Ca and water change

[Biggen]

I am curious as to what everyone does about Ca when they make up a fresh batch of water to do a water change with. I finally got the Ca and Alk levels fairly balanced in my tank but I am due for a water change this Friday. I was thinking I should make up the new water and add calcium chloride to the new water after it is mixed to bring the Ca level up to what it is at in my tank. This make sense? Anyone else do this?

If I don't do this, the new water will have a Ca lower than what my tank is. When I put it in the tank, this will cause the ionic balance to go out of "whack" again with my Alk being high and my Ca being low. It has been my experience that to fix this, I have to stop dosing Kalk and do double doses of calcium chloride to bring the Ca up while the Alk drops. This of course takes a few days to adjust the Ca and Alk and by the time I know it, another freaking water change has come around.

 

[Guest]

some use turbo calcium to bring the new water up to the right levels before adding the new water the tank.....I don't, because I use 2 part additives daily so the balance pretty much stays the same, or as I can tell with tests anyway.. I add a bit of the 2 part to the new water after it site for 6 hours or so... Then test the new water.. then add it to my tank...

 

[reefrunner69]

I was thinking I should make up the new water and add calcium chloride to the new water after it is mixed to bring the Ca level up to what it is at in my tank. This make sense? Anyone else do this?

I did this for about a year while using IO, since switching to another brand of salt, I have not had to. FWIW, No matter what salt you use, you should endeavor to make sure the new water has a balanced CA and ALK before you put it in the tank, what level they are aren't as important as it is that they are balanced. Then you can use either a balanced solution like b-ionic oe kalk to bring the levels up, or leave it alone if they need to drop some.

 

[Biggen]

Ah, ok then guys. Well I guess I will add some liquid calcium to the water in order to bring it up to balance then...

Grrr...

 

[MT79]

What brand of salt do you use reefrunner?

 

[reefrunner69]

I use Topic Marin salt.

 

[biotoxin]

i use b-ionic and just straight into the tank. I dont mess with additives in the make up water unless im making it and not planning on letting it sit around. If you dose it then redose again in your main tank seems like youd be double dosing the same water.

 

[reefrunner69]

You dose the waterchange water to bring it into balance. If your using a salt that does not mix to an ionic balance and do nothing to bring it to balance before you use it...your tank will be out of balance ater your water change.

For example, when I was using IO it would mix with an alk of about 6 meq/L and a CA around 340-360, this is way out of whack. It needed to be corrected before use.

 

[Biggen]

Yup, good advice RR. Since all I dose is Kalk, this will not bring the two levels into balance. They must be corrected first or I will have to correct the balance in the tank.

 

[aldo]

Hi
Could someone please tell me what the numbers CA ---Alk have to be to balance?
the salt i use is REEF CRYSTAL.
Thanks
aldo

 

[reefrunner69]

You need to know what the levels are to find out if they are in balance. Say your CA is 420 ppm then a balanced alk would be close to 8.3 DKH or 3 meq/L depending on how you measure it.

http://www.andy-hipkiss.co.uk/caalkcalc.htm

There is a calculator that can help you figure the balance, just input one of your numbers and it will give you what the other should be to be balanced.

 

[jackdp]

Calcium levels should be in the 380-450 ppm range and alkalinity should be in the 2.5-4.5 meq/litre range. If one number is way outside this range and the other is inside then the levels would be unbalanced. IME Reef Crystals mixed to a specific gravity of 1.025 has an alk of about 2.8meq/l and a calcium level of about 410 ppm. These values will differ from batch to batch and will depend on temperature, specifc gravity and pH. I mix to about 1.025 with a pH of 8.1 and a temp of @80 degrees Fahrenheit.

 

[MT79]

Great thread!

 

[hotskate]

i dont test for cal. is that bad?

 

[reefrunner69]

i dont test for cal. is that bad?

If you do not have any calcium consumers and you do regular water changes...then no it's not bad, but if you get lots of LR and stoney corals and coraline growth, then you should test.