Calcium Questions

[OgreMkV]

How much calcium rapidly growing corals pull out of the water?

I've got a trumpet that's dividing, a torch that's about to go to four heads. Two large star polyp mats are growing. Two mushrooms that are spanwing new shrooms and some zoas that seem to be splitting and a birdsnest SPS that looks like it's growing a mm per day (well when all five branches are taken together).

I also appear to have a breeding pair of cerith snails (I found baby snails, yay!) and a pair of crabs that seem to growing as well.

So, the question is can all this growth significantly deplete the calcium in the water?

I haven't had the calcium tested since I've added most of the zoas.

I do have to add a marine buffer (Seachem Marine Buffer) which says it contains (among other things) several compounds of calcium (carbonate, chloride, etc). Is any of that calcium chemically available for coral growth?

Thanks
Kev

 

[DoctaQ]

calcium carbonate, which is also a road de icer provides useful calcium, however, depending on how large your tank is, you might be able to get by just by water changes

calcium and bicarbonate(or alk ) are taken up at the same rate, so if you dose calc you should really be dosing alk also, limewater has both parts and two part solutions allow you to control each part

 

[fsn77]

If things are continuing to grow, it is unlikely that your tank has become calcium depleted. If it was depleted, your corals would not continue to show noticable growth. That said, depending on your water change schedule, the calcium levels in your salt mix, and how much calcium you may be incidentally adding via with your Marine Buffer use, you might be doing well with keeping up with calcium demand. Off hand, it doesn't sound like the calcium levels are all that low from your description of all that's happening. Truthfully, the only way to really know is to test the calcium level in your tank.