When should I start dosing? Ca Alk Mag? Beginner

[Swimjam]

Hey y’all,
I have a 6 month old innovative Marine 20 Gallons. I just started adding coral to it and all coral have done well with weekly 5 gallon water changes. I just placed a order for far to many small frags and was wondering if I should dose but what should I dose? I have added to my tank Sachem fusion A & B. It’s ok... but I have never seen good growth with the product in my other tanks. I have also used Red Sea elements abcd. The salt I use is RedSea Pro. Again I’m a beginner and any advice would be gratefully appreciated. Yes I have watched YouTube videos on the topic; but I think in the past I have over dosed and under dosed and need some exact instructions of what to add to make my corals really happy. I will have by the end of the week LPS & SPS basically a little bit of everything I have been feeding Reefroids in small amounts individually to each coral also could use some advice of how many times a week I should be feeding the coral. I did notice when feeding the clowns that the coral reacted really well to brine shrimp especially when it got in the mp10 and got fine. Thanks again for any help that you can offer. Again I’m a beginner at this and new to posting questions on R2R.

 

[cshouston]

You need a reef parameter test kit. You don’t just dose stuff indiscriminately. You’ll kill everything that way.

Odds are you won’t have to dose anything for a while. I don’t know how many frags you’re trying to cram into a 20g, but they probably won’t make a dent in your parameters until they really start putting on size.

Until then, you’re fine just doing water changes to replenish. Test your parameters twice a week, and once you see that alkalinity is starting to drop significantly from one test to the next, then you’ll know it’s time.

I’d also advise transitioning to a different salt. Red Sea Coral Pro is a very high alkalinity salt that’s meant for folks who really know what they’re doing and how to prevent corals from burning due to such high alk. You’d be better off with Red Sea blue bucket if you want to stay with that brand. Otherwise, there are a lot of other good options that will put your alkalinity in a more forgiving range (7-9)

 

[Triple.T]

If it were me, I'd test my alk in the am before lights on. And in 24 hours I'd do it at exactly the same time. By looking at both readings you can see how much your system is soaking up in a 24 hr period . Can do this for both ALK and CA. Wouldn't worry to much about MAG with weekly water changes of 5 gallons on a 20g system, which could be enough in itself.

I didnt start dosing until I noticed my alk dropping in my tank below numbers I wanted to keep. Same with CA. I then tested to see how much was being used, and dosed accordingly and tested until I had everything within my range .

 

[Swimjam]

You need a reef parameter test kit. You don’t just dose stuff indiscriminately. You’ll kill everything that way.

Odds are you won’t have to dose anything for a while. I don’t know how many frags you’re trying to cram into a 20g, but they probably won’t make a dent in your parameters until they really start putting on size.

Until then, you’re fine just doing water changes to replenish. Test your parameters twice a week, and once you see that alkalinity is starting to drop significantly from one test to the next, then you’ll know it’s time.

I’d also advise transitioning to a different salt. Red Sea Coral Pro is a very high alkalinity salt that’s meant for folks who really know what they’re doing and how to prevent corals from burning due to such high alk. You’d be better off with Red Sea blue bucket if you want to stay with that brand. Otherwise, there are a lot of other good options that will put your alkalinity in a more

If it were me, I'd test my alk in the am before lights on. And in 24 hours I'd do it at exactly the same time. By looking at both readings you can see how much your system is soaking up in a 24 hr period . Can do this for both ALK and CA. Wouldn't worry to much about MAG with weekly water changes of 5 gallons on a 20g system, which could be enough in itself.

I didnt start dosing until I noticed my alk dropping in my tank below numbers I wanted to keep. Same with CA. I then tested to see how much was being used, and dosed accordingly and tested until I had everything within my range .

I have Hanna checkers is that what you would recommend for testing I have the CA and Alk.

 

[Triple.T]

Yea you can use Hannah. I use them, for redundancy I also use salifert kits

 

[cshouston]

The Hanna alk checker is great, but the calcium one is a hassle. I use the Red Sea foundation test kit to check calcium and magnesium, and a Hanna for alkalinity. You’ll also want the algae pro kit to test your nitrate and phosphate levels.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

As to when to begin testing, alkalinity is the key. if it is normal in your system, (that is, is like your starting salt mix) the others generally will be too.

 

[terraincognita]

The Hanna alk checker is great, but the calcium one is a hassle. I use the Red Sea foundation test kit to check calcium and magnesium, and a Hanna for alkalinity. You’ll also want the algae pro kit to test your nitrate and phosphate levels.

+1

Hanna alk for accuracy I think is important.

Red Sea or others for range is better.

With Cal as long as you’re in a range above 400 you should be as we say in Cali “Gucci”