Using Calcium Chloride in the Long Run

[NewMan]

I was wondering has any one out there uses calcium chloride as a sole & only form of supplementing their tank?

I had been reading alot of website...stating prolong use of calcium chloride will skew your aquarium water, causing alkalinity to varies etc. Reasons being after a period of time(1-2 years)...chloride ions will accumulate in the water & harm the inverts in the tank. One way to remove the chloride ion is to do more water changes. However it is still adviseable to use calcium chloride sparingly to boost up the the calcium level.

Some refernce site I visited

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/calcalkmar.htm

http://saltaquarium.about.com/gi/dy...twork.com/fish2/aqfm/1998/dec/bio/default.asp

http://www.simplifiedreefkeeping.com/faq/calcium.htm

Any one has any comments on the above?

 

[Anonymous]

Sodium carbonate can be used to balance out the lack of alk., and add some Na+ to the water, but water change is important nevertheless due to the increase in NaCl.

 

[Len]

I used to use CaCl2 as the only Ca supplement, but this was nearly a decade ago and prior to my understanding of water chemistry (and also because kalkwasser was hard for me to find back then). I can't really say what direct effects it had on my tank though. All the tanks gradually went downhill (unlike my current 10 year old 120 gallon), but I can't say with any certainty it had something to do with an ionic imbalance.

Regardless, I'd always balance it out with sodium bicarbonate. And always keep an eye out on the rising salinity levels. Or better yet, use a ca reactor, kalkwasser, or a two-part additive.

 

[Anonymous]

I am not sure, but isn't all (dangerous qualifier...) two part additive the same as calcium chloride + sodium carbonate?

 

[Anonymous]

I used to use CaCl2 as the only Ca supplement, but this was nearly a decade ago and prior to my understanding of water chemistry

ok, how long did it take for you to understand water chemistry?
cause i get lost after 1/2 hour of trying to read up on it.......

 

[NewMan]

I am not sure, but isn't all (dangerous qualifier...) two part additive the same as calcium chloride + sodium carbonate?

Loule,

as far as i am concerned, two parts do not contain calcium chloride :?

or am i wrong?i am not sure. i do dose two parts daily, but it was not enough to sustain my tank intake i am seriously considering a calcium reactor now :idea:

 

[NewMan]

All the tanks gradually went downhill

Len, perhaps you may wish to give a brief description of what happen at that point of time(if it is not two much of a trouble. TIA

Regardless, I'd always balance it out with sodium bicarbonate. And always keep an eye out on the rising salinity levels. Or better yet, use a ca reactor, kalkwasser, or a two-part additive.

as far as i understand, using sodium bicarbonate to balance out the calcium chloride is one of the short term measures to counter the ionic imbalance of calcium chloride. In the long run, there will be excessive chloride + sodium in the tank which will eventually skew the water :?

:roll: guess really have to dig deep into my pocket to get a calcium reactor in the near future :evil: even wif daily dosage of two parts and kalk, i am very disappointed that my calcium level dropped to <300ppm mark. needed calcium chloride to boost it up every alternate days

 

[Anonymous]

What is your alk. reading, NewMan? Also, what devil do you have in your tank (what size is the tank?) that can suck up calcium like that?

With water change, it will take a long time for the NaCl to skew the salinity. Calcium reactor is a good option, but keep in mind that it is useful to maintain Ca and alk, and it will probably takes weeks to get from 300 to 400 ppm if you don't help it once you install it. you probably need to dose kalk and two parts for a few weeks.

 

[NewMan]

What is your alk. reading, NewMan? Also, what devil do you have in your tank (what size is the tank?) that can suck up calcium like that?

With water change, it will take a long time for the NaCl to skew the salinity. Calcium reactor is a good option, but keep in mind that it is useful to maintain Ca and alk, and it will probably takes weeks to get from 300 to 400 ppm if you don't help it once you install it. you probably need to dose kalk and two parts for a few weeks.

alk level conservatively maintain at the range of 6-10dkh. talking about that, my alk level has been dropping unlike previously where i can maintain at 9dkh for weeks before it drops :? nowadays, my alk is dropping at the average of 1dkh per day

my tank is a 110gallon(incl sump volume) mixed reef. Inhabitants includes:-

-5 croceas clam(2 big 3small)
-5 maximas clam(1 big 4 small)
-5 sps colonies and a couple of frags
-some mushrooms
-a few LPS(Octopus & bubbles)
-a goniopora
-a couple of hard corals e.g candy cane :wink:

Tank running on a single 250w MH, ammonia & nitrite presume to be 0...nitrate <10ppm, cal 340ppm(tested today), alk 6(tested today) :roll: Tank setup using modified berlin system

Skimmer used is AquaC EV180

What I observe for the last two months is some of my sps shows signs of growth including 3 of my croceas. coralline algae are growing but at a slow rate :!: my candy cane has shown new growth on one of it's dead branch as well

The only reason(for my falling Ca & Alk) i could think of is that my sps & clams are sucking in the calcium during the process of 'Calcification'. What i am not sure is that do they take in so much calcium & bicarbonate 8O 8O 8O 8O .What i am worried is that with the prolong use of so much calcium chloride & sodium bicarbonate, am I potentially inviting a disaster to happen to my tank :?

Additional Info: Ever since I notice my clams & sps growing, at least 1kg of calcium chloride was used with at least another 2kg of kh buffer

Loule, perhaps with these info you can shed some light for me...TIA

 

[Anonymous]

With regular water change, I don't think you will run into ion balance that soon. However, from what you posted, I am a bit surprised at how much the clams and corals can suck up the calcium. With the amount of Ca and carbonate you added, you probably have a few kilos of growth on that tank.

At any rate, I think you should consider the calcium reactor or kalk reactor for you tank since it is very time consuming to keep the ca and alk. up in your setup from the history.