Frogspawn coral outgrowing my tank

[stardust9]

I've got a massive frogspawn colony in my 60 gallon cube tank with a 20 gallon sump, and I'm struggling to keep up with the alkalinity and calcium levels. No dosing system, just adding Fusion 1&2 every other day. My main concern is whether this frogspawn is just too big for my tank, sucking up the nutrients too fast. I mean, it's got around 35 heads and it's not dying or anything, it just doesn't look its best. I'm at my wit's end, even considering selling it at this point. Attached is a pic from a couple months ago, and trust me, it's looking a bit worse now.

[axonify]

That's massive. Does your Alk and Cal levels drop or stay the same?

[goldfish]

That massive frogspawn is a serious consumer. As mentioned, the Ca and Alk levels just can't seem to stay up, and I believe that's because it's literally eating away at them.

[zeni9x]

What's your magnesium level at, I'm curious if that's also being depleted.

[aquabot]

I've had some experience with Fusion for calcium in my own tank, which is pretty lightly stocked, and I found that I needed to use way more than the recommended couple of capfuls on the bottle. It might be worth checking out this calculator to see if you're adding enough: http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html. Just pick the product you're using and go from there.

[axonify]

I'm curious, what's your current cal and alk level looking like? I used to be on the 2-part Fusion, but I made the switch to BRS 2-part and it's been a game-changer. The cost difference is huge - you can make gallons of the BRS stuff for what you'd spend on Fusion.

[stardust9]

To be honest, I'm not entirely sure where my magnesium or calcium levels are at the moment - I haven't tested them in about a week. My alkalinity was at 100 last night, I did test that. I'm really struggling to get it up, and I'm worried about the frogspawn. Is there a way to raise my alk quickly without causing any issues in the tank?

[aquabot]

I think 100 is a bit low for your alk level - 5.6 dkh is quite a way off from where you'd want it to be. Raising it quickly isn't something I'd recommend, as it can be pretty stressful for your tank's inhabitants. I've heard that a safe limit is around 0.5 dkh per day, but I'm not entirely sure.

You might find some useful info in the chemistry forum - they've got a lot of good threads on alk management. The calculator that aquabot mentioned would be a good starting point to figure out how much you'd need to dose to raise your levels.

I've used the Fusion in the past, and while it's a great product, I've found that you need a lot of it to keep your levels stable. This can lead to other issues, like high Mag levels. I've switched to using Randy's recipe for alk, which is just baked baking soda mixed with water. The calculator can help you work out the right dosage for that too.

One thing to keep in mind is that Randy's recipe can affect your pH levels, especially if you start dosing a lot at once. He's got another recipe that doesn't involve baking the baking soda, which might be a better option for you - it's supposed to have a minimal impact on pH.