Jump to content
Coral Vue Hydros

Calcium dosing


PeteyC

Recommended Posts

Ok so from lastweeks 10% water change to this weeks 10% change I have dropped from 400 to 240ppm and I have three lps. Im finally convinced im going to have to dose calcium. Question I have is should I dose kalkwasser or should I dose a 2 part solution. I have looked into both methods but I cant decide what is better. Please give me some suggestions.

Link to comment

That dramatic of a drop in a week shouldn't be due to coral consumption especially if you only have 3 lps corals. I think it could be due to the calcium concentration in your water your using for water changes.

 

Do you test the water your changing with?

 

will dosing 2-part solutions keep magnesium and calcium in check? I am also interested in this

 

I only have experience with 2-part solutions which works great for my reef. 2-part is essentially a calcium solution and an alkalinity solution. I use B-ionic 2 part which takes care of calcium, magnesium, and other minor elements in one solution. In the other is basically bi-carb which takes care of your alk.

Link to comment

as of now im not dosing anything ive just been diligent about my water changes and everything has been happy. As far as corals I have a Favia, torch and a duncan but they are not all that big. Also my coraline algea has started spreading so im sure that is also contirbuting to lack of calc. As far as what my alk is at I have a crappy rea sea test and it is hard to exactly pin point but i would say it falls between 2.7 and 3.3 meq/l which the test says is the high end of the scale. Im certain im going to have to dose calc and maybe alk to get my levels where I want them. The question I have is should i use kalkwasser or some kind of 2 part additive? and why?

Link to comment
OClownsandNanos
as of now im not dosing anything ive just been diligent about my water changes and everything has been happy. As far as corals I have a Favia, torch and a duncan but they are not all that big. Also my coraline algea has started spreading so im sure that is also contirbuting to lack of calc. As far as what my alk is at I have a crappy rea sea test and it is hard to exactly pin point but i would say it falls between 2.7 and 3.3 meq/l which the test says is the high end of the scale. Im certain im going to have to dose calc and maybe alk to get my levels where I want them. The question I have is should i use kalkwasser or some kind of 2 part additive? and why?

 

I used this article to make my decision to go with the 2-part. You may easily go another way. It has a really nice breakdown of all the different options in calcium/alk/mag dosing and their pros and cons. With Kalk, I'm mostly concerned about the safety issues, etc., and am staying away from it for now. I haven't started dosing yet but am monitoring everything and already bought some 2 part B-Ionic. I will likely do the Bulk Reef Supply 3-part if I wind up having to seriously start dosing, however.

Link to comment

I bought the kalkwasser and set it up on drip with my top off water. My current parameters after a 10% water change today are as follows: Calc 320-340 Alk 3.0-3.3Meq/L Ph 8.0

Im going to check my parameters in the am and well see how the kalk mix I made is working.

Link to comment

So I made a "strong" gallon of Kalkwasser using the maximum recomended amount of mix and I dripped it in as my top off water over a 48 hour period. This helped with two things, the Ph is now stable a 8.2, and everything in the tank looks happy......but my calc level is at 280ppm. So what do I do now? I cant drip any faster or I will be adding too much top off. The mix was made at its highest recomended saturation per gallon. I guess I could add vinegar to the mix to try to dissovle more but im not sure if that will really help. Im wondering if im doing something wrong because ive seen heavy sps tanks run with high calc with only kalk suplimention. What am I doing wrong???? I think im going to take a sample to the lfs to check my levels again.

Link to comment

Kalk is/was never meant to raise anything. It is meant to maintain....and even then....sometimes it does not maintain if the tank is hungry for elements. That is one of the pluses for 2 part. You can dose either part and raise as needed. You are going to lose the battle with keeping good levels if you only use kalk. I think the people at Bulk Reef Supply said it best in one of their articles/videos......use 2 part to get things at a nice level and then keep it there with kalk.

Link to comment

That article that was linked earlier also explains it a bit.

 

"Additionally, the use of a small amount of one of the other balanced additive systems (especially the two-part additive systems) is often used by aquarists give a little boost to tanks that need a small amount of extra calcium and alkalinity beyond what limewater can supply, without incurring significant capital costs"

Link to comment

ok so I just bought a kent marine two part additive. Do I dose this in equal amounts like the label says or do I dose part a and then test and dose part b accordingly? if so then how do I determine how much to dose?

Link to comment

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recommended Discussions

×
×
  • Create New...