Bry Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 Just an off-the-wall question. Is calcium required for stony coral survival too or just growth. So I was curious if a person had a tank with all the coral at the right length and he/she was very happy exactly how it all looked, can he/she stop adding Calcium at that point? I realize there's calcium in the salt when water changes are done, I also realize that snails need a bit of calcium. I'm strictly asking if you can stop adding calcium when you don't want the growth without the lack of higher calcium actually hurting the corals. Thanks, Bryan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pbnj Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 Not sure about pure survival at low calcium levels, but I think it makes it harder to keep alk & mg in check when calcium levels are out of whack. Bad Alk levels will defintely have an impact on corals, i.e., death. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 (edited) Good luck with that! Odds are you'll end up killing your corals. There are also biological processes that might maintain the calcium at high enough levels to keep your corals happy by slowly breaking down the sand and rock. You're really a lot better off maintaining a consistant maintenance regime and selling or giving away frags. Think of it as pruning a saltwater hedge. Edited June 15, 2011 by Timfish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+brian.srock Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 Are you asking if your adding it as an additional supplement to boost growth such as kalk in the ATO or is your tank hungry for calcium? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bry Posted June 16, 2011 Author Share Posted June 16, 2011 Simmer down Timfish. My question is truly just a curiousity. I don't have any stonies, just a few soft corals. I was only curious because I find that all documentation about calcium is for growth, not survivability. I'm only curious if anyone else knew something. Personally I do kalk sometimes but not every top off. My tank has a good amount of coraline growing and my softies look happy... except I think my zoas may appreciate more light, or more varied bulbs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 Simmer down Timfish. My question is truly just a curiousity. . . . Sorry if my sarcasm was too heavy. My impression was you were trying intentionally create a tank with what amounted to "Old Tank Syndrome" which didn't seem smart to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bry Posted June 18, 2011 Author Share Posted June 18, 2011 no problem. This site is all light hearted fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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