can I add fish/coral if calcium is really low?

[ariane209]

Hi everyone!

I am in the process of stocking up my new tank... I added a CUC one week ago and I was hoping to add a fish or a coral today. I check all my params and they are all fine but calcium is at 220 (alk is midrange normal).

Question is, should I add a a fish and calcium chloride today and wait until next week (when calcium is more normal) to start adding corals? Or is it preferable to start with coral? If so, can I start today or wait until calcium is better first?

Thanks for all your help!

[m2434]

220 seems awfully low, I suspect something else is wrong. My guess is that either you are testing wrong or your salinity is really low.

What type of salt are you using?
How much?
How are you testing ca and salinity?

I seriously doubt your ca is that low. If you are adding soft corals, the ca alone wouldn't matter much, however, I wouldn't add anything until you figure out whats going on. No salt is that low in ca, so something is seriously wrong...

[Sk8r]

Fish get some of their calcium from water, some from food; corals mostly from water.
Actually there's no need rushing. First of all, that fish should go into a quarantine tank. Weekly, I have to advise somebody whose brand new and only [and very elusive] fish has broken out in ich that they now need to remove same to quarantine, treat for weeks, and leave their tank with no fish for 6-8 weeks. This is a very sad thing to have to do.
Set up a quarantine tank with new salt water, allow to mix for 24 hours, warm, etc. The cheapest possible tank will do, with just corner filter, no sand, no rock, nothing but a piece of pvc to hide in. Then bring your fish home: the lfs will probably be open tomorrow. Observe your fish in that tank for 4 weeks. Match salinity within .001 with his bag by dripping destination water into his bag until matched, drip rate to equalize situation within 3/4 hour.
WHile you're there buying coral, and assuming you've added calcium to your tank today according to cal instructions, it should be ready for coral---most doses take 24 hours to really permeate the system and all water chemistry to adjust.
Ask your lfs for a coral dip. Get another bucket, with yet more salt water, to be dedicated to this purpose, and using a known quantity of water so the math is easy, prepare a dip for your coral, and follow instructions on the coral dip package. Acclimate your coral to this salinity, which should match your tank water: you can USE tank water for this purpose.
Once it is acclimated, and dipped, go ahead and put it in. Your fish will be four weeks away from visiting it, but he will be fine, and he'll get to know you as his daily entertainment while he's bored in a bare tank. Don't feel too sorry for him: you are saving him from dying on you, and he should have a decade of life to enjoy your little tank.
If he should break out in anything, you can easily add meds to his water or go to hyposalinity [in the case of ich]---
You must never, ever add any medication to your tank or go hypo in your main tank.
I know that by my advice your water volume in buckets and spare glass box have now surpassed your tank size, but it is not too much precaution. You want your created world to be disease free---but this coral and this fish have just passed through a distributor's premises, where almost any disease or parasite can be had, with just a little slipup in precautions, and this way your tank will stay pristine.
You don't need to quarantine corals, just dip them and acclimate; inverts don't carry fish or coral disease, so just acclimate, maybe rinse off in saltwater just in case.

HTH.

Additionally,

[kau_cinta_ku]

what test kit you using?

[ariane209]

m2434:

My salinity is sort of on the low side, 1.022-1.023. I tried to raise it a bit this morning by topping off with saltwater instead of RO/DI water. Doesn't show much improvement though. I don't want to raise it up too fast and shock the CUC.

By the way, I'm using Instant Ocean salt.

Maybe I did the calcium test wrong. The last step was to add one drop of the chemical at a time and swirl it around, and the repeat until it turned blue. It turned sort of purple and I stopped. Should I have continued until it was truly blue? I figured that when it did the major switch from red to "purple", that was the trigger to look for. Whether it is purplish blue or really blue is sort of subjective. I wasn't quite sure what I was supposed to do. Any clues?

sk8r:
As always, I love your detailed answers! So helpful. Since my tank is so small (12g) and I will only get one fish, I didn't think quarantine would do much. I figured I'd just do acclimation and hope for the best. But reading your post really made me change my mind! I will set it up today. Like you said, by the time the fish is tank-ready, I should have my other issues well taken care of.

Thanks a bunch to both of you

[ariane209]

Calcium test kit is Instant Ocean.

[ariane209]

About the quarantine tank, I could get a plain 10g tank for pretty cheap at the pet store... I already have a Maxi-Jet 1200 pump that I usually use for mixing my water, says it's 295 gph. Could I use that for the 10g quarantine tank or is it too much flow?

[ariane209]

Oh, I don't know why I wrote 220 for calcium, I actually calculated out 255. Anyway, it's still way off :P

[Cope]

Go untill truly blue. This is why ca testing is subject to so much error.
At least that was how it was done with pools, and how I do it when I test my tank?

Some one more yoda like than me should chime in tho.

[ariane209]

Ok, I hate this Calcium test. Looking for blue is so subjective. I did the test again, looking for "true blue" and measured 390. But god only knows if I did it right *this* time! I wish they would at least give me a color card of the color I am trying to match! Do you guys know of a calcium test kit that is less open to interpretation?

[m2434]

Instant Ocean should be about 400ppm at and s.g. of 1.026 at an s.g. of 1.023 should be about 350ppm. Are you using a hydrometer? Either way - sounding better..

[ariane209]

No, using refractometer.

Thanks for you help.

[Sk8r]

That tank ought to be fine for a qt. Best pump is, for a corner filter, one of those oldfashioned cheap air bubbler pumps, to drive the filter unit. Cheap, cheap, cheap is good in this case. I think the 1200 would send water over the rim of the tank.
Do test the qt daily for nitrate, don't overfeed, and when you get a nitrate reading, immediately change out the filter medium: this is a tank you don't WANT to cycle, just keep the water nice for your fish.
Don't get discouraged. Testing is an art, but unfortunately it also has to be a science: there is an absolute answer, and it matters to your fish and corals.
Set your vial on a sheet of absolutely white paper unless you are really experienced and used to it. Oh, and always, always read it by looking down into the vial from the top. [These things were so long ago for me in bio lab I sometimes forget they're not self-evident: always view from overhead down onto a white piece of paper.]
Hint: when you are dripping reagent, as you are getting close to the reaction, you will see a tiny 'flash' of the next color as the droplet hits the test. That is a signal to slow down and go hyper precise. the next few drops will get more and more and more flash until you hit the real deal.