When the quantity of life forms in the aquarium that require calcium rises, the demand for calcium in your tank will rise at the same time. Whereas at first this occurrence may not have a significant impact on the calcium levels, eventually calcium will fall and the amounts you have added to replenish calcium concentrations will not longer suffice.This is particularly so when coralline algae suddenly starts to grow all over the tank. Of course any other calcium requiring coral contributes to this phenomenon as well.
It should be quite obvious that when the calcium-demanding bioload increases, the amount of calcium increasing compounds (whatever they may be) that were enough at one time to replenish calcium levels, will no longer be sufficient and you will need to adjust the amounts added.
This fact is often overlooked. Hobbyists who test infrequently suddenly find one day that their calcium concentration levels are too low. Or worse, if they do not test, and keep adding what was enough months earlier, suddenly find that their corals start to look drab and may even show signs of detaching from their skeletons.
Watch out for this carefully, test you calcium levels regularly and this will not happen to you. Whenever you add animals or whenever you notice that the amount of coralline algae is increasing, you should test your calcium concentration levels more often, and you should adjust the amount of calcium additive you dispense to compensate for the higher calcium demand.
Where the problem usually starts is the result of most hobbyists using limewater to add calcium to their aquariums. They do so by replacing all evaporated water with kalkwasser (limewater). Since evaporation rates stay pretty constant, they are in reality adding the same amount of calcium all the time.
As the demand for calcium increases, the amount added in the above fashion may not be enough and supplemental calcium addition may be necessary. Other calcium adding compounds can be used or the strength of the limewater can be increased by adding the milky solution rather than the clear liquid.
Since there are many other calcium supplements on the market you should have no problem supplementing the KW addition with another such supplement.
As long as you test regularly, you will know when to adjust the quantity that needs to be added to ensure that your levels stay at concentrations of around 450 ppm.
Just a useful tip that you may want to add to your list.
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