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Calcium Depletion

Rcruz392

Rcruz392

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Hello, I wan d to reach out to the community and see if someone can explain this better to me. I currently have a Nano mixed reef that I’m slowly adding more and more sticks to. I also recently added a mini maxima clam and which I started to notice my calcium uptake has gone up and can’t get it above even 400. Currently dosing 2-part (ESV) to the tank on auto dose. My all is being dosed 5ml and dosing 7ml or calcium to get it up before i dose in equal parts at 5/5 again. I notice the calcium not going up at all and stays around 370-380, what should I do to get it above 400. Thank you.
 
Correct to the above... Clams suck up A LOT of calcium... more than most people realize. so that plus SPS will push you over.

Now, if you're dosing 2-part, you need to also add in Mg to maintain around 1300 - 1400. Reason being that it's a balancing act between alk, calc, and mg to keep chemistry levels at reef friendly zones.
 
good read:

"If magnesium is lower than normal, then it may not adequately get onto growing calcium carbonate surfaces, allowing the deposition of calcium carbonate to proceed faster than it otherwise would, potentially leading to increased abiotic precipitation of calcium carbonate from seawater onto objects such as heaters and pumps. Often the inability to maintain adequate calcium and alkalinity despite extensive supplementation, and the precipitation of significant amounts of calcium carbonate on heaters and pumps, are signs that the water has inadequate magnesium."

 
bfirecat said:
Clams and sticks that are growing well suck up alk and calcium like crazy.

If alk and calcium levels are acting funny, the first thing I would check is magnesium levels.
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Yeah I figured that as well. I tested it at 1380, should I raise it more than that you think to 1400?
 
NanoCrazed said:
good read:

"If magnesium is lower than normal, then it may not adequately get onto growing calcium carbonate surfaces, allowing the deposition of calcium carbonate to proceed faster than it otherwise would, potentially leading to increased abiotic precipitation of calcium carbonate from seawater onto objects such as heaters and pumps. Often the inability to maintain adequate calcium and alkalinity despite extensive supplementation, and the precipitation of significant amounts of calcium carbonate on heaters and pumps, are signs that the water has inadequate magnesium."

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Yeah I read that mag should be raised as well, but not seeing that white film on power heads or heaters. Also did a test it read 1380. Would you suggest raising it to 1400 or so?
 
Rcruz392 said:
Yeah I read that mag should be raised as well, but not seeing that white film on power heads or heaters. Also did a test it read 1380. Would you suggest raising it to 1400 or so?
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If you're at 1380. that's fine...

The thing is that you are dosing in equal parts... so if pieces are sucking up Calcium, you'll probably always be playing catch up. A lot of people does equal parts to make it easy but reality is that alk and Ca are consumed at different rates... just proportionally in same direction but not 1:1 exchange.
 
NanoCrazed said:
If you're at 1380. that's fine...

The thing is that you are dosing in equal parts... so if pieces are sucking up Calcium, you'll probably always be playing catch up. A lot of people does equal parts to make it easy but reality is that alk and Ca are consumed at different rates... just proportionally in small direction but not 1:1 exchange.
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Yeah for sure makes sense, I’m just so use to everyone saying that it should all be equal in dosing so I try to always keep that in mind. But it does makes sense that things get consumed differently.
 
Rcruz392 said:
Yeah for sure makes sense, I’m just so use to everyone saying that it should all be equal in dosing so I try to always keep that in mind. But it does makes sense that things get consumed differently.
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That’s what I learned too, I had thought dosing unequal parts would throw other things out of balance.

My trick to this is not measuring calcium. But I’m aware of the potential imbalance so I rely on water changes since that’s an easy route for a nano
 
It could be that you may need to dose unequal amounts, but I would do a sanity check on your dosing pumps and make sure they are calibrated and dosing the actual amount that you have set.
 
@Rcruz392 At end of the day, I wouldn't worry about getting Ca above 400 that much for your nano... Ca is not the limiting step... it's alk. You just need enough free Ca+ ions floating around to be available for when alk is used to deposit Ca+ on skeletons of SPS, LPS, clams. If you had a SPS dominant system than getting about 400 would be good as you can have a buffer so nothing gets "starved" for raw materials
 
My 2cents,

Don't dose anything you cannot quantify (measure). Alk and Ca uptake are not always equal ( in the sense of dosing anyway). Some companies have a higher concentration of Ca to Alk (or vs versa) in their 2 parts so you may have to dose more of 1 or the other to get to your desired levels.

Dose based on your consumption not on an assumption.
 
RandyC said:
It could be that you may need to dose unequal amounts, but I would do a sanity check on your dosing pumps and make sure they are calibrated and dosing the actual amount that you have set.
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Yeah that would be a good next step, I haven’t checked that in a while for sure. Thanks for bribing that up.
 
Vhuang168 said:
My 2cents,

Don't dose anything you cannot quantify (measure). Alk and Ca uptake are not always equal ( in the sense of dosing anyway). Some companies have a higher concentration of Ca to Alk (or vs versa) in their 2 parts so you may have to dose more of 1 or the other to get to your desired levels.

Dose based on your consumption not on an assumption.
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Yeah for sure I like how you put that. I’m new to all this dosing tbh and everything I’ve been told was to always dose equal or else everything gets thrown off. So I just took that advice. But it’s good to know that other people have different views that makes more sense. I’m gonna just up my calcium dosing a bit and also make sure everything’s calibrated.
 
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