My system is something like 4 months old. It’s a 120 and I’m up to about 12 corals. All mostly frags but I got have a shroom colony and a big favia colony. Mostly everything moving forward will be a drag unless I see something I have to add. Anyways, my mag and calcium levels are always within range before a water change and I haven’t had to dose any elements yet. My question is, how much coral do you need to have before weekly water changes aren’t enough to replenish calcium? It seems that I have a ways to go before I need to start bringing my levels up. I’m not sure what the answer to this question looks like but I’m just trying to get a feel for when I need to be looking closer at my levels. TIA!
When to start dosing Calcium
- Thread starter Bam327
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You shouldn't base your dosing on a number of corals. Instead, once you see that your calcium, alkalinity, or magnesium levels are dropping out of range before your water changes, you can then start dosing. On some tanks, it takes a very long time before the coral/coraline growth requires dosing- this is a very good thing. Trust me, once you start dosing, you'll think fondly of the days where water changes alone could keep up with your needs 
Thanks. I guess I understand that part and I guess I was wondering when that point comes and when I should start keeping a closer eye on it. I’ve tested mag and cal probably 20x and they’ve never been low. It’s one of those things where everything is going great and I may get a little lax on the testing and I don’t want it to come back and bite me. I guess once I start seeing some growth than I will keep a closer look?
On a side track, how long does it take a new tank to see some coral growth? My shroom and ricordia’s have definitely grown, but no new polyps
On a side track, how long does it take a new tank to see some coral growth? My shroom and ricordia’s have definitely grown, but no new polyps
Shrooms and ricordias can be fickle. Sometimes they'll stay as single polyps for years and in other tanks they multiply like crazy. It's really hard to say.
I don't think your lack of testing will bite you. Rather, I would look for signs of calcification that might suggest increase use of alkalinity/calcium. Organisms such as feather dusters or coraline algae will likely start to appear and their abundance will start to signal that your calcium is being used by someone. That might cause you to start dosing or your WC schedule still might be able to hit the demand.
I don't think your lack of testing will bite you. Rather, I would look for signs of calcification that might suggest increase use of alkalinity/calcium. Organisms such as feather dusters or coraline algae will likely start to appear and their abundance will start to signal that your calcium is being used by someone. That might cause you to start dosing or your WC schedule still might be able to hit the demand.
Randy Holmes-Farley
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Best bet is to monitor alkalinity. If it is not dropping, calcium isn't either. If alk is dropping, you may need to dose it, and likely calcium too.
blasterman
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Depending on your salt mix and water changes you might never need to add calcium.
Simple math. If your salt mix has a default calcium level of 430 and you shoot for 400'ish for calcium and you do frequent water changes you will likely not need to add calcium. The calcium chloride in your salt mix is the same calcium chloride in a two part kit.
Again, I need to stress you need to emotionally decouple alk and calcium replenishment. Alk levels in captive tanks are rarely balanced with calcium unless you have a very large SPS load and a very mature tank. New reefers spend way too much effort chasing calcium and not enough effort keeping dKH stable.
Simple math. If your salt mix has a default calcium level of 430 and you shoot for 400'ish for calcium and you do frequent water changes you will likely not need to add calcium. The calcium chloride in your salt mix is the same calcium chloride in a two part kit.
Again, I need to stress you need to emotionally decouple alk and calcium replenishment. Alk levels in captive tanks are rarely balanced with calcium unless you have a very large SPS load and a very mature tank. New reefers spend way too much effort chasing calcium and not enough effort keeping dKH stable.
