When to Supplement?

[gtrider]

Hello!

I have a 65g mixed reef. 5 1-2" SPS frags, a few acan lords, a 5" hammer coral and some zoas in the mix.

I've been monitoring my Alk & Cal for the consistently for the past 4 mo and my levels have been at the high end of the accepted range for an SPS tank.

I took measurements today and they are pretty close to where i want them to be - CAL 394ppm, ALK 9.5 dkh. My salinity is a bit low and i've been trying slowly bring it up with water changes 1.025.

I change 5g of water once a week and have a pretty small bio load - 3 small bg chromis, 1 sm false perc and a medium midas blenny.

Now that my levels seem to be dipping a bit from what they were before, my question is when/if i should start adding 2-part or putting kalk in my ATO?

Let me know if you need any other information or readings. Thanks!

 

[laverda]

Your salinity will have an effect on your Alk and Ca. If I understand correctly you water change water is 1.025. I would stop toping off with RO/DI and use saltwater for a few days till you get you salinity correct. You did not say whatyour salinity is at currently or what you aim for. Sounds like your using saltwater high in alk and Ca, so your levels will be higher when you correct your salinity.
Correct you salinity and retest. Then wait a week and test again. That will tell you how much your consuming. If you saltwater has significantly different levels than your tank it is going to affect your numbers. Keeping that in mind, I would do testing before and a few hours after water changes to see how much it changes things. Also be consistent about when you do you tests if water changes affect your results much.
You did not say what your levels were before, making it hard to really say. 4 months is a long time, so you would not need to dose much. For that reason I think B-ionic would be your best choice.

 

[pluikens]

How about current salinity, nitrate, and phosphate numbers?
If you've been monitoring alk and calc, how much does each drop in a week?
Are you testing them on a specific day between your water changes?
What salt are you using?
What numbers for alk and calc do you think you'll keep? I'd suggest something near what your salt mixes at or find a new salt.

 

[gtrider]

Sorry about that. My salinity is currently at 1.025 and i'd like it to be at 1.029.
I like the idea of adding SW to the ATO.
Yes, i'm using red sea pro coral.
I'll correct my salinity, test and the retest in a week to not consumption. and i'll do that at the same time on the same schedule.

 

[pluikens]

Sorry about that. My salinity is currently at 1.025 and i'd like it to be at 1.029.
I like the idea of adding SW to the ATO.
Yes, i'm using red sea pro coral.
I'll correct my salinity, test and the retest in a week to not consumption. and i'll do that at the same time on the same schedule.

I would recommend staying between 1.024 and 1.026 so your current 1.025 is just fine. What salinity do you mix your water change water to? Can you answer my other questions? Can you make a timeline of when water changes occurred and when tests occurred with the test results?

 

[gtrider]

@pluikens
Thanks for the response.
My salinity is at 1.025, Nitrate 0-1ppm
When i started adding coral on 4/4/18 my ALK was at 11.4 and CAL at 529ppm. It has steadily gone down since.
I test randomly and should prob get in a routine so i can get a good understanding of consumption
Red Sea Coral Pro
i'd like Cal to be around 450 and alk to be where it's at.

 

[pluikens]

9.5dKH alk and 450 calc would be pretty average numbers if you're not going for a ULNS. I would suggest testing your water before your water change and a few hours after. The Red Sea salts either mix around 8dKH at your salinity for the blue bucket and 12dKH for the black (Coral Pro) bucket so your water change is always going to affect your alk. I used to keep very similar numbers of 9 dKH, 450 calc, and above 1350 mag. The hw-Marinemix Reefer is the salt I used and that mixed to Calcium at 445-450 ppm, Alk of 9.0 dKH, Magnesium at 1380 ppm. By using this I could mix the salt, only check the salinity, and be fairly confident I wasn't going to get an alk or calc swing with the water change.

 

[gtrider]

@pluikens
Thanks. I'll test before the change and a few hours after to see what happens.

 

[laverda]

Sorry about that. My salinity is currently at 1.025 and i'd like it to be at 1.029.
I like the idea of adding SW to the ATO.
Yes, i'm using red sea pro coral.
I'll correct my salinity, test and the retest in a week to not consumption. and i'll do that at the same time on the same schedule.

Why would you want your salinity to be so high? 1.024-1.026 are generally the acceptable range for a reef tank.

 

[Susan Bates]

That salinity would be a bit too high imo

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I took measurements today and they are pretty close to where i want them to be - CAL 394ppm, ALK 9.5 dkh. My salinity is a bit low and i've been trying slowly bring it up with water changes 1.025.

!

In general, you can typically use alkalinity as a guide to whether it is time to begin regular dosing. If alk is where you want it, I'd make a minor correction of calcium to about 420 and just continue watching the alk.