Do you check Ca? I was told there is no need to do that, but I'm starting to think I need to seek out other advise. What do y'all do?
If you have LPS or SPS then yes.. it needs to be maintained .. If you dont... Then not as much. I check mine about once every two weeks.. Others I know check it once a week. It depends on what you have and if its enough to drain the calcium faster than your water changes add it back.
The it would be a good idea to start monitoring it about every other day.. Do this for two weeks or so with no calcium additives or water changes and see if your calcium goes down from the starting factor. You should be able to tell if its pulling out enough to make it drain down. Do a water change at the end and mark that level. If you are putting back in enough to get it back to the starting factor then you do not need to dose any. If you do not get it back up to the starting factor then you should start a small dose. Myself... I just walk by about twice a month and just dump in about two caps full of aquavitros calcium and leave as I dont have a dominated system. Yo will have to find your happy medium and what your tank demands are and then try to keep it at or around 400 as much as possible. If I check and I am at 350 I will throw a cap full in... If I am at 300 I will throw two about two days apart.... Its one of those things that is different for every tank and until you determin how fast your tank goes through it you will have to watch. It gets really easy once you learn the amount.
However you choose to keep your calcium up you need to know as much about your tank parameters as you can: calcium, alkalinity, salinity, nitrite, nitrate, magnesium, ph are among the most important. You are shooting for the most stable closed system that you can provide over time and you just can't do that unless you know what your values are and can maintain them in the appropriate ranges.
Yeah. I think I better start following that stuff. I went out and bought a test kit and everything was actually really really good. Now I stopped dosing calcium and am following levels to see how quickly it drops Thanks for the advice. This site is great. I was really starved for info on my tank Please excuse my basic question, I'm still a newbie
Your question wasnt that basic.. least to me... basic are the "can I keep a clown and a trigger together"... LOLÂ Its good to learn the real chemistry. It can be fun too as long as you dont try to learn it all at once. If you need anything else just ask.
