Calcium Dosing Anyone?

[Cajun_Reefer]

I'll be honest, I had never thought to check Calcium and Magnesium with my first tank years ago. But now that I'm back in the hobby, I've decided to give it a go. I think I was just intimidated by all that could go wrong with dosing.

So here's my question. Should I be dosing in the first place with these results. And if I do want to dose Ca to a tad bit higher result, will that affect anything else? (I have Mg at the ready- my husband is dosing it already in his tank). When should I test the Ca again to see if my dosing has made a difference?

I have a 13.5 gallon. I've tested with RedSea and have gotten results of:

Calcium at 400
Magnesium at 1240
dKH at 9.8

I bought Brightwell Aquatics Reef Tide part A and B, used a Calcium calculator to raise my Ca to 420ppm.

I'm trying to start slow, so I only dosed one cap full (5ml), each at one minute apart per the directions.

I know this topic is talked about so much, it's like beating a dead horse with a stick, but let's just say Chemistry wasn't a strong point in college. Thanks in advance!

 

[LegendaryCG]

400 range calcium is fine. Your levels in general are fine, if anything the alk is a little high. I’m quite sure you could easily maintain proper levels in your tank with just 10% water changes every week.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I agree those levels are fine. Keeping calcium in the 400-500 ppm range and alkalinity in the 7-11 dKH range with the product you have is a reasonable plan.