How much Ca+ to add at once?
 

I was slackin' on my diagnostics for a couple of weeks and when I finally got around to it I noticed my calcium was really low, 260ppm. My Alk was about 3-3.5 Meq\L which is a bit low too. I've alway dosed pretty high to adjust Alk with no ill effects, but how fast should I raise the calcium per day to get back up to par? I usually keep it at about 380-400ppm and 5-6 Meq\L of Alk. Are these good levels for a mixed tank? (54 gallons)

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Anyone?

What and how are you adding for Ca?

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I'm trying Seachem powdered Ca+ which I just mix and dump into the sump. Its taking forever to get the level back up, its like the corals are using it faster than I feel comfortable adding it. I was told that added too much too fast will damage corals etc.

I've switched to LiquidReactor myself. My clams & corals seem to like it.

make sure to raise your Alk first before drasticly increasing Calcium. Get Alk to the proper levels.

Liquid Reactor by Kent works the best!
I have been dosing with Kalkwasser for a long long time and over the last 12 months or so I have had troubles hitting over the 350ppm mark.
Just yesterday I was given a bottle of LR, you have to be careful not to overdose but this stuff works excellent. I was sitting at around 280ppm then added one capfull and two hrs later I was at 440ppm :eek: :biggrin:

I will now test the Ca daily for a week or two in order to find out how much depletion is taking place.

why do you say that?

anyways you can take your Ca to 400 in one go easy enuf using turbo calcium or something like that.

Steve

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Thats what I was wondering because it says on the jar to not raise by more than 12ppm in one day. I'm still sitting at 260 ppm as of yesterday even after adding about a half a jar over the past week. Maybe the powdered Seachem Ca+ just sucks.
I added a double dose last night as well as ALK buffer, I'll test when I get home and see if it is higher. My corals are doing well but my Ca+ has been low since I started using the IO salt from the Boxing day sale.

Here is a good read on why not to drasticly raise calcium and or Alk .. Also I believe your chemistry problem is solved in the "zone 3" area.

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