Kurt_Nelson
Aquarium Advice Addict
STARFYRE said:
Yes and no. The LR itself doesn't need calcium, but the coraline algae (the purple/green/pink stuff) that most want growing on it does. BUT, the amount of Ca in just about any respectable salt mix will give you enough at this point to get the ball rolling and keep it rolling for many months.
My tank cycled at the end of August and got it's first inhabitant towards the end of September. Coraline algae grew great until early December until it started slowing down. It was only then that I started to concern myself with Ca.
I guess my point is if I were you, I'd get your tank cycled, get a critter or two in it (other than the snails), get a feel for where the chemistry of your tank is going to settle down at (pH, alkalinity) and only then start figuring out how to dose things to get them where you want. Your tank parameters at this point are probably going to fluctuate a lot because of your cycle, and even after you start adding fish as your bioload increases, so trying to nail down what fluctuation is natural and what is from dosing would be tough.
If you have a quarantine tank that is set up and cycled, you might want to move the majority of those snails into that. I'm guessing they're not going to like their new house in the near future and might decide to spiritually vacate their shells.
