dosing calcium. never done it, just want to make sure im doing it correctly.

kilofey

kilofey

Member
Currently, my calcium is at 340 ppm. It should be 400-450 right?
I bought Kent calcium... they had red sea as well, but the LFS guy reccomended Kent if I've never used calcium products before (they were the same price, so I trusted the advice). Do I just dose the tank and test it the next day and dose again and test the next day and so on until I'm @ around 420 ppm? What will happen if I over dose the tank? Will it cause other test readings be out of whack? Like a domino effect. I've never dosed my tank with anything but dechlorinator, though I don't think I even need that cause I have a rodi unit.
 
deton8it

deton8it

Member
If I were you I would go buy a test kit for Magnesium (Mg) first. Without getting in to too much detail and chemistry, Calcium (Ca) and Mg go hand in hand. Cliff Notes version- if your Mg is too low, it doesn't really mater how hard you try to raise your Ca, it just wont raise. I learned this after dosing Ca in my tank for almost 2 months without seeing significant changes. When I tested Mg I learned that I was WAY low (~900 ppm). Natural seawater is ~ 1300-1500 ppm. BTW, my Ca was~ 260-ish. I hope this helps and saves you some time in the long run.
John
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
^ I agree. You really want to know all three numbers: Ca, Mg and dKH (alkalinity)
Kent is a decent Ca to dose with.
Were you noticing issues with corals?
What salt do you use? And what salinity level do you keep your tank at?
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
^^ what they said.
I would like to add that 340ppm Ca is low but it's still high enough to grow coral.
The more important parameter is carbonate alkalinity. What is the Alkalinity level?
Take the Magnesium comment above to heart. Ensure it's not low before dosing.
You asked what happens if you overdose Calcium. It depends on how high but it's all bad.
If it's just a little high nothing happens.
A little higher and it could begin to precipitate on the warm parts of your system, heaters, powerhead spindles, etc.
A lot higher and you could have a full blown precipitation event. This will coat everything with a thin layer of Calcium carbonate. This results in extremely low Calcium, fluctuating PH levels, and low Magnesium. This event can and will kill corals.
 
fattytwobyfour

fattytwobyfour

Member
I've started using Kent's CB Part A & B. And it has gotten my calcium to a good level. Right now I am using Instant Ocean salt. My calcium has been 320 with that. I started dosing, and it's been staying at 420-440. Just make sure you test for calcium, alk, and magnesium, as they all go hand in hand. Don't ever add anything to your water that you don't test for. I am looking to buy a salt made for corals (almost out of the Instant Ocean), and hopefully that will help with a lot of the issues.
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Instant ocean is a good, cheap salt mix, but I still feel like for a reef tank, it should probably be tested and buffered appropriately before added to the tank. I have found that the last IO salt mix I bought was low in calcium but high in alkalinity with a standard 1250ppm Mg level. My suggestion would be to buy a quality salt and mix it and test the batch rather then trying to add so much of chemical A and a little bit of chemical B... At least until your going through so much salt to keep your levels up that it is just easier to dose.
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
I would upgrade to a REEF salt, not just a saltwater tank salt, which is what the basic Instant Ocean salt is. IO is great for fish only, but there is a reason why they make IO and IO Reef Crystals.
For what you're going to spend trying to test and dose, you could just upgrade to Reef Crystals. It'll be a lot cheaper and more stable in the long run.
 
fattytwobyfour

fattytwobyfour

Member
Would you recommend the Red Sea brand over the reef crystals? Not trying to steal the OP thread. I'm just going to order salt this week.
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Reef crystals is a good salt mix for reef tanks. An alternative is seachem reef salt which is about the same price range.
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
Would you recommend the Red Sea brand over the reef crystals? Not trying to steal the OP thread. I'm just going to order salt this week.
Personally, I don't like ANY Red Sea products. I had a lot of issues when we tried their salt a while back.
I swear by AquaVitro Salinity (made my SeaChem) for salt. But it's pricey and can be hard to find in some areas.
If I couldn't find Salinity salt, I'd use Reef Crystals, Tropic Marin Pro or possibly try the new H2O salt that's out before I ever tried Red Sea again
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
I've tried many different salts. Coralife is the only one I've ever had a problem with personally but Instant Ocean does occasionally have bad batches.
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
I just started up the new system with Red Sea coral pro. I've heard a lot of good things about so I figure ill give it a shot. It's naturally harvested and enhanced. So far I've only mixed two batches and already seems to mix better than I.O.
But it's geared more towards sps and lps dominant systems so hopefully less dosing will be required. We'll see.
 
fattytwobyfour

fattytwobyfour

Member
I went ahead and went with the Instant Ocean Reef Crystals. I was already using the regular Instant Ocean salt, and really no issues that I can tell. I'm not really sure what everybody looks for in a salt mix, but I do know things like my Alk levles stay pretty steady. The only thing was that the calcium was just low. But maybe the Reef Crystals will solve that, and I can stop dosing with the Kents.
I also found a site that was selling it for 25% off. I the 200 gallon mix for like $59. I thought that was a good price. I noticed another popular site selling it for $78.
Thanks everybody for their input. If for some reason I am unhappy with the Ocean Reef Crystals, I'm going to give AquaVitro Salinity a shot.
 
beaslbob

beaslbob

Well-Known Member
I suggest you research dr randy holmes-farley diy 2 part.
Good inexpensive method and explains the basics of dosing as well.
my .02
 
kilofey

kilofey

Member
Hi, sorry I started this thread and forgot to check it. Ever since the forum has started redirecting me to the mobile site, I can't find a way to subscribe to the threads I post in so I don't get my notifications.
Anyway.... to answer the questions, I decided to start dosing because my growth seems sorta slow... though I'm the only person I know with a sw tank so I really don't know. My monti cap is the size of my palm after over a year but I've read that they can grow an inch per month. Nothing has changed, its always been slow growth.
I use instant ocean reef crystals. Salinity Is 1.027 (time for top off water). My kh test (that's alk right?) Is reading 8. Is that the right test? My pH is 8.4 and my calcium is now at 400. I will look into a magnesium kit.
So, seeing those readings, should I dose calcium again since I have seen a rise?
 
kilofey

kilofey

Member
Here's a good read: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/calcalkmar.htm
It discusses the advantages and disadvantes of what we do to our systems. It also gives a wonderful visual description for the relationship between alk/ ca/ mag by comparing it to a bowl of marbles.
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kilofey http:///t/396230/dosing-calcium-never-done-it-just-want-to-make-sure-im-doing-it-correctly#post_3530165
Hi, sorry I started this thread and forgot to check it. Ever since the forum has started redirecting me to the mobile site, I can't find a way to subscribe to the threads I post in so I don't get my notifications.
Anyway.... to answer the questions, I decided to start dosing because my growth seems sorta slow... though I'm the only person I know with a sw tank so I really don't know. My monti cap is the size of my palm after over a year but I've read that they can grow an inch per month. Nothing has changed, its always been slow growth.
I use instant ocean reef crystals. Salinity Is 1.027 (time for top off water). My kh test (that's alk right?) Is reading 8. Is that the right test? My pH is 8.4 and my calcium is now at 400. I will look into a magnesium kit.
So, seeing those readings, should I dose calcium again since I have seen a rise?
Your Calcium level is OK but your Alkalinity is low. See if you can bump it up closer to 12. Alkalinity is more important than Calcium for coral growth. Double check the ALK level again before dosing just to be sure. It's not something you want to overdose.
Baking soda will work. Try adding a teaspoonful to every gallon of topoff water and see if that will give a slow rise. If not bump it to 2 tsp/gallon.
 
fattytwobyfour

fattytwobyfour

Member
So 12 is a good number to be shooting for when dealing with alkalinity? I just started really testing it in my tank. I had been keeping around 10, but wasn't really sure what the best number was.
 
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