Increasing calcium levels

[MT79]

Originally Posted by cccapt

...The ingredients are pretty easy to find too. I get Arm&Hammer baking soda from the grocery store and bake it before mixing with water. I use recipe #1. If you can't find DowFlake or 1 of the ice melts for the calcium, you can use Kent Turbo Calcium

FWIW the link I provided above, twopartsolution.com sells everything you need in handy, well packaged 2 gallon quantities. For ex. if you buy the 6 gal kit, it's 3 separate 2 gal kits (1 gal part one, 1 gal part two, and the Mg portion). Just dump the packets, add a gal RO/DI to each, 2.5 cups to Mg portion, and mix. Still a good price and saves some hassles trying to locate different ingredients, measuring, etc. The latest recipe uses washing soda, so there is no need to bake baking soda. It's pure washing soda. There was a thread on RC devoted to finding a source for pure washing soda since baking baking soda can be a pain in the rear. The A&M brand W. soda that supermarkets sell was leaving a film when dissolved in RO, as well as having an odor of perfume. Baked baking soda is the same thing as pure washing soda. HTH

[chase33]

Thanks everyone for your help. You've provided a great deal of informative info. MT79 thanks for the site. Really helpful. I plan on ordering the starter kit. It looks like the kit provided by TwoPartSolutions has everything I need. Enough to initially raise the levels, three extra two gallon kits, three one gallon jugs and dispensing pumps. I just need to read a little more about the pumps.

My PH has been at 8.4 for every test except one. The lone time it wasn't at 8.4 was an 8.0 reading which was taken during the day when the lights weren't on. I've tested weekly for the last 5 months using the Salifert ph test kit. Because the ph levels are on the high side I will go with recipe 2.

Also, I've continued to test the CA levels daily and I'm losing 5 to 10 ppm each day, plus I have not gotten it over 400.

[chase33]

Has anyone had any experience with the LiterMeter3?


http://spectrapure.com/St_prec_p0.htm

[MT79]

Originally Posted by chase33

I've continued to test the CA levels daily and I'm losing 5 to 10 ppm each day

Just so you know, you will need to be more precise. 10 ppm Ca useage translates to about .45 meg/l Alk use daily. If your tank is not using all that Alk, it can quickly become elevated and cause a variety of issues. 3-6 ppm Ca daily is about average I'd say.
Measuring Alk useage is a better way to get an idea of daily Ca/Alk consumption b/c Alk test are generally more accurate/precise than Ca test. Add equal parts of 1 and 2, until Alk is steady. At that point, for most tanks, Ca will also be stable. Keeping an eye on both until things are dialed in is best. After that generally Ca can be tested less frequently than Alk.

plus I have not gotten it over 400.

What are you using to increase levels? FWIW Kents Turbo Ca works great for adjusting Ca levels of tanks and fresh SW.Reef Crystals mixes to about 350 ppm Ca for most people using RO/DI water. I use RC's, but I boost the Ca level to match my tank before using it for PWC's. HTH