calcium question

fresh · #1 02-16-2004, 07:51 PM

Hi all,

I have a 77 gal with softies and LPS. The lps being: hammer, candy-cane, and frog-spawn.

Do I really have to worry about calcium if I plan on doing arount 20% water change every 4 weeks?

Also do I have to worry about supplementing with anything else?

I have owned a 10gal nano for 2 years, and that one went very nicely but the reason is I did a water change every week, and I really don't want to do that with my 77 gal!!!

thanks

fresh.

Aquattro · #2 02-16-2004, 08:21 PM

LPS do use calcium from the water, as does any coraline algae you have. You will likely need to add Ca, but only a test kit can confirm that.

Chad · #3 02-16-2004, 08:55 PM

I have to supplement my little 20gal and that is with weekly water changes.. so I would think in the end you'd probably have to add some kalk or get a calcium reactor going on.
Especialy once you start stocking up..

robbyville · #4 02-16-2004, 11:04 PM

Hi Fresh,

I never had a Calcium problem when I had only a few LPS and softies, but as mentioned your best guage is a test kit. That's with bi-monthly water changes of between 5-10% each.

I now have a small variety of SPS and LPS (mostly in the form of SPS frags and 1 clam). I find that I supplement liquid calcium a couple of times each week and keep it at around 440-460 (60 gal tank). I do not run a Ca reactor, nor do I really believe that they are necessary for a softy tank, although I cannot wait until I have the budget for one now that I am adding more SPS

Good luck,

Rob

Chad · #5 02-16-2004, 11:09 PM

Ultimately your need to buffer your calcium or Alk will come from testing your water chemistry and determining your consumption.. and adjusting for it.

sumpfinfishe · #6 02-16-2004, 11:13 PM

Fresh,
I use to have mostly LPS corals in my tank and Ca depletion didn't seem to be a problem until those corals became very large(over ten crowns per colony), then I started adding Kalk in the second week of the month to keep up with the loss. About a year ago I started to add SPS and now I would say that these corals make up 35% of my tank. Once I added a few SPS then things really started to change, now I'm lucky if I can keep my Ca at 380-390ppm.

Like Brad said above, the only true way to know is by testing. When I had just LPS I would test every second week of the month, now I test every single week

Chad · #7 02-16-2004, 11:30 PM

The funny thing is, in my tank I have about 80% softies, zoo's, mushrooms and some ricordia.. the rest is a few SPS and LPS.. yet I cannot keep up with the demand of calcium and Alk... Strange trends..

StirCrazy · #8 02-17-2004, 01:45 AM

just for a FYI soffties use Ca also, just not as much.

Steve

Jack · #9 02-17-2004, 07:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chad

The funny thing is, in my tank I have about 80% softies, zoo's, mushrooms and some ricordia.. the rest is a few SPS and LPS.. yet I cannot keep up with the demand of calcium and Alk... Strange trends..

I think it has to do with ammount of water volume too.

Beverly · #10 02-17-2004, 12:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fresh

I have owned a 10gal nano for 2 years, and that one went very nicely but the reason is I did a water change every week, and I really don't want to do that with my 77 gal!!!

fresh,

I do weekly 15% water changes and other maintenance on a 28g, a 42g and a 72g, then test for Ca and alk and adust these levels in all three tanks. I go through a lot of RO/DI water and my back hurts after the water changes, but it's worth it in the long run.

28g has nitrate of 5 ppm, and the 42g's and 72g's nitrates are ~10 ppm, and that's with no sumps/refugiums and no skimmers. Use only mechanical filtration that's cleaned weekly.