calc drip & sps

start with the calk and if you cant keep your cal. up with out riseing your PH to high then its time for a reactor
 
kalc alone didn't come close to support my needs once the tank was mature

I was doing 100% Kalc top off at maximum saturation (3-5g a day) and still had to dose 8oz each of two part a day to meet total demand. I eventually swithched to a Ca reactor and Kalc, but I also had some very big colonies
 
I'm pretty sure I'll have to go to a Calc reactor eventually. Like everyone says, " this hobby is not a cheap one" , so I guess I'll start saving [smilie=smile.gif]
 
You can also us a Two Part from ESV or Bulk Reef Supply. BRS will be more economical. A drip would be OK to start but keep testing your Alk and Ca to see when it is no longer enough. Also watch your pH when using a drip as it could increase.
 
How big is your tank? On smaller tanks I really like using two part. My personal experience with ca reactors I ha ph swings. I definitely recommend two part as a ca choice

A Kalk reactor is a good choice on smaller tanks or low ca demand sps tanks with frags or mini colonies but once you get full colonies might need to move to two part or ca reactor
 
@janakaybravo wrote:
I wonder how long I can do two-part on my 290. I'm using 3 cups a day of each now. Kay said:
Wow that's a lot. Are you doing a Kalk drip or have a Ca reactor?

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Kay - Sounds expensive. Do you have that automated?

This is a good little casual post. I am trying to figure out what I want to put on my 200g aswell.
 
I'm doing two part homemade recipe from RHM. I get the baking soda and boil it for an hour (it's a long story) and use the calcium from BRS. I also use magnesium from BRS and make my own. I do not drip kalk. On my 120 this worked for a while, and I was dosing two cups per day of each.

I use Innovative Aquatics automatic dripping system and I run it 14 hours per day from 9:00 p.m. till 11:00 a.m. I test my params every few days and keep up with the ph on my AC3. My ph is running 8.0 to 8.1 consistent.

I think I'm going to have to switch to a calcium reactor when my sps starts growing, which it has already. If I start dripping kalk in addition I wonder if that will help.

Kay
 
Guess my sps are still too small. I use BRS two part system and their dosers. I have one run a few hours, cut off then the other run a few hours (when lights are out). My understanding from BRS is that is the best time to dose ca and alk. At this time, I pour in the mag (in early morning) but I have just ordered another doser for that. While I have a few pretty good size sps, I have lots of small ones and they are all growing like the weeds in my yard. lol I go through about one gallon of mixture per week of both. The parameters are good and very consistent -- ca 460 alk 11 and ph 8.2.

I have a 220 gallon with maybe a 40 gallon sump.
 
I have a 125g with 35g sump. Pretty new system (8 months old), but doing well. I'm thrilled about that !! I drip calc twice a week. PH never rises above 8.26 thus far. Drops to 7.9 at night. Water change weekly ( 10g ). Stopped dosing Vodka some months ago, bought more chaeto and things look good. Like I said before, I'll have to fork out the dough eventually for my growing babies.
 
@janakaybravo wrote:
I wonder how long I can do two-part on my 290. I'm using 3 cups a day of each now. Kay said:
DaveJ has been dosing two part for over 1.5yrs with his 300G. I switched from CaRx to dosing about a year ago and could not be happier. My tank went through ~280ml daily of Alk solution and a little less calcium so I mix up 4Gallons of each month and programmed the Apex to dose each hourly...20 minutes apart. I'll never go back to a reactor.

Cheers,
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I have heard of folks using the two part instead of the calc reactor even with predominantly sps tank. I hope I can continue to. DaveJ, is your tank sps dominant? Mine is almost exclusively sps. Bimmersz, how many gallons is your tank and how much two part are you dripping per day (in cups)? Do you think I should drip kalk too? I am running out of room for these buckets. I have them inside a cabinet right now next to the tank and the lines are running from the cabinet to the tank and it looks kind of funny, but I can keep an eye on the doser this way.

Should I drip the magnesium also? I put in a cup a day of that, and it's testing at 1350 per salifert test. That sounds like a lot, doesn't it?

Why don't you like calcium reactors, Bimmersz?

Kay
 
It all depends on the size of your system. Sometimes, I may need to dump a gallon of randy's Part I/Part II to adjust my parameters. That really isn't economical. I use all 3 mechanisms (Kalk, Ca reactor and 2 part to adjust for deficiencies).

The key is test your water routinely and your SPS will look amazing and grow like grass.
 
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