Should I spend money on Calcium, Alkalinity, Magnesium?

Hi Everyone,

I have a 60 gallon + 20 gallon sump up for 6+ months, Everything inside looks happy but not growing.

Following is my stock list.

LPS: Bubble, Candy Cane, Frogspawn, Hammer, Plate, Brain, sun flower
SPS: just a tiny frag of Birds Nest
Soft: Finger Leather, Ricordea, GSP, Mushrooms, Xenia, Toadstool Leather, Nephthea, Zoanthids.

I have 2 maxspec G2-160 for lighting and change 10% water every 3 weeks.

At first, nothing really growing until I feed Coral Frenzy.
Amazon.com: Coral Frenzy `The Ultimate Coral Food` 28g: Kitchen & Dining

The GSP and Xenia grow faster. Brain and plate, sun flower, and bubble mouth open more when i feed them but not growing.

So, my question is should I spend over $120 to invest test kit and the two part kits from BRS and start dosing Calcium, Alkalinity, Magnesium?

is the soft coral then advantage if I do that or just the LPS and SPS?

Thanks in advance.




I have following fish
2 clowns, 1 blue tang, 1 yellow tang and one blenny. Will they under stress if I raise the Calcium and Magnesium level?

 

Absolutely yes. You should be testing these and before adding any supplements you need to test – I suggest the Salifert kits, once you get use to them they are the best.

10% every three weeks is probably insufficient in terms of keeping up the demands of the coral growth – specifically the calcium that many of the corals you listed require.

 

I would suggest getting the Calcium, Alkalinity and Magnesium test kits. Test your levels to see where your at before doing anything else.

Dosing the proper amounts shouldn't stress your fish.



What are your parameters?

 

Go with a Hanna checker for the alk. Way more accurate than the salifert kits and for $50 you will be happy. My brand new salifert juts reads 1.4kh low according to cross referenced kits

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using Tapatalk

 

Agree with the "yes" consensus, but your current levels/parameters are a very important (unanswered) question. This in itself my be the answer to why things aren't growing.

 

I guess I will get the test kit and the solutions.

So my Question is "which corals from my list going to benefit from Calcium, Alkalinity, Magnesium?"

Thanks


Only the LPS and SPS?

 

Mostly, but everything else will to some extent.

LPS and SPS cannot calcify if your Alk/Ca/Mg are way out of whack...

 

Thanks evolved.

The reason I keep asking because I read other forum say soft coral don't need those while they need Iodine.

 

yeah, this is true... but all corals that have a hard bone structure will need the proper levels to grow. Ca (420ppm), alk (7-11dkh) and Mg (around 1400ppm or 3.1 times higher than your Ca level)

Have you considered using kalkwasser as an additive? Kalk has a 1:1 ratio of alk and ca so you wont have to worry about mixing each solution individually to the required concentration and then measuring the needed amount out every morning and every night.

 

Thanks Dingo for the data.

I do study with kalkwasser as well, but I don't see the advantage vs the two part solutions.

If you don't mind, can you list out the POS and CONS here? I am sure some people would like to know.


the only reason I pick the 2 part solution is I can use the calculator to reach the desired level.
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