Finaly balanced my alk and calc

[Jennifer]

The title says it all. I have finally managed to equal out my levels of alk and calc thank god. Or at least I am in zone 2 using the reef chemistry calculator. I feel like I have been battling this for a while. The corals were bringing the levels down faster than I could keep up just using 2 part solution.
So I started dripping Kalk a few weeks ago.

My levels are:
Alk = 2.29 meqL
Cal = 380
ph = 7.98 (am)
Mag = 1380
amo = 0
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = 0

I want to bring the levels up a little farther from where they are.
I have been dripping about 2 gallons of kalk solution a day to get to where I am. I set it to a slow drip in the day and a faster drip at night to try to keep the PH stable. Even so my ph dips from 8.20 at night to 7.98 in the morning.

I feel the amount I am dripping is just a tad more than the demand in my system.
Sould I just keep slowly dripping Kalk unil they are where I want them.
Or should I try to add 2 part to bring up the levels.
I just hate to mess up the balance seeing as I worked so hard to get here.

I know I will need some sort of reactor it is just not in the budget right now. Maybe in a month or so.

What should I do?
Thanks guys for any input. - Jenn

 

[stingythingy45]

I'm not an expert on this by any means.
But,I'm pretty sure that dripping kalk only helps maintain a systems calcium/alk not really raise it.And as an added bonus it helps keep PH up.
I guess it takes way too much to make it worth using it to raise calcium.
I drip at least 2 gallon a kalk during the night,and I still find that I need to suppliment at least 60-90 ml of 2 part to keep calcium levels acceptable.
And my tank is most softies with a few LPS and monticap.

 

[JohnK]

Yes, kalk works best for maintence. I'd use two part to bring the levels where you want them and then hopefully maintain them with the kalk.

Just remember to be careful with the kalk though, if you don't have a reliable means of accurately controlling the drip rate you could be risking disaster (Overdose, massive PH spike....)

 

[stingythingy45]

I find that the alk part of the 2 part almost becomes redundant once you start dosing kalk.

 

[wrassefan]

I would still try and get that calcium level into the 400s (target 450)

 

[alpha0r]

You should be fine to raise both levels with the two part. I have been dosing Kalkwasser out of a 2 liter bottle for 3 years and have never had a "disaster" from two much Kalkwasser entering the system. But it could happen. The only benefit of a reactor is that it does it automatically so the system gets calcium even when your lazy. I would add that a reactor tied to auto top-off has the problem of adding Kalkwasser at the wrong time. Since your PH and evap are highest while the lights are on the auto top off will be adding at the *worst* time. But you can dose manually first thing in the morning or during the night when PH is the lowest.

 

[Jennifer]

Thanks guys.

This is what I got from the reef chemistry calculator:
It say I need 13.4 oz calcium (randy's recipe) to finish balacing my levels. 150 gallon total system volume.

I got my self into trouble before so I am reviewing my practices.
Would you guys add the above CA all at once or slowly over a day or 2. This will only be fully balancing my levels out.

NEXT:

Then I will need to add
7.2 oz of calcium to get to 420 CA
6.6 oz of Alk to get to 2.95 meql

How do yo guys add these?
Alk first (obvious I thnk) and wait how long before adding the CA part?

I am trying to prevent precip.
Like I said I have been dealing with this for a while. So I need to go back to square 1 and make sure I am doing things right.
Thanks again.

 

[stingythingy45]

This is just me,and I know there's going to be a lot of,"not all at once people".
But I would go with all of the calcium suppliment and half the alk.
Wait at least an hour then test the parameters and see where you are.
It's only really half a beer.........lol.
I've done that with no ill effects.The calcium is nothing,it's the alk you don't want to raise too...too fast.

 

[stingythingy45]

I'm just glad I have a sump now.
It's a little freaky to look down and see your fish guzzling the suppliments as you pour them in.
Good thing I wasn't dosing vodka.

 

[Jennifer]

I'm just glad I have a sump now.
It's a little freaky to look down and see your fish guzzling the suppliments as you pour them in.
Good thing I wasn't dosing vodka.

That would be a little freaky.

Well thanks for the input Bob. I guess no 1 had any further input.
I need to do another round of test today and see where I have messed up the levels again. LOL Na I think it is working out just fine thanks to dripping Kalk.
I am also knocking back some of that stuborn algae.
Thanks - Jenn

 

[stingythingy45]

I've noticed that everything in my tank looks much better now that I drip kalk at night.I still find that when I test on Saturday mornings my Calcium is around 400.And that's with daily suppliments of 30 ml of ESV 2 part.The few caps that I have are growing like crazy.And the tank is just one huge mass of purple coralline.

 

[MikeG]

I'm not an expert on this by any means.
But,I'm pretty sure that dripping kalk only helps maintain a systems calcium/alk not really raise it.

I still don't understand this. Saturated kalkwasser will add a set amount of calcium and alkalinity to your water column. If your demand is lower than what you add it will raise your levels. If it is higher it won't keep up. The only thing I can read into that statement is there is a limit to how much kalk can be added to the tank due to the increase in pH. If you need more than this volume to maintain levels then I agree, you can't raise them with kalk. But for a low to medium demand tank why couldn't you?

If that is the case I think it should read more like if you have a high calcium and alkalinity demand you may need to suppliment your kalk dosing to maintain or increase values.

 

[delta]

I would figure out what your daily consumption of ALk, Calk is. This should be
X amount of part A and x amount of part B of the two part solution/day. Then adjustments will be much easier to judge, as you will know X amount will bring your tank up X amount of Alk/Calk.

Although if you're using kalk it would be X amount of kalkwater/day. But I would adjust Alk/calk with another suppliment in this case.

 

[stingythingy45]

"If that is the case I think it should read more like if you have a high calcium and alkalinity demand you may need to suppliment your kalk dosing to maintain or increase values."

I agree,Mike.
What happen to me was I started dripping kalk at night by just setting up a drip.So,it was just topping off with kalk,it was adding freshwater/lime to the system.The thing is it was ADDING 2 gallons fresh water.So after a few weeks of doing this I noticed something.My SG was not getting more concentrated but dropped from 1.025 down to 1.023.So really you're limited as to how much Kalk you can add to you system at a time.From what I understand the max amount is 2 tbs per gallon of ro/di.Not only will it push the PH up but if not done as a topoff it lowers the SG.
I've often wonder if it was possible to mix the kalk in with saltwater like 1.010 SG.But then you would just be raising the level in your sump.
I think that's why supplimenting for Calcium especially are needed also.It's concentrated boost and doesn't add too the water volume or change the SG over time.

 

[reefsmurf]

That doesn't make sense. Kalkwasswer water should have no salinity in it. If you are replacing the exact amount of water that has evaporated there should be no change in salinity. Perhaps you are skimming very wet, or your sump level is rising slightly faster than you noticed it, etc.

 

[Jennifer]

That seems odd Bob. I have a mark on the side of my sump that indicates water level. So as long as the kalk solution and top off stay at that line, then my salinity stays right where it should at 1.025.

I always wondered why the Kalk solution would not raise the Alk and ca levels.
It makes sense to me that if you are adding more than the tank uses that you would infact be upping the levels of both.

 

[reefsmurf]

It's because limewater's levels are not high enough. According to RH:

"Saturated limewater has a conductivity of about 10.3 mS/cm at 25ºC, and contains about 808 ppm of calcium and 40.8 meq/l of alkalinity"

I am guessing I lose about 2-3% of water to evaporation. Let's say 3%. Let's say I'm low on calcium at 300ppm. That limewater replacement would raise my calcium by 15ppm. That is easily consumed on a daily basis (at least in my tank) so there's no practical way to raise levels with limewater.

 

[stingythingy45]

That's what I'm really trying to say^^^
You can only dilute so much limewater in topoff.
If your calcium usage is more than you can drip safely,then you calcium will drop.My SG dropped because I had room in the sump(70 gallon) to drip more kalk than most hobbist would.So,in turn I added more freshwater reducing my SG over time.So Jenn,I really went above the mark.