calcium

whats the best method for dosing calcium??? i have a kent marine doser but i am skeptical about using liquids since ive lost a couple of fish due to overdosing! should i invest in a reactor? i really want to introduce calcium into my tank both for the skel of my corals and the coraline growth!

 

You could get a reactor, but dosing liquid (kalwasser) is not dangerous if you do it properly. Normally you can tell if you are dosing too much calcium because it will precipitate in the tank or look like its snowing. Also make sure before you dose anything, that you test the water before you dose anything.

When you dose make sure you dose it slowly 1 or 2 drops per second so that no other tank parameters change violently.

when did you loose fish?

What are your exact water parameters? Ammonia?, Nitrates?, Nitrites? Calcium? Temp? ect...

Its probable that the fish died from something else other then over dosing calcium. In fact I would highly doubt an overdose of calcium killed fish.

Sean

 

I would agree with that, tho you could kill with kalk, but that is due to the increase in pH, not the calcium itself...

You can put half the amount of kalk in the drip, or only fill it part way.

Post the parameters and we can figure out a good way for you to go

 

great advice thanks guys, also how long after dosing and maintaining calcium levels at 450 will i start noticing coraline?? just wonderin'

 

well for me, i was dosing and maintaining it around there and i didnt see anything for the first 6 months or year lol......then all of a sudden its everywhere, now the entire back glass is covered and its starting to grow out everyone comes in time ...but

 

If your Ca, Alk, and Mag are sufficient, in addition to lighting, you should begin to see it in about 4-6 weeks I would think...small patches here and there

 

hey mag and alk??? mag=magnesium + alk=alkalinity??? if so what should levels be at to promote it like that???also what type of lighting??i have a 30w 20000k coralife t12 36" and a 30w marineglow t8 36" is it enough light????

 

Oops! Yeah, sorry about the brevity.

Calcium 400-450
Alkalinity about 4 meq/L OR 10-12 dKH (depends on the test kit what your unit of measure is)
Magnesium about 1300

I see you have a galaxea coral? Well, if so, then the coral bug has already gotten you...LOL! You are going to need to bump your lights sooner or later. 60 watts is not very much (now you listed t-12 and t-8, are they standard bulb or a higher output bulb like a t-5?)

I have a 58 gallon and run 367 watts.:-/ One 175 Metal halide and 2 VHO 96watt actinics. You mostly have lower light corals, but with the galxea you should think about upgrading.

I beleive the coralline should grow in that light tho.

 

thaks again birdlady you are helping me out every step of the way!i appreciate all your input and opinions!

 

I actually didn't dose a thing before my coraline started growing like crazy. I think it has alot to do with seeding the tank with some coraline. If your LR has some on it you should be good to go and coraline should start growing rather quickly. If you don't have any coraline at all you might consider purchasing a piece of LR with it already encrusted with coraline or maybe the local petstore will give you some to seed the system.

Sean