New to Dosing Ca, Mg and Alk...and would like some advice

[RPatsula]

Thank you everyone for your replies. Yes my salinity went down a little bit, it used to be at 1.026 and it went down to 1.02 due to a water problem I had about three weeks ago. I am slowly bringing it back up. I do not have any calcium deposits on my equipment or any calcium precipitation. I am still skimming fairly wet, to get rid of my algae problem. I will just dose the magnesium to begin with and get it back to an acceptable level. I think I will do it fairly slowly and introduce the magnesium back in over a period of five days. All my corals are still looking good. I had a green hair algae breakout on my sand bed but I think that was due to overfeeding with my plankton.
I will also look over the articles you suggested as well. Sometimes it just gets a little bit overwhelming as well as confusing but I am slowly learning. I will post again once I have started adding the magnesium.

Thank you
Rick

[daplatapus]

This is the link to the BRS reef Calculator:
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/reef-calculator

According to that page the Mg shouldn't be raised more than 100 ppm per day
Ca shouldn't be more than 50 ppm per day and dkh shouldn't be raised more than 1.4 dkh per day.
I've used this calculator quite a few times and it's been spot on every time.

You're totally right, it can be very over overwhelming, but there's lots of help here and there are many willing to share their experience and knowledge. Ask away!

[lastlight]

Originally Posted by daplatapus

According to that page the Mg shouldn't be raised more than 100 ppm per day
Ca shouldn't be more than 50 ppm per day and dkh shouldn't be raised more than 1.4 dkh per day.

oops i was way off! guess i just made up my own safety factor. calcium must be less of a risk. they're basically saying you can make up any shortfall immediately in one shot.

[greyreef]

Bringing up your salinity will help correct the problem as slinity is an overall measure of salts, if low will make Ca and Mg low as well!
Just go slow, try not to overcorrect
From the sounds of the look of your tank, your doing a great job!

[michika]

Another suggestion for dosing; write down what you did, when you did it, and HOW you got that calculation. In short, show your work. This has helped me numerous times as I've had to think back to what I dosed or how I came to that particular conclusion, etc. Notebook and a pen are a cheap and easy combination.

[RuGlu6]

Just get Calcium Reactor. It is simple and low maintenance, set it and forget it !

[somewherebeyondthesea]

Originally Posted by michika

Another suggestion for dosing; write down what you did, when you did it, and HOW you got that calculation. In short, show your work. This has helped me numerous times as I've had to think back to what I dosed or how I came to that particular conclusion, etc. Notebook and a pen are a cheap and easy combination.

+1 I do the same

[RPatsula]

Thank you everyone for your advice, I just thought I'd give you an update as to where I'm at. Last Friday I started dosing just the BRS magnesium solution at approximately 900 mL per day. In total I dosed approximately 4000 mL. Here are my readings since then; calcium went from 325 to 390 ppm, magnesium went from 1000 to 1400 ppm and my pH went from 8.32 to 8.35. I also did a 20 gallon water change as well.
After watching a few YouTube videos I now understand the difference between pH and KH. Apparently I was not measuring KH correctly, so I will measure it again tonight. I will also measure my specific gravity as well to see if it has risen from 1.02. I'm hoping it is back to 1.026 since my water change.
I think now I will be able to dose calcium, alkalinity and magnesium to get my aquarium at the appropriate levels so that I'll be able to dose the BRS to par solution on a daily basis.
Once again thank you
Rick

[daplatapus]

What I did when I was first dialing in my system was once I got my Mg to where I wanted it, I did a water test to confirm, then didn't dose anything for 24hrs and did another test. That should give you a pretty good idea of what your tank consumes in a 24 hr period and give you an idea of what to dose per day. Then start dosing that amount. Your Ca and dkh should stay steady if you start with just dealing with your Mg. Your current Ca and dkh levels are fine so you don't really need to do anything with them right away. Go a week with just dosing Mg and see if it stays pretty solid or if it creeps up or down and adjust accordingly. I would test all 3 every time but wouldn't deal with the other 2 unless there's something drastic. This will give you good practice with your testing and show you the relationship with those big 3 and how they interact with one another. Once you've gone a week without any real changes in your Mg levels, then move on to your other 2 the same way. Slow and methodical and write down what you did and how it affected everything.

Dom

[RPatsula]

Hi what I determined is that when you try to measure alkalinity calcium or magnesium… Your numbers can vary quite drastically from one day to another. It is also hard when you're depending on other people to help you do it. On April 26 I started dosing the BRS magnesium solution until I went through the 1 gallon jug . On April 29 I measured alkalinity at 7 D KH, calcium at 390 ppm, magnesium at 1400 ppm, specific gravity at 1.022 and pH 8.35. On May 1 I measured alkalinity at 5.6 D KH, calcium at 325 ppm, magnesium at 1290, specific gravity at 1.022 and pH at 8.4. I am going to measure again on Thursday night to see if there is considerable change again, or is what I am seeing normal. I am thinking that my magnesium levels can come up a bit, to 1350 , so I'm wondering would it be practical just to dose 1 L of magnesium over a two day period and then measure everything again. When should I start dosing the alkalinity and the calcium?
Thank you
Rick