Jimbo662 Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 So, I'd decided I want to do an Acan garden and found some nice specimens on Aqua SD. If you didn't see they had an online sale last night and here's what I picked up. With an increase in LPS should I look at starting to dose something (if so what)? Or would regular water changes keep up with replenishing minerals? I currently do 5g per week on a 75g tank of course increasing this to maybe 2-3 5g changes per week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 The only way youre going to know for sure is to test. Test after your water change, and then one week later before your next water change. Do this for maybe a week or two and see how much your alk/ca/mg drop. If you're losing week over week, you can probably begin with hand dosing. When that gets annoying (or after your SPS load increases ) I'd move on to dosing or a CaRx. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo662 Posted October 12, 2014 Author Share Posted October 12, 2014 CaRx? I've seen the acronym before but not sure what it is...when you google it all you get is car sales stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reburn Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 A calcium reactor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo662 Posted October 12, 2014 Author Share Posted October 12, 2014 duh...I should have known! :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 +1 on what Victoly said. I don't think your usage will up that much with the additions... just a little bit more. Acans grow just a tad slower than SPS so their uptake will impact the tank levels just a little but not as much as a tank full of SPS. I would think regular water changes will suffice in replinishment and maybe a bit of hand dosing if that doesn't keep up. Sent via Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo662 Posted October 12, 2014 Author Share Posted October 12, 2014 Thanks, that's good to know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elizzy Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 OMG you got some amazing frags! For what it's worth, I only add kalk water (after it has sit, and only the top portion) occasionally. My acans survived the great tank crash of 2014... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo662 Posted October 12, 2014 Author Share Posted October 12, 2014 Thanks, I can't wait to get them in the tank! I'll have to check into using kalk. Glad to see they're apparently pretty hardy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Makena95GT Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 I cant even keep Birdsnest happy.. but my Acans have been doing awesome. If I can keep it alive.. it must be pretty hardy lol Mind you this is in a 10 gallon tank with not a whole lot of nutrients to begin with Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Makena95GT Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 Older pic. Has since been moved to its permanent location Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 Agree with Victoly and Ty. Lps won't have the same demand as if you purchased sps. Lps are just slower at growing and will usually encrust over something else rather than building their own dense skeletons (which they can do, but takes a very long time. Years). You can likely get away with just water changes. That is a prediction though. Deal with dosing is, only dose what you need. The only way to know what you need is to test. If you're not deficient, and it's holding, don't dose it. Adding extra ca and alk when you're not deficient is not a good thing. If you test regularly and find your ca and alk are falling steadily, then consider what dosing method suits you best Hand dosing : low up front cost, very unstable and wide fluctuatioms, annoying to have to manually dose all the time Kalkwasser : drip vs ato. Easy, relatively cheap, helps ph elevate, but you're limited by evaporation. At some point it's effectiveness will be maxed out 2 part automated dosing: moderately high up front cost, but promotes stability and can handle a very large sps/clam dominant demand Carx: very high up front cost, complicated, but can supplement ca alk mg and trace elements in a nearly unlimited fashion. Most ideal but most expensive and has a steeper learning curve Pick your poison Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo662 Posted October 12, 2014 Author Share Posted October 12, 2014 I'm going to start with increasing water changes and see how that goes. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo662 Posted October 17, 2014 Author Share Posted October 17, 2014 Everything seems to be happy in the tank. I noticed I missed one pic...here it is in the tank. It's about 3" across. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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