myelin Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 I need some help figuring out what I need to do with dosing Ca in my tank. Right now I am dosing Kent marine Turbo Calcium in my topoff water. I have been slowly getting the level of Ca up from 300 to 350. I am hoping to be around 400 by the end of this week or sooner. I have done some reading and I hear about people dosing B-Ionic. I also have read that some people drip Kalk into their tanks. I would like to keep everything clean about the tank since it is on my "dinner table" in my college apartment. I'm not looking to add a dosing system to drip Ca into my tank. What do I need to do in order to keep the Ca and Alk level where they need to be? I have a feeling that once my Ca level gets up there, it might have an affect on the Alk. What should I look into? Link to comment
T?@7 Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 B-ionic. All you need is a syringe thingie that is measured in Mls and the bottles of B-ionic themselves. You will never see em except for when you are actually using them. Really easy approach. Link to comment
fishbabies Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 Ca, alk and ph are all related. you don't have to drip all day....just slowly. if you want to maintain a clean look you can still use an IV style bag which i think is the easiest and cheapest. when i take off somewhere, i just set up my dripper to top off the tank water with kalkwasser. with my current rate of evap, i lose about 1.5 cups of water a day in my 10 gallon. i top that off with kalk every other day at a rate of 1.5 cups dripping over 2-3 hours.....seems to work fine for me Link to comment
myelin Posted July 16, 2003 Author Share Posted July 16, 2003 I like the B-Ionic approach. That way I won't have to mix the Kalk. How cheap is B-ionic and where can I get it? Thanks again Link to comment
Vincerama Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 Don't shun the kalk drip just yet! I made one out of a peanut butter jar, some airline tubing, an airline tubing valve and some silicon glue. The most expensive thing was the peanut butter, which I ate. So I mix kalk in 2 litre jar (that used to contain jelly bellies from CostCo), let it settle, then pour the clear kalk into the peanut butter jar, and set it on top of my canopy, where it drips into the HOB filter on the back (you can just route the drip line into the tank behind your canopy or whatever). Then I remove the empty jar in the morning. I've done it off and on for a week, based on the amount of evaportation, and I have to say I'm seeing ALOT of coralline growth now! Hopefully it will push that stupid green algae away! I tried to post a picture, but my computer is not co-operating! V Link to comment
surfy Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 I would just do weekly water changes with a good salt unless you have SPS or Clams then I would use B-ionic. Link to comment
myelin Posted July 16, 2003 Author Share Posted July 16, 2003 Well, I have been known to eat a whole jar of peanut better without making one sandwich out of it I was really going for a nice, professional look. True, I am in college and I am a fraternity member, but this is my apartment centerpiece. The advantage I liked with using B ionic was that you could raise alk with one jug, and Ca with the other. I would also have to mix klak which would take time to do...but I guess squirting in B ionic everyday would also be a hassle. Right now, my alk was 4-5 and Ca was at 300 two days ago. My pH was at 8.3. I'm not having any problems yet (I suspect) because the Ca level isn't high enough to start having problems with pH/Alk. I guess if I could fine a clean looking dosing system for dosing kalk into my tank, I might go for it. I have also noticed that B ionic seems to be expensive from what I have read. Hmmm Link to comment
T?@7 Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 I would like to start to drip kalk along with dosing bionic myself. Kalkwasser is the secret potion in alot of killer reef tanks imho Link to comment
Vincerama Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 Well, mixing kalk takes maybe 10 seconds. half a teaspoon of kalk, one quart of RO water, close lid, shake, let sit for a day. I posted the pic of my peanut butter jar doser. Since you only drip at night (and only on some nights), you can put the doser away during the day. (Sorry, I'm not quite sure how to refer to another posting) Other posting Good luck! V Link to comment
Toooloud Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 agreed.. Kalk is the way to to.. When i had my 125 running, it was all Acros, ran 125g tank 75g sump and 3x 400 watt halides.. and i was just doing the water change thing.. everyone back then said just do water changes.. if your Cal levels drop just use a Cal buffer.. But they are such a pain.. the room the tank was in was horrific with heat .. so i had set my RO/Di unti to just go directly to the tank hooked to a float valve and used Kents Aquadoser 2.5G unit.. and i would use the Aquadoser just for Kalk nothing eles.. i would mix up 8 teaspoons of Kalk to the 2.5 Gallons of water, then when it settled i would drip 1 drip every 15 seconds or so.. This kept my tank up at 460ppm and the tank went nuts., i noticed the growth rates on the Acros increased.. and the Coraline.. With Dripping Kalk, ( or pickeling lime) you are maintaining everything ( Cal, Ph, Alk) where before i was just adding the sublements when needed.. and i was just using kents Turbo Cal about 1/4 teaspoon every day.. so this was much easier!. and now i do this on my 35g, had to sell the larger tank when i moved here. Link to comment
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