calcium supplement problem I think

[pik]

Hey Guys and gals,


Just got into the hobby at the start of the year and still on a massive learning curve.

Up until three days ago everything was doing fine. Came home Wednesday and noticed my softies are not doing well basically shriveling up. Everything else in the tank is okay for now but I would like to get to the root of the problem.

All my basic levels are in line with normal however I do not have a calcium test kit. In a rush did some quick research and went and grabbed some calcium booster for the tank.

I have a 55 gallon with 50 pounds of live rock and two fish at the moment. Small skimmer and a filter tank.

Did a 30 percent water change and added 7 ml of calcium last night.




I am wondering would my calcium be high or low causing the softies to die off.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Bryce

 

[Poseidon]

Pics would help.

 

[theyangman]

What are the parameters of the tank currently?

 

[Poseidon]

What are the parameters of the tank currently?

Above he says he doesn't have them, didn't have time, GEEZ TONY!!!!

Haha I joke I joke

 

[pik]

Tough crowd here jeeze!!

Guys I am at work so no pictures if need be I can take one however its a frogspan retracting and basically dead.

Since I added the calcium last night things look to be a bit better.


The dumb noob question of the day


Does the live rock and coral eventually deplete calcium in the tank or does it build up over time?

 

[Pistol]

Hard corals deplete calcium but soft corals don't use much, what are your other parameters? ( I think that's what Tony was asking)

 

[Petercar (RIP Dec 2017)]

he said he started at the  year end.  isnt that to early to be dosing ?    is it like 6 months now ?

 

[Sewerat]

Any local reefers that have a calcium test you can take a sample to? What brand of test kit are you using? And you mentioned you just did a big water change how recent was the last one before that?

 

[AdInfinitum]

Hard corals deplete calcium but soft corals don't use much, what are your other parameters? ( I think that's what Tony was asking)

And hard corals only deplete calcium if they are growing quickly.  BTW same as softies, they use some Calcium to build sclerites which give their bodies structure.  Until you have a large thriving reef water changes with a decent salt mix will supply all of the calcium you will need.

Since I assume you are not at that point already, you need to look elsewhere for your issues.  You say your other levels are ok...give us some numbers.  Do we know what you are running in terms of lighting, skimmers etc.

You said that the softies are shriveling but everything else is fine then you say that your LPS (frogspawn) is dead/dying.  What is still doing well.

There are lots of people here who would be happy to help but we need all the info you can give us...

 

[Neopimp]

my bet is the magnesium.  I melted my zoas from colonies 6" plus across back to the original frags after overdoing magnesium one day.

 

[nexusnight]

he said he started at the  year end.  isnt that to early to be dosing ?    is it like 6 months now ?

my tank is like 8 months or so and i need to dose regular"every day" mind u its getting pretty full of coral. i found even just the coraline chewed threw cal,alk and mag when there was hardly any coral in the tank. almost all my rock was quite coverd in coraline from the start tho