Starting Kalkwasser Dosing

[astride13]

In the last few weeks I have been having trouble keeping my calcium levels up. I have been using B-ionic for a while with perfect results (420ppm - 3meg/l). I was adding 5ml of each a day with one gallon of water and everything was in balance. One day I tested and the calcium had dropped to 300ppm but the Alk was still at 3meg/l. I read somewhere that people dose double the calcium on the B-ionic so I tried that. For two weeks the calcium never got above 350ppm, but the alk was steady at 3meg/l. I even bought new test kits and took water to the LFS for another opinion. So I started reading about Kalkwasser......

I read just about every post on this site and some pages I found on google. I am going to look at the grocery store for some tomorrow. I read that I should add 1 teaspoon per gallon of topoff. I also read many posts about adding vinegar to replace Carbon Dioxide, but I am not sure how much to add or if it is even worth it. I also read that some people have trouble with macroalgae due to the lack of phosphates and/or carbon dioxide.

My Questions:
Does anyone use vinegar? and how much?
Is anyone successfully growing macros with kalk dosing?
Anything other advice that I might need to know?

 

[reefrunner69]

300ppm but the Alk was still at 3meg/l. I read somewhere that people dose double the calcium on the B-ionic so I tried that. For two weeks the calcium never got above 350ppm, but the alk was steady at 3meg/l.

This sounds like a magnesium deficiency problem to me. Check the Mag before you change the routine

To answer the specific questions,,,

Does anyone use vinegar? and how much?

I don't now, but I have. At the time I was adding 1/2 teaspoon per gallon of new mixed kalk. Seemed to work well One thing to keep in mind when using vinegar to boost kalk, the byproduct is acetate, which will fuel the bacteria growth in your sand bed, this can lead to sand clumping which is detrimental to a DSB.

Is anyone successfully growing macros with kalk dosing?

I still dose kalk nightly (sans vinegar) and keep halimeda and chaetomorpha in my refugium and halimeda in my display tank.