Coralline and dosing

[Bulldog39]

So I'm dosing 2 part to my 180. I have to dose about 200 ml of alkalinity and 140 ml calcium a day. My coralline is spreading and my monti cap is growing slow but the rest aren't. All my corals open and are happy . Do I need to wait for my corraline to stop taking all my calcium?

[bribo12]

I mean what corals do you have? Stuff doesn’t grow overnight. It takes months sometimes. Are you dosing the two at the same time in the same area?

[Bulldog39]

I have a acro and a monti cap and branching monti. Also a pocelipora and a few lps and softies. The montis are growing but nothing else. It's been 4 months.

[bribo12]

That’s not a lot of corals in a big tank. Why’re you losing so much alk and calcium daily? Are you dosing manually or automatically? Is Coraline growing insanely fast? What tests are you using? Is the acro putting down base at all? Same with the branching monti. I’d be careful with dosing honestly. It doesn’t sound like your tank is consuming as much as you’re throwing in with that coral load

[Bulldog39]

Using api and salifert calcium and alkalinity test every other day. Monti cap is growing decent and branching monti is forming 2 new arms. I have about 3 or 4 good size rocks almost covered in coralline in the past 2 months. That's why I asked seems like all my calcium and alkalinity is going toward coralline

[Sniperhank]

I’d stop dozing and stick with weekly water changes, to never trust an api test.
There isn’t close to anything to consume enough of those parameters to warrant dosing, let alone notice an actual swing or drop.

[bribo12]

Like what hank said. Coraline shouldn’t consume that much alk and calcium daily especially not in that large of a tank. Same with the few corals you have. What’s your magnesium at?

[Sniperhank]

This is my current setup. I do not dose anything into the system. As you can see, it is much heavier stocked in corals. The growth in this system has been pretty shocking as well when I have looked back to even 6 months ago.

[Bulldog39]

My magnesium is at 1460. Yeah I don't understand why every other day I check and my alkalinity goes from 8.5 to 6 and calcium drops from 440 to 400. Pic of each coral as of today. Everything you see with coralline has got that way in the last 3 months.

[Sniperhank]

I’d blame the tests and their inaccuracies or user error. There is nothing in there that’ll absorb that much.

[54seaweed]

I check and my alkalinity goes from 8.5 to 6

do you have a closed top or open top . can't forget about air/gas exchange
this could be the reason your readings drop

[Bulldog39]

Open top

[54seaweed]

ok so that rules that out for now but you may still see a difference once windows start to open
sounds odd but it's true .
if everything seems happy I wouldn't be overly concerned about it just keep up on your reg water changes
mine fluctuates but I don't worry to much about it

[bribo12]

Alk doesn’t drop due to gas exchange really. That’s more ph.

[Bulldog39]

Figured it out it was because my magnesium was low. Dropped to like 1100 so was throwing off others