Best Calcium additive
 

My 29g tank has Calcium at 370 ppm, and Alkalinity at 11 dkh (both with Salifert kits). I need to dose calcium and wanted to see if there are recommentdations for a particular product. I am considering one of the following:

- Salifert Coral Calcium
- Kent Liquid Calcium
- Seachem Reef Calcium (contains polygluconate, not recommended ??)

Thanks

I recently used the Seachem product to boost my ca after shutting down my kalc reactor. No problems with the product.

I prefer using seachem also. At least there additives do what they say they are going to do.

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I use Kent Turbo Calcium. It is pure Calcium chloride and is the most concentrated additive I've found yet. A couple of tsp would boost a 29 galon tank like 75-100 ppm.

Turbo Calcium here, too. Concentrated, cheap, easy.

I use Seachem's Calcium (powder form), and while it works, I am not impressed with the powder form. When I open the jar, and scoop out product it often leads to small powder clouds.

I also have Seachem's liquid version, although it is only supposed to maintain calcium. I find that the cost isn't justified for this product.

In general I find the powered product works better, and is more cost efficient. The trade off is that it is messy to work with, and it makes me uncomfortable to know that I'm breathing in chemicals.

have you checked your magnesium lately?

Tums :D

Not really, as I do not have a magnesium test kit. It is next on my list but has to wait for some time.

NICE! Have you tried rolaids? Or better yet, have you tried kent for hartburn?

I use Kent's Liquid Reactor & am very happy with it.

I can see my range of options is expanding

Here is the cheapest, and what I use for the occasional Ca+ boost...

Go to your local Pool & Spa dealer and ask for Calcium Chloride... for around $15 you will get as much as you need for years... and it is the identical chemical and physical composition as Kent Turbo Calcium or the old ESV, (now SeaChem???), Calcium Chloride. Dose the same as you would the Kent product... and before people flame me... I have done my research on this... and pretty much ALL Calcium Chloride is composed of 77 - 80% Calcium Chloride & the rest moisture by weight... INCLUDING Kent.

Bulk CaCl from Littlesilvermax. Exactly the same as the branded stuff.

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Good to know Reeferaddict.

If you use a Calcium Chloride supplement long term, the ratio between chloride and sulfate will become skewed (sulfate coming from your salt mix). It's wise to mix up some Magnesium Sulfate to offset the imbalance..Epsom salt is recommended.

The Salifert product includes sulfate ions, so there might be an advantage to using it ??

Good point.

I use a sulphur denitrator in my system so this isn't really a concern. Water changes help all of this though... :mrgreen: I also only use it occasionally... once you get levels where you want them always best to switch to a balanced additive system... (Ca+ Reactor, Kalk, 2 part, etc etc etc...) Also as someone else stated, Magnesium levels need to be right or you may never get your Calcium levels up...

I don't have any experience using their calcium products but Salifert is a reputable company and the owner Habib sp?? is very knowledgeable in Reef chemistry..I would trust that label.

I am no expert, but I do sell the stuff, and this is what I know.

Seachems stuff is good, it has some magnesium added in.

The stuff I sell is about 1/3 the price but has no magnesium added in, but I also sell magnesium too. It dissolves very quickly. The Seachem stuff dissolves faster because it is grinded into smaller chunks, almost powdery, you could do the same with the stuff I sell, but I have seen no need to do that.

My apologies Ben.... I wasn't aware that you sold Calcium Chloride or I'da recommended you in the first place! :redface:

No worries, bro. Not like I make a living on the stuff.:wink:

I like having cheap access to the stuff myself, and I endeavor to pay for my tank's electricity bill from sales, but usually don't even do that.