calcium problem

[Goonter]

hey i started a 40g about 1.5 months ago, and i started it with instant ocean salt because it was cheaper and nothing would be living in it until after the cycle, etc. So now i am doing water changes with oceanic in hopes the calcium will go up, but it has been pretty standard at 360 the entire time. How do i get this up? do i have to add buffers, or should i do a massive water change in hopes the calcium goes up? it has been like this for a while, the calcium s........l.......o......w...l....y is going up from the water changes, but i need to get the calcium in the appropriate levels, all my other params are good. Also could the protein skimmer be taking calcium out of the water?

 

What is the recommended way of getting calcium up to proper levels?

[uglybuckling]

Hey,

 

A few years back the answer was kalkwasser (calcium hydroxide, I got mine from Kent but if you work in a lab you can probably get it cheaper from Sigma) in your top-off water. Start low, dose slow with this stuff. And don't get it in your eye.

 

I have no idea what other folks are using these days. I still use kalkwasser.

 

 

--Bucky

[Wawawang]

Hey,

 

A few years back the answer was kalkwasser (calcium hydroxide, I got mine from Kent but if you work in a lab you can probably get it cheaper from Sigma) in your top-off water. Start low, dose slow with this stuff. And don't get it in your eye.

 

I have no idea what other folks are using these days. I still use kalkwasser.

 

 

--Bucky

 

 

Why use calcium reactors or kalkwasser? I use Tropic marine bio calcium works great.

[kgehrke]

Another option is a two part mix of something like b-ionic. It comes with both a calcium bottle and an alkalinity bottle. There is a direct relationship between the two, I think its that adding one will make the other go down slightly. If you get the stuff then you can use the reef chemistry calculator to determine how much you need to use. Its pretty accurate, and gives you good instructions.

 

A calcium reactor is very helpful on big largely sps systems so you don't have to constantly add calcium and alk to keep your levels up.