Raising my Calcium

[MediaOne]

I have a 90 gallon reef (new reef) with a few frags in it under a 400 watt MH. I am trying to raise my Calcium, for the little frags, above the 320 (Salifert) it is at right now, up to a 400-450ppm level. These are the things I have. Kalkwasser, SuperBuffer dKH and TurboCalcium.

I have been adding the 1/8 of a teaspoon (per whatever gallons it was) of Turbocalcium for the past 2 days. My calcium has not moved. Nothing else has been added to the tank. I.E. I didn't add any Kalkwasser.

Does TurboCalcium, because it is Calcium Chloride, push my dKH down fast??? I mean, if I follow the recommended dose it should not affect my dKH right? Or do I need to use my SuperBuffer to help offset the downward push from the TurboCalcium?

Kalkwasser only maintains calcium levels right? I used it today to make up my evaporated water, will that help push my dKH back up, or just maintain it like it does Calcium. My dKH is 11 right now, my pH is 8.35 (it always is, do to a large amount of Caulerpa carrying out photosynthesis 24/7). I do not have a very large pH swing that I could use to balance out with the Kalk, it is already being balanced out by my huge refugium.

What is the best way to raise my Calcium right now (with what I have), and then maintain it. I set the Kalk today to about a drip every 2 seconds, it will put in about 1.5 gallons that I lost.

Thank You,

JO

 

[plankton123]

Jo,

Sorry, I can't help but I can emphathize with your situation. I have a month old 100gallon that will not go past:

300ppm Ca, 9 dkH.

If I add CaCl then the calcium remains the same, BUT the alk goes down. Once down to 7.5!

So, I would not recommend adding just CaCl by itself since the Alk appear to suffer.

I would recommend measuring your Magnesium and if it is low (less then 1450 ppm) then raise it and you should be able to dissolve more Ca into your system. Same for pH make sure it is below 8.45 other wise you will not be able to get much Ca into the water. Let me know what you fine out as I'm experiencing a similar problem. Although, your situation is better than mine.

PS I'm only using RO/DI water and IO salt and bionic for regular daily maintenance with Seachem for trying to get the parms up.

Scott

 

[kstagg]

Kalkwasser is used to maintain both Alk and calcium. However, you must first get it to where you want it.

To do this, you can use more quantity and more often of the Turbo Calcium. Use about double the amount to start with. After an hour or so you can add some more. Do this and test every so often to get the calc. level. While performing this procedure suspend, I repeat, suspend the use of kalkwasser. When you get the calcium where you want it, stop until the next day.

Then slowly start adding alkalinity using same method. keep a fairly close watch on PH and alk during this process. If you perform this slowly as mentioned for calcium, the PH should stay within a higher but not too high a range.

When all this has been accomplished the kalkwasser may be resumed the next day.

 

[brokekyle]

ya know..

1..it takes about 24hrs for the calcium to be disolved into a system

PS.. be careful of the buffer rollar coaster

 

[smokin reefer]

Mediaone, go do a search on this subject and you will get your answers. These questions have been answered many many times. You will also find out lots of other valuable information on this subject.

 

[Osama]

Here is a references from Reefs.org
http://reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=6037