dosed mag and alk for the first time ever

Picked up 3 sps on friday and was shocked when I tested my water after work. Its been 3 days and my mag and cal both dropped around 100 ppm. Crazy how much these little sticks suck up in trace elements. I never thought it was true but boy was I wrong I've read it in countless of posts, but never believed it, I am officially hooked on sps!

 

I hear you can never go back, welcome to the dark side.

What test kit?

The alk/mag/ca values all play off each other so test all three until you see your tank's utilization. If you have a lot of coralline the values drop more rapidly.

 

Just picked up a new red sea kit cause I though my old one may have been expired. I'm going to get all params to target level and try and keep them steady for a week and hopefully get it stable. As for Coralline its not growing near as much as I had hoped. I have very little which is a bit upsetting. I've read it grows differently in every tank I'm not sure if that's true though.

 

I have had healthy tanks covered in it and I have had healthy tanks with very little. If you get a lot of stony corals I believe they out compete the coralline for the elements.
Kalk top off or kalk dosing always improved coralline growth for me.

 

Will look into it, using brs 2 part right now.

 

That seems a bit drastic to me. I have about 20 growing frags/mini colones and probably lose about 100 ppm over a two week period.

 

Yeah I haven't tested or done a water change in a week I have added a ton of stuff over the last few months. Going to be checking daily for the next few weeks to see where I'm at. Before I got sps mag and calc have remained stable without dosing.

 

It took me a couple of weeks to dial mine in to a rough estimate and then tweak it periodically. Your usage I would assume significantly on water volume so in a smaller tank expect larger swings. A doser is totally worth the money in my opinion they are pricey but less maintenance equals a more enjoyable hobby in my mind. I will never go without a doser or ATo on another tank. Plus I was never good with dosing every day and it's not something I could ask someone to do fore if I am gone for a few days at a time. Also growth has exploded with regularity. To sum it up take a couple weeks make a log and figure your averages and stay on top of dosing to save your corals.

 

Ps I can't grow coralline algae to save my life, except isolated glass section which my urchin won't eat, only off the rocks where I want it.

 

Thanks for the advice I will dead be getting a dosing pump or two in the near future.