Chemical maintenance in tank at sons school

[seadewrose]

People who run a tank outside of the home. How do you keep your calc/alk/mag up when only visiting the tank every couple of weeks or so? I do a water change and clean up the tank i set up at my sons school every 2-3 weeks but I don't want to have to go every couple of days to dose. Is it possible to predose the water change water? Not sure it matters too much because it's fowlr but I've got nems and inverts in there and want the the levels to stay at least somewhat stable. I don't have hours to sit there in between dosing the three. And I need to manually dose because chemicals in a bookshelf at a preschool is a bad idea haha. So how do you all do it?

 

[TX_REEF]

I would recommend a dosing pump, but would be good to hear more about the details of your system and inhabitants.

 

[Spare time]

I agree with the above that an auto doser is the way to go.

 

[seadewrose]

20 gallon, lots of rock, sand bottom, 1 clown, 2 mini nems from my own tank, gramma basslet, macroalgae, a few hermits, bunch of snails, pistol shrimp and goby pair. Nothing else too exciting, it's been running for close to 8 months and I actually haven't done much anything besides water changes. Mag 1100, Calc 390, alk 7.7. Mainly the alk is what i want to bump up a bit but I know that won't stay stable without mag staying up.

 

[Fish Fan]

Do you have an ATO on this tank? Would adding Kalkwasser to the ATO reservoir help here?

 

[TX_REEF]

Super simple dosing solution here:

Fritz Alk buffer: https://amzn.to/3Nmw7Io
Cheap dosing pump: https://amzn.to/4850lZN (I have not used this product, but the reviews are decent and the price is right. I use this product, which is probably overkill for your situation: https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/4-he...jjvGla7iPL9H5dYwKt0p3joybgbuCSPBoCNPIQAvD_BwE)

 

[bobnicaragua]

I’m confused here, no LPS, SPS, or even softies, but you want to dose calcium alkalinity and magnesium?

Why?

 

[seadewrose]

I do have a little mini ATO set up that I could add kalkwasser to. All i have space for is that 1 gallon of rodi water it pulls from so if i just add something to that it would work. Thanks!

 

[seadewrose]

I’m confused here, no LPS, SPS, or even softies, but you want to dose calcium alkalinity and magnesium?

Why?

That's what I'm not sure about, does it not matter if I don't have coral. Wouldn't it matters for inverts if something like calc dropped too low or would the fish or anything else not do as well if the alk (and I'm assuming ph?) Drop too low?

 

[stewy14]

That's what I'm not sure about, does it not matter if I don't have coral. Wouldn't it matters for inverts if something like calc dropped too low or would the fish or anything else not do as well if the alk (and I'm assuming ph?) Drop too low?

u dont need to dose if no coral
u dont dose alk(in my knowledge)
but u just need a ato, or get the teacher there do top it off everyday!
and water changes every week

 

[seadewrose]

u dont need to dose if no coral
u dont dose alk(in my knowledge)
but u just need a ato, or get the teacher there do top it off everyday!
and water changes every

Okay thanks! I do have an ato. Wouldnt that be nice if they did and my husband would fully agree but I don't think that's going to happen unfortunately...

 

[RedTheReefer]

The only way to really know if you need to dose is by testing your water parameters. But, if there are no coral, weekly water changes would more than likely suffice if there is a drop.

 

[Dan_P]

People who run a tank outside of the home. How do you keep your calc/alk/mag up when only visiting the tank every couple of weeks or so? I do a water change and clean up the tank i set up at my sons school every 2-3 weeks but I don't want to have to go every couple of days to dose. Is it possible to predose the water change water? Not sure it matters too much because it's fowlr but I've got nems and inverts in there and want the the levels to stay at least somewhat stable. I don't have hours to sit there in between dosing the three. And I need to manually dose because chemicals in a bookshelf at a preschool is a bad idea haha. So how do you all do it?

I doubt frequent dosing or even maintaining the levels needed for stoney corals are required for fish, anemones and inverts. It sounds like the right type of aquarium for an infrequent maintenance schedule.

 

[Spare time]

That's what I'm not sure about, does it not matter if I don't have coral. Wouldn't it matters for inverts if something like calc dropped too low or would the fish or anything else not do as well if the alk (and I'm assuming ph?) Drop too low?

Coralline needs it. Inverts, except for clams, are not going to drain it that fast imo.

 

[rishma]

I keep a tank that has little to no intervention regularly for 30 days at a time. My system is more complex than you need due to keeping corals.

Even without corals, I would add some Kalkwasser to the ATO. Is it totally necessary? Likely not, your water changes are handling most of what you need, but I’d argue that some Kalk will make it better. I like coralline to grow and keeping parameters more steady always seems like a good plan to me. You will not need much Kalk due to low demand. It certainly will not need to be saturated, which is great because it won’t impact pH so much when ATO is triggered.

This might be more info than you need, depending on your experience, but here is what I would do.

If you do an alkalinity test few weeks apart, without a water change between tests, you will be able to figure out how much alkalinity the tank is consuming. You would also pay attention to how much ATO water is used during that period.

From that info, we can help you figure out about how much Kalk to mix into the ATO water. There are several calculators online. I like hamza’s calculator.

This would handle your calcium and alkalinity demand. I would ignore magnesium in this case. Your water changes will handle it.

Let us know what you decide to do.

 

[Fish Fan]

Even without corals, I would add some Kalkwasser to the ATO.

+1. I don't see how you can beat the ease and low cost of adding a bit of Kalkwasser to your ATO reservoir. I've never used Kalkwasser myself, but it seemed to me like it would be a good option for the OP.

 

[rishma]

+1. I don't see how you can beat the ease and low cost of adding a bit of Kalkwasser to your ATO reservoir. I've never used Kalkwasser myself, but it seemed to me like it would be a good option for the OP.

I have used it pretty consistently for coming up on 3 decades. Good stuff

 

[Fish Fan]

I have used it pretty consistently for coming up on 3 decades. Good stuff

I've known about it for about 3 decades, just never tried it, but it seemed to me like an easy solution to the OP's question.

 

[seadewrose]

I keep a tank that has little to no intervention regularly for 30 days at a time. My system is more complex than you need due to keeping corals.

Even without corals, I would add some Kalkwasser to the ATO. Is it totally necessary? Likely not, your water changes are handling most of what you need, but I’d argue that some Kalk will make it better. I like coralline to grow and keeping parameters more steady always seems like a good plan to me. You will not need much Kalk due to low demand. It certainly will not need to be saturated, which is great because it won’t impact pH so much when ATO is triggered.

This might be more info than you need, depending on your experience, but here is what I would do.

If you do an alkalinity test few weeks apart, without a water change between tests, you will be able to figure out how much alkalinity the tank is consuming. You would also pay attention to how much ATO water is used during that period.

From that info, we can help you figure out about how much Kalk to mix into the ATO water. There are several calculators online. I like hamza’s calculator.

This would handle your calcium and alkalinity demand. I would ignore magnesium in this case. Your water changes will handle it.

Let us know what you decide to do.

This is definitely helpful. I did buy some kalk and plan on adding it. Coralline is already well established on the rocks and glass, so that may be part of what's dropping the levels. Thanks for the info!

 

[seadewrose]

Coralline needs it. Inverts, except for clams, are not going to drain it that fast imo.

Good to know! Not sure how much i want to support the coralline, it's already growing very well on my glass lol but I want to make sure everything else is happy