I've been doing reef aquaria long enough to know I'm not supposed to chase numbers; yet, I found myself doing that the past couple of weeks. Unfortunately, in the process, I've managed to kill 1 clam, while the other one looks like it's on its way out. Everything else seems to be looking all right. I think the clams were responding to changes.
My set up: I have a reefer 425 XL (88 g) and currently doing two-part calcium (Red Sea supplement) and alkalinity (Randy's reef recipe #2) dosing. Since magnesium always stays pretty steady, I found no need to dose it. I also have an automatic water change that occurs steadily throughout the week, so no big chemistry changes from that. I'm not dosing trace minerals either (Coral color is pretty good). My PH has remained normal (8.1-8.4). Salt: 1.025-1.026. Nutrients are also pretty low. Nitrates: 5; nitrites 0.2; and ammonia 0.1-0.15
My problem: For some reason, the last couple weeks calcium has gone up and down, from 350 to 500, seemingly all over the map. Both that and my alkalinity have remained relatively stable, though I monitor them both daily. Still, no matter what I do, the numbers keep flying in different directions. I'll add some alkalinity and it will still go down, so I add some more, inching up the dose a little bit each day (0.4-3.0 mL max/day). Then, all of a sudden it jumps 1 dKH, from 7.2-8.2. Neither Alkalinity nor calcium seem to be falling into sync.
My question: Should I ignore the day-to-day changes just continually dose a steady amount? Or, should I respond to the day-to-day changes by slightly changing in response to these elements?
My set up: I have a reefer 425 XL (88 g) and currently doing two-part calcium (Red Sea supplement) and alkalinity (Randy's reef recipe #2) dosing. Since magnesium always stays pretty steady, I found no need to dose it. I also have an automatic water change that occurs steadily throughout the week, so no big chemistry changes from that. I'm not dosing trace minerals either (Coral color is pretty good). My PH has remained normal (8.1-8.4). Salt: 1.025-1.026. Nutrients are also pretty low. Nitrates: 5; nitrites 0.2; and ammonia 0.1-0.15
My problem: For some reason, the last couple weeks calcium has gone up and down, from 350 to 500, seemingly all over the map. Both that and my alkalinity have remained relatively stable, though I monitor them both daily. Still, no matter what I do, the numbers keep flying in different directions. I'll add some alkalinity and it will still go down, so I add some more, inching up the dose a little bit each day (0.4-3.0 mL max/day). Then, all of a sudden it jumps 1 dKH, from 7.2-8.2. Neither Alkalinity nor calcium seem to be falling into sync.
My question: Should I ignore the day-to-day changes just continually dose a steady amount? Or, should I respond to the day-to-day changes by slightly changing in response to these elements?
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