Aquarist20 Posted October 10, 2003 Share Posted October 10, 2003 I am in need of some help with my 20 gallon. I noticed today that parts of my sandbed was almost as hard as rock. I am now finding ou that it is most likely caused my adding calcium so fast and not dripping it along with carbonate buffer in the same manner. My problem is my tank will evaporate about 1 gollon per day, and to keep my Calcium and Alkalinity up I am adding 4 tsp. of calcium one one day and 4 tsp. of carbonate buffer the next and so on. Now thats quite a bt but if I do not add it the Alkalinity will drop to say 6 from 10 and tha Calcium will go from say 450 to 350. If I drip kalk will I e able to keep the dKH around 9-11 and the Ca above 400? Or will I still need to supplement with Ca and dKH buffers? Any ideas or infor would be GREAT! Sorry for being so long, and thanks in advance. Link to comment
Physh1 Posted October 10, 2003 Share Posted October 10, 2003 Holy crap! Caldium and Alk don't change due to evap...the minerals stay in solution. Have you tested your magnesium value? I'd bet your seriously overdosing.... Any info on mag levels? Cameron Link to comment
Aquarist20 Posted October 10, 2003 Author Share Posted October 10, 2003 Yes I have tested Mag. levels. Running about 1200 as of ohhh, 2 weeks ago or so. And I know that Calcium and Alkalinity do not change due to evap. I am adding that much b/c if I dont it will drop. What I am adding is to only keep the levels at a constant. How could I overdose if the levels are staying the same? If the levels are the same thats not overdosing......Right? Link to comment
Dingo Posted October 10, 2003 Share Posted October 10, 2003 If you add too much at one time, it will precipitate out of solution and form limestone in your tank. Typically this happens by turning your substrate to stone or by coating your heater. After the ca/alk precipitates, the levels in your water are much lower. Assuminng that you really need that much, you have two choices for automatically maintaining your levels: drip Kalc Get a calcium reactor Not being an expert on either one, reefcentral.com has alot of posts about both. Link to comment
apophis924 Posted October 10, 2003 Share Posted October 10, 2003 Aquarist what kind of animlas do you have in yout tank ? They could also be a source of the high calcium demand. I know i evap about 1 to 1.5 gallons a day and i replace all mine with Kalk. So far my ca and alk levels are constant and within normal limits. Evaporation can affect calcium and indirectly affect Alk. If you evap too much water your calcium concentration of mg/L will rise and if rises high enough it will cause a drop in Alk as a result. It will also cause you ca to preciptate out of solution onto your heater and as you have said on/into your sandbed, creating the hard chunks of carbonate youy are getting. And the result of the precipitation is lower ca levels. and cacilum carbonate will not dissovle back into solution at the Ph levels the reef tank is maintianed at. Link to comment
Aquarist20 Posted October 10, 2003 Author Share Posted October 10, 2003 Thanks for all the good info everyone. I am still not sure as to how to solve my problem though. I am still searching. I am thinking of maybe changing my method of adding calcium and alkalinity but dont know what route to take. A Ca. reactor is not really an option as they cost so much and the tank is only a 20 gallon. I am thinking of maybe going to one of the 2 part additives. Just dont know which one to get. I went to the lfs this morning and purchased a bottle of Kent Liquid Reactor. I figured what harm could it do and I have been wanting to give it a try. I dont really know what to do about my sandbed being hard right now though. I guess I could always break it up.... Anyone have thoughts on doing that???? Link to comment
Physh1 Posted October 10, 2003 Share Posted October 10, 2003 I would really druip kalk myself.....easy and price friendly and it will keep up with tank needs. Cameron Link to comment
Aquarist20 Posted October 10, 2003 Author Share Posted October 10, 2003 Thanks Cameron. That is on my list of things to do. I am going to put a sump on the tank soon and I am going to order a Spectrapure LiterMeter from my lfs in a couple of days do to my top off and dosing of various things. Link to comment
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