calcium levels ???

[easyian]

OK I've decided I want to start keeping corals. I have a few that were attached to my LR when I bought it and would like to keep them healthy. So I bought a tester to check my calcium level and found it to be 360mg/l which according to Seachem is not to far off their recommendation of 380-420 mg/l. So I added a little of their Reef complete. I also was reading my tester recommendations for calcium and it says it should be about 400-450 mg/l. Where is the ideal level for calcium and what other levels(besides basic levels) should I be keeping an eye on for ideal reef conditions? Should I be checking Magnesium and Strontium levels as well?

[melosu58]

Read this

Reef Aquarium Water Parameters by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

[ccCapt]

The link Mike posted has some great info. Well worth the read.

Originally Posted by easyian

Should I be checking Magnesium and Strontium levels as well?

You should check ca, alk and mag as they are the most important elements as far as coral growth/health.

[Kurt_Nelson]

If you're doing water changes on a weekly, or biweekly basis, there's no need to check strontium in my opinion.

[easyian]

Thanks for the link melosu58 it has every thing you need to know. I'm going to have to pick up a few more test kits. I do a PWC about every 2 weeks but this additive I got from seachem says it maintains mag and strontium so I was just wondering if I had to test for it.

[Kurt_Nelson]

Cardinal rule in my book... if you're dosing your tank with it, you should be testing for it.

Just my opinion of course, but unless your tank is jammed pack full of SPS corals, except for calcium, there's probably nothing in your tank that needs "replenishing" if you're doing 10-20% water changes at least every other week. Makers and sellers of the supplements I'm sure have a different opinion!

[melosu58]

I agree. PWC`s will take care of replenishing anything you need in your tank. As Kurt said unless you have a heavy SPS tank.

[easyian]

Originally Posted by Kurt_Nelson

Cardinal rule in my book... if you're dosing your tank with it, you should be testing for it.

Just my opinion of course, but unless your tank is jammed pack full of SPS corals, except for calcium, there's probably nothing in your tank that needs "replenishing" if you're doing 10-20% water changes at least every other week. Makers and sellers of the supplements I'm sure have a different opinion!

The product I got is Seachem Reef complete. It is for raising calcium levels but in the small print it also says that it maintains mag and strontium levels. This was the main reason I was asking about mag and strontium levels to see if I should be testing for them. The ingredients in the bottle are Calcium chloride, magnesium chloride and strontium chloride but the mag and strontium are in very small doses.

[Kurt_Nelson]

Originally Posted by easyian

The product I got is Seachem Reef complete. It is for raising calcium levels but in the small print it also says that it maintains mag and strontium levels. This was the main reason I was asking about mag and strontium levels to see if I should be testing for them. The ingredients in the bottle are Calcium chloride, magnesium chloride and strontium chloride but the mag and strontium are in very small doses.

It's in small doses because it's used up in small doses. Whether you think it or not, you're dosing magnesium and strontium. If you're looking to just raise your calcium levels, just get something that's calcium only. That way you can dose however much you want without effecting your other levels.