012

You need to know your alk/cal consumption. What kind of corals do you have? I would say that if the tank is dominant sps/clams, 45ml sounds really low for a 180gal. Actually I'm dosing 45ml of cal and alk on my 67 dominant sps and also using kalkwasser with my ATO.

Steven R · May 7, 2012

I am dosing 45 ml of brightwell 2-part every other day in conjunction with 15ml of brightwell 8.3 which also help me maintain proper ph and raise my alk only after ph has hit 8.3. And thats on my 46 I would slowly up your dosage over a weeks time. just my 2 cents. Hopefully the chemistry gods will chime in.

feh · May 7, 2012

This should help solve Ca and Alk issues.
Chemistry And The Aquarium: Solving Calcium And Alkalinity Problems — Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog

VegasRick · May 7, 2012

Chasing numbers is what it's all about. Usually when someone says that what they mean is they are not trying to get specific numbers but something in the proper range. None of you numbers are in the proper range. If my alk gets down to 6 then I have rtn. Are you doing regular water changes? You need to do a few large doses to get your numbers right, possibly combined with a water change or 2. Once you have it in the proper range figure out your daily consumption and use the reef calculator to determine what you need to dose on a daily basis.

REEFKEEPER10 · May 7, 2012

You will want to test before doing a daily dosing. I just started dosing last Friday and my parameters have not changed yet so I haven't did another dose.

blackx-runner · May 7, 2012

Use the calculator at Bulk Reef supply and get to target levels before you start dosing. Then you dose to maintain the levels. You'll have to add quite a bit at first to reach your target levels. As far as what to dose daily I think they have recommended starting levels for that as well. Just test daily and adjust the amounts as needed.
For my 250 gal mixed reef, mostly LPS, some SPS I am dosing about 75ml of both Cal and Alk each day.

REEFKEEPER10 · May 8, 2012

For me if I dose the 34mls a day that the calculator says within a week my calcium would be 500+ but I only have one lps, two sps frags and some clams that are growing on live rock. That is why I said test before dosing daily because it would be to easy to push alkalinity over the top by adding a daily dose that isn't needed. I'm sure once my coralline algae starts growing good now that everything is we're it needs to be that will be a different story. This is just stuff to think about. When it comes to this hobby there isn't any rules. My tank survived a month of 95 degree water and I didn't loose anything until it went back to normal over night and all I lost was a condy and a encrusting montipora so just keep a open mind. Lol

CJO · May 8, 2012

Are you sure that your tests are accurate? You shouldn't need to dose much, if any, for that amount of coral and clams.

CJ

Efird1 · May 8, 2012

I have several large montis a huge birds nest, several SPS frags and many LPS and a few clams. I do a 15% water change every two weeks using Salinity from aquavitro. I have looked at the cal on BRS many times but it does not match up with my brand of Mag. I am thinking of going with BRS products. I do not want to dose HUGE amounts at one time to get my levels up. It needs to be a gradual change. So I am shooting for several weeks to get to where I want to be. I guess I will increase the amounts until I see the levels climbing, then cut back until they stabilize.

Efird1 · May 8, 2012

blackx-runner said:
Use the calculator at Bulk Reef supply and get to target levels before you start dosing. Then you dose to maintain the levels. You'll have to add quite a bit at first to reach your target levels. As far as what to dose daily I think they have recommended starting levels for that as well. Just test daily and adjust the amounts as needed.
For my 250 gal mixed reef, mostly LPS, some SPS I am dosing about 75ml of both Cal and Alk each day.

So I've been looking at the BRS dosing calculator and its telling me I need to add 1600ml of Cal, 1050ml of Alk and 3900ml of Mag to get my levels at, Cal-450, Alk-9 and Mag-1450. Wow! How long should I take to add that amount? Several things i've read say not to increase these more than a certain amount per day.

Loki · May 8, 2012

BRS says not to increase by X per day. I would use that number. When I upped mine I went on the safe side and increased it slower.

REEFKEEPER10 · May 8, 2012

Ok I tested this morning and it went down by 10 ppm so I had to dose and figured out a daily dose. I use redsea pro foundation test kit so Im pretty sure it is accurate anyway.