Dosing or stick with PWC?

[mrg02d]

Hello all,
I am continuing my trek into a reef system and wondered about dosing elements and such for the corals. I know there are alot of things on the market, but are they needed? My tank is only 20g and mostly filled with soft corals. I do have some brain frags. (I think they are favia). I plan to have some more LPS and such. Should I be dosing calcium, strontium, ect? Would 15% water changes once a week be fine? I should have my new T5 lighting soon. (Wavepoint Technology 4-24W, 12,000K and 460nm).

Thanks,
Matt

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

...Should I be dosing calcium, strontium, ect? Would 15% water changes once a week be fine? ...

It all depends on how much calcium/alkalinity you're using daily, and what levels you want to maintain. Best thing to do is test for calcium and alkalinity daily over the course of one week. Start right after your water change and end just before. Then chart it out. How much does your calcium and alkalinity drop during the week? If none... then no dosing required. If only a few points... no dosing required. But if your coral load (or even coralline algae) is high enough to drop your calcium and alkalinity levels below your "target" range, then you probably want to consider dosing on a daily basis.

Personally, I'd only consider dosing for calcium and alkalinity. All the other trace elements will be taken care of either by a weekly water change, or by some of the commercial 2-part ca/alk solutions that also contain trace elements. I wouldn't waste your money on individual elements like strontium, iodine, etc...

 

[thincat]

+1 good information...

 

[mrg02d]

Hello,
Yes that makes a lot of sense.
It looks as if I will pay some $30.00 or so just to test for calcium and another $10.00 to dose. :-( Sheesh! Why so expensive?

I dont have a lot of coralline, and just two LPS. Could you guys give me some examples of what you have and how much you must dose (or not does)? I know it can vary, but it shouldnt be too far off. I use Instant Ocean sea salt. I have 30lbs of argonite sand and just added a couple pounds of dry base rock. (Looks to be dead coral that is bleached white).

Matt

 

[melosu58]

Good advice by Kurt. As he said testing will tell you if you need to dose or not.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Hello,
Yes that makes a lot of sense.
It looks as if I will pay some $30.00 or so just to test for calcium and another $10.00 to dose. :-( Sheesh! Why so expensive?

Did you actually think keeping corals was inexpensive?!! In reality... that's the cheap part!

Regarding the "$10 to dose"... that's not really true. Not sure what you mean by that, but if you end up dosing calcium and alkalinity, it's not a one-time thing. If you dose, it's because your system is using it faster than you can replace it via a water change. For that reason, it's a daily thing... forever. Or until you get rid of the things that are sucking up the calcium.

Also... you're looking to test for both calcium AND alkalinity. Two test kits. But the alk test kit isn't as expensive as the calcium one! Here's a good read about calcium and alkalinity...

CalcAlkMar

I dont have a lot of coralline, and just two LPS. Could you guys give me some examples of what you have and how much you must dose (or not does)? I know it can vary, but it shouldnt be too far off. I use Instant Ocean sea salt...

Systems are different, so any numbers you see here are just that... numbers. They won't represent your system at all... even if they have the same amount of corals. It also depends on what Calcium level you want to maintain. So you really need to do your homework and figure out what your tank is doing. With that said though... here's my info:

I use Reef Crystals and bump up the calcium levels of my new salt water to 420 ppm or so using TurboCalcium. I then keep my calcium levels around 410-420 and my alkalinity levels around 8-9 dKh by dosing 25ml of each Part A and Part B of C-Balance (made by Two Little Fishies) daily. This is for a 46g tank with a lot of coralline, two SPS, eight LPS, and a handful of softies/zoas/mushrooms. But again... number of colonies don't really help you compare... it's the size of them and their rate of growth.

 

[mrg02d]

Hello,
Yes quite $$$ indeed! At least I was able to save $150.00 on a light by winning one on ebay really cheap! I got my Wavepoint Tech T5 light today and its MUCH nicer! Everything really pops! The seller just called it a T5 24in light. The picture showed a wavepoint light. (They are $243.00 at all the online vendor sites).

One thing about this nicer T5 lighting is that it shows where I need to clean!

All the corals have such nicer colors too! I guess I will drive down to petco or petsmart and pick up a calcium+alk test kit. If I need to dose to keep around 420ppm, I will go back and get some calcium later...

Thanks guys! My tank really has come a long way since June!
Matt

 

[HN1]

I dont have a lot of coralline, and just two LPS. Could you guys give me some examples of what you have and how much you must dose (or not does)? I know it can vary, but it shouldnt be too far off. I use Instant Ocean sea salt. I have 30lbs of argonite sand and just added a couple pounds of dry base rock. (Looks to be dead coral that is bleached white).

Matt

Great advice from Kurt as always. As far as examples... we have a 50 with several large SPS, a few SPS "frags", 6 Acans, 9 headed Frogspawn, large candy cane, huge scoly, and other LPS that I'm sure I'm forgetting about along with various softies and have NEVER DOSED. PWCs are all that's been required. I do expect that will change, but I think you are likely fine for quite awhile.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f11/50g-build-upgrade-from-20g-118611-11.html

 

[mrg02d]

Hmmm...That seems like a decent bit of calcium loving corals to not need dosing. I hate to go plunk down $35.00 on a test, but I guess its worth knowing rather than wondering, huh?

Matt

 

[HN1]

If you're even considering dosing, get a test kit. Never dose something that you can't test for.

 

[melosu58]

If you're even considering dosing, get a test kit. Never dose something that you can't test for.

Now that`s some very good advice.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

...I hate to go plunk down $35.00 on a test, but I guess its worth knowing rather than wondering, huh?...

If you're going to have a reef tank, $35 is a plop in the bucket. Keeping corals and NOT knowing your calcium/alkalinity levels could end up costing you big time $$ if the corals die.

If you're using Instant Ocean, your calcium is going to come in around 360ppm or so. So if you want to shoot for 420, you're going to have to - at a minimum - get your calcium up in your tank/PWC water to start with using a calcium additive. That is a given. Other folks that use higher Ca salts (like Oceanic) don't have that issue. Not saying you should change salts... just pointing out one of the numerous reasons some folks might not need as much calcium supplementation as others.

 

[mrg02d]

Hello,
So I got the API REEF MASTER kit today and my calcium is 340ppm. Yikes! I guess its another trip to the pet store tomorrow...



My alkalinity is 10dKH. (normal is 9-12dKH right?)


Matt