Let's talk about Alkalinity, Calcium and Magnesium in an SPS Tank

[Shakeeb]

Can u guys help with this one
I am doing dosing pump with zeo calcium and kh
But i find my self low growth on sps.
My light is vertex chaning it to haydra 52 soon as i take the
Thank u guys

[joeang]

I am very happy with Bulk Reef Supply 2 part dosing system. My corals have never looked better and the growth rate is Fantastic as in the past month some of my have started branching out and not just one branch but many.

[Shakeeb]

I wish i can have what u guys have i live in lebanon

[Aquarist007]

Originally Posted by Shakeeb

Can u guys help with this one
I am doing dosing pump with zeo calcium and kh
But i find my self low growth on sps.
My light is vertex chaning it to haydra 52 soon as i take the
Thank u guys

What are your levels for calcium magnesium and alkalinity

[xtlosx]

I'll add my experiences here...

Primarily SPS 150G, with a LOT of frags, and some mini colonies. I dose via 2 BRS dosers once a day (calc and alk each).

Alk 7.5-8.5 , Calc - 400-440, Mg - 1300-1500 (raised it to fix a bryopsis problem recently).

Not spreading my dosing out over the course of 24hrs, I have seen no adverse reactions, I get excellent colors, great growth, and so far so good.. I've been dosing once daily via the dosers and haven't gone to spreading it out because, well if it ain't broke don't fix it I guess.

[natas]

I dose around 100ml of part a and b from BRS. I dose hourly a very small amount (alk on the hour and calcium 30 minutes after). I like dosing hourly because it keeps my PH and alk stable. I use BRS 1.1ml dosers and use the Apex OSC calculator.....makes it very easy to setup and change

[SantaMonica]

I think that's the same BRS doser I use for kalk. It's the slower of the two available.

[REEFconnection]

anyone thinks a overloaded fish tank is hard on the coral, i am new to the hobby the sps frags keeps browning up , evenly .. not bleaching .
whats the cause?thanks

[PaleHorse]

Originally Posted by REEFconnection

anyone thinks a overloaded fish tank is hard on the coral, i am new to the hobby the sps frags keeps browning up , evenly .. not bleaching .
whats the cause?thanks

hows your light/distance

[Reef noob_]

im at a point in my 29 gallon reef build in which id like to start adding some sps corals. i currently have 300W lights, so i know thats intense enough but i still have no idea what to do with CA and ALK for the corals. in the past i have been good without dosing but ive never kept sps before help please!

[SantaMonica]

Well if you are getting good growth and the CA and Alk are falling, then you'll need to start dosing.

Dosing kalk in the topoff might be a good first step.

[Aquarist007]

Originally Posted by Reef noob_

im at a point in my 29 gallon reef build in which id like to start adding some sps corals. i currently have 300W lights, so i know thats intense enough but i still have no idea what to do with CA and ALK for the corals. in the past i have been good without dosing but ive never kept sps before help please!

Take weekly measurements for calcium alkalinity and magnesium for the next well and it will give you an idea on the demands
Also use a good quality salt mix like reef crystals

[PaleHorse]

Originally Posted by capn_hylinur

Take weekly measurements for calcium alkalinity and magnesium for the next well and it will give you an idea on the demands
Also use a good quality salt mix like reef crystals

+1 i was running coral pro and one day decided to test some reef crystals i had laying around..

reef crystals had 10alk and 440 cal while coral pro had 8 alk and 400 cal. i changed to reef crystals and everything has been perfect

[Swing2Harmony]

I have recently started dosing my 5 months old 20G, because I realized I had too many SPS and the Redsea coral pro salt wasn't keeping up with alkanity.

Now I'm dosing 2-part and doing a 30% WC every other week. The salt I'm using has elevated levels of elements, cal is about 475 and alk could be as high as 13dkh. I've read that high levels of major elements could effect the colors negatively especially in a low nutrient system. I just happen to have low nitrates because I only have one small fish and lots of high quality LR and I also siphon the sand bed every time I do a WC.

I would like to lower the alkalinity specifically, but it seems my 30% WC would bring it back up to quickly and that might stress the SPS and I could never run lower alkalinity without making the system somewhat unstable. I'm kind of stocked with this salt for a year. I know it's a good salt and I bought it because I thought I was going to keep it simple and never dose, which changed soon after I realized I can't resist buying new corals.

I would like to get the colors I was getting before I started dosing. Should I change the salt? if yes what to? or should I find a middle ground for my levels? If yes what levels do you guys recommend? I'm currently trying to keep the cal at 470 and alk around 10.

[nematode]

Re swing2harmony

Why not just reduce the size of your water change?

[Swing2Harmony]

Good question nematode.

I'm fairly new to the hobby, but I've read that 10 to 15% weekly or 25 to 30% biweekly WC is required to maintain a skimmerless nano system for the long term. I have a busy lifestyle so doing less frequently WC is something I'm after. I even want to them once every 3 weeks and that's why I don't add more fish to the system.

[Aquarist007]

Originally Posted by Swing2Harmony

I have recently started dosing my 5 months old 20G, because I realized I had too many SPS and the Redsea coral pro salt wasn't keeping up with alkanity.

Now I'm dosing 2-part and doing a 30% WC every other week. The salt I'm using has elevated levels of elements, cal is about 475 and alk could be as high as 13dkh. I've read that high levels of major elements could effect the colors negatively especially in a low nutrient system. I just happen to have low nitrates because I only have one small fish and lots of high quality LR and I also siphon the sand bed every time I do a WC.

I would like to lower the alkalinity specifically, but it seems my 30% WC would bring it back up to quickly and that might stress the SPS and I could never run lower alkalinity without making the system somewhat unstable. I'm kind of stocked with this salt for a year. I know it's a good salt and I bought it because I thought I was going to keep it simple and never dose, which changed soon after I realized I can't resist buying new corals.

I would like to get the colors I was getting before I started dosing. Should I change the salt? if yes what to? or should I find a middle ground for my levels? If yes what levels do you guys recommend? I'm currently trying to keep the cal at 470 and alk around 10.

Suggest a weekly 10 per cent water change ..in your case 2 gal. Your alk should fall on its own with less of a water change at once.

[Aquarist007]

Originally Posted by Swing2Harmony

Good question nematode.

I'm fairly new to the hobby, but I've read that 10 to 15% weekly or 25 to 30% biweekly WC is required to maintain a skimmerless nano system for the long term. I have a busy lifestyle so doing less frequently WC is something I'm after. I even want to them once every 3 weeks and that's why I don't add more fish to the system.

.

With that small of a tank it is very difficult to maintain your biochemistry with infrequent water changes as you are already experiencing

[swk]

Originally Posted by Swing2Harmony

I have recently started dosing my 5 months old 20G, because I realized I had too many SPS and the Redsea coral pro salt wasn't keeping up with alkanity.



Now I'm dosing 2-part and doing a 30% WC every other week. The salt I'm using has elevated levels of elements, cal is about 475 and alk could be as high as 13dkh. I've read that high levels of major elements could effect the colors negatively especially in a low nutrient system. I just happen to have low nitrates because I only have one small fish and lots of high quality LR and I also siphon the sand bed every time I do a WC.



I would like to lower the alkalinity specifically, but it seems my 30% WC would bring it back up to quickly and that might stress the SPS and I could never run lower alkalinity without making the system somewhat unstable. I'm kind of stocked with this salt for a year. I know it's a good salt and I bought it because I thought I was going to keep it simple and never dose, which changed soon after I realized I can't resist buying new corals.



I would like to get the colors I was getting before I started dosing. Should I change the salt? if yes what to? or should I find a middle ground for my levels? If yes what levels do you guys recommend? I'm currently trying to keep the cal at 470 and alk around 10.

I was in a similar situation and needed to drop alk as I am carbon dosing and nutrients are low. Was running coral pro and alk at 9.2

I switched to the blue bucket Red Sea and could not be happier. I now run alk at 7.3 and I get around 7.5 from freshly made water.

To lower alk I discontinued use of kalk in my ato reservoir and allowed it to fall on it's own until I got where I wanted.

[Aquarist007]

As I answered above. If you switch to weekly 10% water changes your Alk and calcium levels will drop.smaller more frequent water changes change water chemistry very little and this consistency is what you or the SPs corals want.
Btw your calcium level is high..just wasting it..390 to 420 is all you need**

** dr. Randy Holmes-farley

[xtlosx]

Originally Posted by natas

I dose around 100ml of part a and b from BRS. I dose hourly a very small amount (alk on the hour and calcium 30 minutes after). I like dosing hourly because it keeps my PH and alk stable. I use BRS 1.1ml dosers and use the Apex OSC calculator.....makes it very easy to setup and change

I'm going to this model from a once daily model sometime next week... I as well have the BRS dosers, but am using a RKL instead of Apex but same idea.

Did you start from hourly, or did you start from once daily to hourly? If so, did you have any hiccups when changing over?

[chercm]

i have been using all in one bio pellets and dosing micro bacter 7, do i need to keep the Alk at 7.5 ?

[tmantaylor18]

Originally Posted by chercm

i have been using all in one bio pellets and dosing micro bacter 7, do i need to keep the Alk at 7.5 ?

If you're running a ulns you want to keep the Alk in that range.

[Aquarist007]

Originally Posted by tmantaylor18

If you're running a ulns you want to keep the Alk in that range.

An ulns system can be problematic with SPs corals. Successful reports from refers occurs when phosphates are kept around .02 and Gfo is not run on a constant basis

[ChrisKirkland]

Originally Posted by Aquarist007

An ulns system can be problematic with SPs corals. Successful reports from refers occurs when phosphates are kept around .02 and Gfo is not run on a constant basis

I agree. I have noticed when running po4 at 0 and nitrate at 0 it causes issues with paleness and coloration. I now run mine at about .03 po4 and .5-1 ppm nitrate.