Calcium ?
 

Whats the easiest foolproof way to add calcium to keep up levels? I tested the other day and found that my calcium was down to 300. Not sure I can afford the $500 for a Calcium reactor.

Kalkwasser - read up on it though.

or a DIY reactor http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...hreadid=587186

Kalk is good for maintaining while calcium chloride (e.g. Kent Turbo Calcium) is best for increasing your calcium.

After having been in this hobby for 3+ years, I DO recognize the merits of a Ca reactor... BUT... my experience has been this;

Ca reactors can cause algae blooms due to excess C02 in the water column - the nature of reactor media also adds phosphates, feeding the algae. On 4 separate occasions I have run my reactor for extended periods, dialed in my Alk and Ca perfectly and still had algae everywhere. Kalk, on the other hand, maintains Alk and Ca, and actually reduces phosphates. My experience has been better coralline algae growth and better health in general in my system - yet I have heard of great successes using reactors too... whatever you do, read up, (see some of Bev's water chemistry links), test, and make your changes GRADUALLY...

Thanks everyone, I think I will read up on the Kalk method for starters.

I can only speak from personal experience and I have to say that one of the best peices of equipment I have bought is my calcium reactor. It takes time to dial it in but once done it has been great. I have previously used kalkwasser and I know that people have great success with it but I really stuggled to find a balance with PH. I have to say at the time I believe that I had low magnesium just didn't know enough to test for it.

Reef chemistry calculators and chemistry links to read :biggrin:

Aquarium System Volume Calculator:

http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/volcalc.html

The Reef Chemistry Calculator:

http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chem_calc3.html

What is Alkalinity?

http://advancedaquarist.com/issues/f.../chemistry.htm

Calcium:

http://advancedaquarist.com/issues/mar2002/chem.htm

Magnesium in Reef Aquaria:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/oct2003/chem.htm

How to Select a Calcium and Alkalinity Supplementation Scheme:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/feb2003/chem.htm

The Relationship Between Alkalinity and pH:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/may2002/chem.htm

Solving Calcium and Alkalinity Problems:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2002/chem.htm

High pH: Causes and Cures:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-03/rhf/index.htm

Low pH: Causes and Cures:

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-09/rhf/index.htm

http://www.muiscontrols.com/ryan/lol2.gif

I was wondering when you would make an appearance Bev.. :razz:

Just helping another fellow reefer get the skinny on the complexities of reef chemistry :biggrin: Glad to be of service :lilangel:

Bev, tell me that you have all that info on a document so you can just copy/paste :biggrin:

If you want something really easy to use try aragaMILK the price can get up there if you are trying to keep your Ca realy high. A bottle lastes me 2-3 months. The cost per day for 2 months would be around $0.25 per day around $15.00 every 2 months. I don't have any real big SPS they are all small to medium and same for my LPS. I have a fare amount of coriline and some Macro Algaes that also use Ca. I have been using this for the past 6 months or so and has kept my Ca around 400+ppm and Alk 8-9 dKH. I will be changing to Kent Turbo Calcium and baked baking soda (washing soda) in the next short while and then to a reactor in the new year.

Just my to cents

Cheers
Tyler

Absolutely :cool:

:question: :confused:

I remember reading somehting about that, what's the benifits to baking it as opposed to using it "raw"?

baking soda will raise your alk levels only

Both "baked" baking soda and baking soda raise alk levels. "Baked" baking soda raises pH while baking soda lowers pH. Depending on the pH level in any of my three tanks, I use various mixes of "baked" baking soda and baking soda to either keep pH the same, raise it, or lower it. There is a recipe of how to mix the "baked" baking soda and baking soda on RC somewhere. Have tried to search for it just now, but the searhc function is currently overloaded. Will try again later.

Use the The Reef Chemistry Calculator to calculate how much you need.

http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chem_calc3.html

To "bake" baking soda:

Spread baking soda (594 grams or about 2 ¼ cups) on a baking tray and heat in an ordinary oven at 300 °F for 1 hour to drive off water and carbon dioxide. Then store it in a sealed container for use.

that's the answer I'm lookin for! thanks bev!

Sorry for my late responce. Yes it is a mix of Baking Soda and "Baked" Baking soda. Cheep for a buffer.

Cheers
Tyler

Just a note, turbo calcium will raise chloride levels also. Not recommended for Ca maintenance.

Wow, Thanks Beverly for all the links.

You're welcome, Marcus :cool:

Here is the link for the RC thread on washing soda ("baked" baking soda) and baking soda. It contains a link to one of Randy's articles :razz:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...shing+soda+mix

reply
 

This is true. I've spoken to the technical guys at Kent about it and although they recognize the potential danger in adding chloride ions to a tank, they assured me that they haven't had a case of a tank failing because of using their product. they said natural sea water contains up to 20,000 ppm of chloride ions, but they didn't tell me what the concentration is in Kent Turbo Calcium.

I have recently begun using a regiment of combined Turbo Calcium and Kalk to buffer my tank. Its taken a while but my levels are slowly but steadily increasing from the 310ppm mark up to 360 as of yesterday. Its a lot cheeper than liquid suppliments.

My cheap dosing routine:
- Food grade Calcium Hydroxide (Kalk) for all topoff
- Arm and Hammer baking soda for buffer
- Bulk Calcium Chloride from swimming pool supply store (tip courtesy of Chin Lee)

I make up liquid solutions in advance for easy dispensing.

reply
 

I was actually wondering about adding baking soda to the kalk water after mixing it, to nutralize the ph a bit. Are there any ill effects from doing this in your experience?

Re: reply
 

Never tried it - never had a reason to. I would guess that since baking soda will supply carbon (as carbonate) that the combination would lead to calcium carbonate precipitation, which would render the kalk useless.

From my experience systems tend to run lower than pH 8.2-8.3 and kalk can be beneficial in raising it.

Unless you have identified an 'abnormal' pH level as the cause of a problem I would'nt get too creative in trying to obtain textbook levels. Often it can do more harm than good. If you have to lower your pH due to Kalk use then I suggest adding vinegar to the kalk mixture POST mixing.

reply
 

Good to know. I have added vinegar in the past but I am always hesitant because, well, its vinegar. Thanks! :biggrin:

Re: reply
 

Danny,

You've got to read the links I provide :razz: The following quote is from:

High pH: Causes and Cures:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-03/rhf/index.htm

it is also important to remember that the raw baking soda's effect of lowering PH is only temporary. I have never used Baked baking soda so I don't know about its ability to permantly raise PH but I fine after a couple hours my PH is back to normal and it doesn't get lowered that much at all for the amount of baking soda I use. :rolleyes:

Steve

Vinegar and Kalk
 

Vinegar is great for lowering ph of kalk, just use the same brand pictured in that article; "Heinz pure white vinegar" or any other distilled brand. In addition to this, it also helps dissolve kalk mix more readily even the "kalk" sludge in the bottom of your kalk bucket/container. (I think this info is in one of the articles listed by Beverly as well.) If you follow the suggestion of 45ml vinegar/gallon using a 2tsp/gallon (10mg/gallon) kalk mix, you'll get a fairly "safe" solution to add to your tank once everything settles. You can add it all at once considering you have a larger tank (100+ gallons); use a drip line anyway but open it fully. Should take about an hour to empty 5 gallons of kalk mix this way.

Although vinegar does reduce alkalinity, the effect is negligible in Calgary as our water is REALLY hard from 122-248 mg/L or ppm (6.8-13.8 dKH). Your exact range depends on what reservoir your water is drawn from whether it be from the Glenmore in the South (very hard water) or Bearspaw reservoir in the North (not as hard as the south).

Hopefully this puts your mind at ease next time you consider adding vinegar.