Need help with dosing

[kevin haynes]

i am trying to figure out if i should dose my tank or not. I have a 10g fish tank with hammer coral, zoanthids, and candy cane coral. i have been testing for about a month and writing it down maybe you can help i can never get the calcium,alk, and magnesium correct. i will list the test levels and see if you think i should dose my tank or what i should do to get them correct
12/4/16
calcium 620ppm
kh/alk 9.6dkh
magnesium > 1500ppm
PH < 7.4
water change 20%

12/5/16
magnesium 1290 ppm
calcium 440 ppm
KH/ALk 9.3 dkh
PH 8

12/13/16
water change 20%

12/15/16
magnesium 1350ppm
kh/alk 8.5 DKH
calcium 400ppm
ph 8

12/19/16
magnesium 1620 ppm
alk/kh 8.2 dkh
calcium 440ppm
ph 7.8

12/19/16
20% water change

12/27/16
magnesium 1440 ppm
alk/kh 8.4 dkh
calcium 460 ppm
ph 7.8

i hope these test will help you help me figure out what i need to do. thank you.

 

[2quills]

Hmm...there's quite a bit of discrepancies in those results if you aren't dosing already or your kits are highly inaccurate. The only one that seems relatively legit is DKH.

Which kits are you using? Do you use tap water or RO/DI for your mix and top off water?

Also when you test I'd make sure the water level in the tank is always at a specific level when you take a sample. Water loss from evaporation can skew the bigger picture of what's really going on.

And try to take readings at more specific times. Like either morning, noon or night (pick one). PH for instance can fluctuate over a 24 hour period and will be different in the morning vs evening.

 

[snakeblitz33]

If you have a top on the tank, take it off. It's causing pH issues.

20% every two weeks in a ten gallon should be fine. Just make sure you are using RO water and using a quality salt.

You don't have any corals that are really calcium demanding.

I'm also kind of with Cory on this one... It sounds like your test kits are off for calcium. At the very least, get a kit with a reagent so you can double check the reading. Some calcium test kits are off by 100ppm on average!

 

[kevin haynes]

If you have a top on the tank, take it off. It's causing pH issues.

20% every two weeks in a ten gallon should be fine. Just make sure you are using RO water and using a quality salt.

You don't have any corals that are really calcium demanding.

I'm also kind of with Cory on this one... It sounds like your test kits are off for calcium. At the very least, get a kit with a reagent so you can double check the reading. Some calcium test kits are off by 100ppm on average!

I use to use plastic cling wrap on top of the tank because I would be gone 4-5 days at a time but now I got someone to top off the tank for me so I stopped using the wrap about 2 weeks ago. I use rodi water. Plus the calcium test is api so that might be why it isn't so accurate.

 

[kevin haynes]

Hmm...there's quite a bit of discrepancies in those results if you aren't dosing already or your kits are highly inaccurate. The only one that seems relatively legit is DKH.

Which kits are you using? Do you use tap water or RO/DI for your mix and top off water?

Also when you test I'd make sure the water level in the tank is always at a specific level when you take a sample. Water loss from evaporation can skew the bigger picture of what's really going on.

And try to take readings at more specific times. Like either morning, noon or night (pick one). PH for instance can fluctuate over a 24 hour period and will be different in the morning vs evening.

Im pretty sure the magnesium and all/KHS kits are accurate but the calcium and ph are API kits so they might not be as accurate.

 

[kevin haynes]

Im pretty sure the magnesium and all/KHS kits are accurate but the calcium and ph are API kits so they might not be as accurate.

Alk/Kh*^

 

[2quills]

Magnesium should generally be pretty consinstant. It shouldn't drop anywhere near the rate that calcium and alkalinity will. The huge drop and then rise is questionable to me.

That being said I don't think your tank at this time is a good candidate for dosing. You should easily be able to maintain those levels with water changes on a tank that size and the live stock you have right now.

It's safer and easier since it takes most of the guess work out of things. Which salt are using?

 

[kevin haynes]

Magnesium should generally be pretty consinstant. It shouldn't drop anywhere near the rate that calcium and alkalinity will. The huge drop and then rise is questionable to me.

That being said I don't think your tank at this time is a good candidate for dosing. You should easily be able to maintain those levels with water changes on a tank that size and the live stock you have right now.

It's safer and easier since it takes most of the guess work out of things. Which salt are using?

I don't know what salt it is I have been buying water from a fish store but sometimes I will use my own salt when I can't get to the store and when I use my own it is the instant ocean salt but I want to change to the Red Sea pro salt.

 

[2quills]

I've been using red sea coral pro for the last 3 years and it's been pretty consistent.

But I'd definitely try to make your own from now on if you can when it comes to keeping coral. Helps eliminate any potential unknown negatives with getting water from the LFS.

 

[one-fish]

I use to use plastic cling wrap on top of the tank because I would be gone 4-5 days at a time but now I got someone to top off the tank for me so I stopped using the wrap about 2 weeks ago. I use rodi water. Plus the calcium test is api so that might be why it isn't so accurate.

I know just a Dummy in the corner..But Doesn't PH effect the Balance if that's unstable then all tests are inaccurate Think he found his troubles.........my.02

 

[2quills]

I know just a Dummy in the corner..But Doesn't PH effect the Balance if that's unstable then all tests are inaccurate Think he found his troubles.........my.02

PH is essentialy a measurement of balance. If DKH is stable and PH is remaining within a + or -.2 swing that's not bad.

Oddly enough his lowest PH reading seemed to coincide with the highest DKH reading as well as elevated Calcium and Magnesium.

This could be because the tank was being covered at the time. A build up of c02 would cause a more acidic environement and can cause low ph without dropping calcium or alk.

I try not to get too hung up on test kits since they are generally not the most accurate. But are highly useful for recognizing trends which over time build a clearer picture and is best to make decisions based off of those trends IMO.

BTW, dont cover your reef tank. Leave it off. Continue doing water changes and observe. My .02

 

[jay0705]

I agree on the red sea salt. Its a cleaner salt mix compared to others. Also the chemical composition is higher then alot of others