calcium

[nodoubt471]

so the time has come to start adding calcium to my tank- my levels have dropped from 420 to 350 over the last couple months, must be the coralline growning!!

my question for you guys is... what method and what type of calcium addtition do you find the best? im not looking to have some wild Ca reactor, just a nice simple method my mother can handle when im away at school...

ive heard good things about adding both calcium chloride and sodium carbonate simultaneously, any thoughts?

TIA

 

[seaham358]

I use the B-ionic 2 part system all you do is add the required amount with the shot glass they provide, very easy after you figure out how much your tank uses.

 

[Edmonton Eskimo]

I've heard kalk is the best way

 

[malkore]

kalk is a good way to maintain Ca levels, but if you're already way low, it's not gonna be able to bring you up enough. kalk is more about maintaining steady levels.

 

[SaltwaterTeen]

I heard kalk is very bad, I heard you have to make a drip system, because kalk has a ph of like 12.0 and if added fast will easily kill the inhabitants. I also heard that c-balance or bionic is the easiest way to dose. You can dose it directly to tank instead of making a PERFECT drip system

 

[Edmonton Eskimo]

lots of people use kalk with success. You can set up a kalk drip with a 2 litre bottle and some airline tubing.

 

[SaltwaterTeen]

But you have to like make a knot in the tubing to have it add it perfectly

 

[Edmonton Eskimo]

did you have a bad experience or something

 

[nodoubt471]

hmmm ok well so kalk is good for matinence when added properly, i could rig something up for that which is self sufficient, but what about raising the current levels? a pretty big increase is nessescary :?

 

[darb2]

If the Ca of your salt mix is high enough, then a few water changes would solve that. I drip kalk, but mine hasn't gotten to 350. Many people have sucess with the b-ionic, I'd give it a try.

 

[ellisz]

I add kalk to my top off water and then the kalk water is added when the float says the sump is low. It adds a bit of kalk water each time. You don't have to have the perfect drip system.

 

[nodoubt471]

alright thanks guys for your help, i think im going to try b-ionic... ill let you know how it goes

 

[Brad]

I started with the two part additives, but consistantly struggled with keeping my Ca/Alk levels up. I also found that I consistantly needed to add additional Ca in order to stay balanced. It got to the point where I was having to dose at nearly double the maximum daily recommendation and I didn't want to do that all at once. This required dosing 2x per day so as not to shock the system. Too much work.

Finally, I gave up on the two part additives and went to Kalk. Now, I'm balanced Ca/Alk all the time. Ca levels rose to just over 400 and are stable. I'm currently mixing Kalk at only 7 tsp/5 gal and I drip 24hrs/day to match evaporation.

I'm very happy with Kalk. But I would agree that it is a pain to mix and drip. The problem was that the 2 part additives became more painful than Kalk.

 

[nodoubt471]

anybody else with similar issues??