Regular dosing or kalkwasser?

[the_chef_pierre]

My tank is done cycling but has no inhabitants other than some snails and a small paly that came attached to one of my live rocks. I have a 30 gal nuvo long tank and plan on stocking with mainly corals and 3 fish or so. Still new to reefing and unsure if I should go with traditional dosing route or use kallwasser in my ATO. So far all my measurements seem ok except my calcium is low, at around 300 ppm. Magnesium is around 1260. Any opinions on this? It seems like I might be best to individually dose some calcium to get my levels all stable and then start a kalk regimen in my ATO. I'm just worried this may mess things up and burn everything in my tank. Seems like I'm having to fill my 5 gal reservoir up once per week which I feel might show high evaporation as my tank probably only holds around 20 gals water when you account for the rocks and sand. Any opinions for this newbie? Lol. I do have calcium, mag and alkalinity stuff to dose that a friend gave me but using kalk just seems like the easiest route where I wouldn't have to do all the dosing myself daily or invest in an expensive dosing system since I'm still new and trying to keep expenses on the somewhat lower side.

 

[beaslbob]

either would do just fine. IMHO.

You have to get calcium (plus alk and mag) correct with either. So I would probably use the improved diy two part.

But after you get the calcium/alk/mag initially set, Kalk would be easier.


my .02

 

[Tahoe61]

Newer hobbyist, newer tank I would stick to 2 parts and or use a salt that mixes at higher values.
Kalk can be tricky initially especially in a tank with low utilization.

 

[the_chef_pierre]

Awesome. That's what I was sort of planning on doing and starting the kalk on a lighter end at first to kinda account for how much it uses. I know theres a risk of using it in the ato if things mess up and it pours everything in. I just hope this wont happen as I feel the kalk will be less cost and work in the long run. I also wont be having any crazy expensive livestock in my tank since this is my first reefing tank

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

I have tried both and prefer dosing personally. Kalk is a time tested method and worked while I was using it but was messing with my pH in my nano. My nano's hood also kept evaporation so low that my Alk swings were pretty dramatic whenever it would do my top off. Entirely possible I was just using it incorrectly...

 

[the_chef_pierre]

I'm using the fritz reef pro which should be mixing at higher rates but for some reason my calcium has been the only thing kinda low. Maybe it's the coral and the 10 lbs of live rock in my tank using it faster than I thought

 

[the_chef_pierre]

Yeah I heard about the ph swing thing. I dont have a lid on the tank. Just a mess screen

 

[BeejReef]

You probably don't need to start a dosing regiment yet.

If you just use the general adjustment solutions from BRS (or other) to set your levels where you want them you can adjust as needed after water changes. You can adjust alk with a 99c box of baking soda, so really just cal and mag.

Pretty likely you won't need to do more than weekly water changes, even with some frags, until the coraline starts coming on strong. I love kalkwasser, but found ATO dosing too variable. I loved it as a one tub dosing solution though, until the tank used more alk than Kalk could provide. U get the ph boost without the ionic imbalance of traditional two part.

 

[beaslbob]

Come the think about it, you could do both.
Do the initial adjustment then start kalk in the ATO. If calcium and alk drop down, correct with the diy two part.

just a thought.

worth .02 at most

 

[the_chef_pierre]

Hmmm. Another good idea