Kent turbo calcium
 

Anyone else using Kent Turbo Calcium?

I bought a small jar last night to try out. It says that you should dose 1/4 teaspoon per 50 gallons. I've tried a lot of calcium suppliments but this one seems to be the most concentrated. 1 table spoon boosted my 80 gallon system from 328ppm to 400ppm just like that. If all goes well with it, I can see it becoming my best choice for calium suppliments.

I recommend it for those tanks in limbo between to big for liquid calcium suppliments, and too small for calium reactors.

I was under the impression that Turbo Calcium was designed not as a supplement but as something to get your calcium levels in order so that they could be maintained by using a calcium buffer or liquid calcium or other product. Turbo calcium contains chloride which can build up in your system with repeated use and have negative effects on corals due to its toxicity.

A lot of these liquid supplements are things you need to be careful with. Like Christy mentioned, some of them are CaCl and the Cl ions don't really have anywhere to go once freed from the Ca. I thought I read (years ago now) that this is speculated to contribute to things like old tank syndrome. At the very least, problems with ionic imbalances can be hard to diagnose and correct. It take take months before you suspect something is up.

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Wow, good to know. I always wondered why there some suppliments say "raises calcium" while others say "maintains calcium" Time to contact Kent for info.

Well using Turbo Calcium isn't a bad thing. It really works quite well. Its just that it isn't really good to use long term. Get your levels up and then switch over to a different product. It works much better than trying to get levels up with the "maintenance" product which can take forever sometimes. :biggrin:

Also watch your alk when you're using that stuff as well. Alk swings can be not so good for your tank inhabitants.

I use Kent Turbo Calcium to boost my levels up if they drop off too much. I have a Kalk reactor that is fed by my top off water, so I don't have to use very much of the Turbo, usually only every few months. It does bring up the calcium levels very well. I usually try to do the boost over three or four days.

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Maybe you guys can answer a question for me. Does kalk add calcium or just alkalinity? If it does add calcium, does the two part washing:baking soda buffer also add calcium?

Kalk adds both Ca and alk. The two part washing:baking soda only adds alk, no Ca.

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Kalk maintains CA and KH, the key word being maintains. It should not be used to raise or add calcium, since it is so high in pH. I would get boost to the desired levels using CaCl and a buffer, and then maintain with Kalk. If your Kalk dosing cannot keep up with the demand of your corals, might be time to invest in a reactor :lol:

Danny,

Do you want me to post the chemistry links for you?