dansemacabre said:
I'm a little lost on the calculator. If my
Ca is 450ppm, my
Alk should be 12.6 dKH?
Correct but as I said don't look for exact numbers just be in the general range. If you decide to maintain a
Ca of 450
ppm, you should definately keep the
alk above 11 DKH. It will prevent problems with balance later on.
As far as dosing
kalk, the
LFS says you need to watch your
Mg. Will the
kalk eat at the
Mg? What range do you want
Mg in? Anything else you can tell me about dripping
kalk and the desired
Ca<->
Alk level would be great!
Unless dosing a two part liq additive which usually contain
Mg in the
Ca supp, I would always suggest monitoring the
Mg. Wether that be through two part dry or
kalk. The
Mg will either get deposited faster or simpley precipitate out normally.
Alk and
Ca are actually at odds with each other chemically and one is always trying to gain advantage over the other. Having a sufficient amount of
Mg in the system is what keeps them together and helps maintain the balance.
dansemacabre said:
OK... I'm confused.
pH - 8.2
Ca - 350ppm (still Red Sea ... sorry)
Alk - 7.8dKH
what's with the crazy swing? I'm assuming I need to fix these before dripping the
kalk?
Ca should be at 450ppm and
Alk should be 9-12dKH? If they must be fixed, should I get a
Ca increaser and a Buffer? I don't want to screw up my animals.
Not sure what would cause the sudden drop unless the first test was either inacurrate or you tested immediately after dosing. No sign of white residue on the rocks and such?
You do not need to get the levels higher in order to use the
kalk just balance the two. Although the
Ca is low against the
alk, you should still be fine using the
kalk, you just might need to add a
CaCl supp as well later on in the day. As far as dripping
kalk 24/7, I wouldn't recommend it based on your current
CaCO3 load. It doesn't need it. At most you will probabley need to drip 1-2 teaspoons worth 2x a week. Once you get more hard corals or crazy coralline growth it may need more.
Cheers
Steve
.
