Calcium question - What methods should i use?

A

A_Sig

[I just finished moving my tank into it's newer taller stand, and am now running a sump/refugium. I plan to have mostly sps and lps corals in the tank. I just purchased some small frags from tranquil scapes, some montipora and some tri-color, and i was just wondering what everyone uses for calcium in there sps tanks. I'v tried almost every kind of calcium there is (liquid calcium, kalkwasser, Fish Paradise Natural Calcium) except for Bionic. I would like to know what everyone else uses, not just calcium but other things like iodine, strontium... etc. I was thinking about using two little fishes kalk, and there two little fishes CombiSan (supposed to add everything else needed to run a reef) Just let me know what you guys think.]
 
[If you are going to get seriously into SPS I would strongly suggest a calcium reactor. I will never have an SPS tank with again!

Other than that I would recommend ESV B-Ionic as I know many people who use it with great success.]
 
[With a 55g, B-Ionic is all you need imho. It'll take one dosing cup of each part, each day, to maintain your pH, Alk, and Ca where they need to be.

I don't dose anything else at all. This is my recipe for years now.]
 
[I'v seen your tank marc, very beautiful, but i'm the kind of hobbiest that is kinda lazy... So Chase, how do you use that tropic marine calcium... do you have to dose daily??? Where can you get it from...]
 
[B-ionic is the way to go for sure, covers alk and calcium with low doses every day, simply dose number 1 bottle and then the number 2 bottle and your done. The hard part is figuring out the dose amount and how often.]
 
[Do you feed your tank, "Lazy Reefer"? :D It takes about 30 seconds tops to dose. I dose my tanks around 1am daily.

If you start using it, don't just drop the prescribed amount in your tank at once. Pour a little bit in a high flow area, wait 5 seconds, pour in a little more, wait again, pour in a little more...

If you just dump it in, it crystalizes before your eyes and pretty much becomes inert (aka no benefit to your water).]
 
[Lazy reefer? I pour mine into my main return pump and let it pump into my tank via the spray bar. Never thought this would not be benefiticial to the tank. :lookaround:]



Edited By misery on 1088122437
 
[I was referring to Signey (A_Sig), not you Eric.]
 
[So with Bionic, how much do i know to use??? is it pretty strait forward like : add 5ml for every 50 gallons, or do i have to dose, then test, dose then test again till i get it right? or, can i just add the same amount daily as you do Marc, since we have similar setups? Oh yah, hate to get off of topic but, how are those T-5's look. I'm looking into them, but don't know how good they would look being such a low wattage.]
 
[I dose a full cup(the cup that comes with the bottles) of each part in the 55g each day. It keeps my Alk around 8.0dkH, and Ca at 450ppm. pH seems lower than in the past, but still around 8.15 or so.

Your tank's demand may vary from mine, but you can simply dose a specific amount each day and then test the water after 3 or 4 days to see where you are.

I dose a half cup of each in my 29g.

The T5's are fine. I think they would look better if they were closer to the water, but my current canopy won't allow for that. They aren't as dark as VHO actinics, but the wattage is cut in half too. I do like that the ballast is internal compared to the IceCap system.]
 
[Not that I am lazy, but I travel a lot. Because of that, I got a calcium reactor. Since then, I've totally stopped B-Ionic and kalkwasser. In fact, I just checked my calcium today and to be honest, it is a little high (500). It is possibly because after I started the reactor, I had to work on the alk/calcium balcium balance (which is what forced me to stop using B-Ionic). I started dosing Tropic Marin Bio-calcium every other day to bump up the calcium and not effect the alkalinity or pH. It works great.

I pour the mixture of Tropic Marin and tank water in the sump near the intake and watch the tank get cloudy white. It will dissolve with the water after about thirty minutes. My SPS seem to like it as they send out stringy white strands. Why they do that, I don't know. They do the same thing when I feed them NicksMix.

Nick you owe me for the product branding :)]



Edited By Ivan on 1088215871
 
[i'v heard some pretty good things about that tropic marine bio calcium, but it looks like it would cost alot of money to maintain. It says to use one scoop per every five gallons, and the scoop that i saw was pretty big unless i'm thinking of a different one. Let me know how much you use daily and if it gets pricey for you.]
 
[The scoop that comes with the bucket is a small scoop, or I think it is. Where did you hear (or see) where the scoop is big? Anyway, I use 5-6 scoops (actually, the directions on my bucket says one level scoop per 10 gallons), mixed with about 2-3 cups of water from the tank. I use it every other day, and once you reach your desired level (buy a calcium test kit - Salifert is the best one IMO), you then back off. A 10lb bucket cost me ~$36 and I've had it since August. I have a little over half left, which goes to show how slowly I've gone through it.]



Edited By Ivan on 1088397216
 
[I was at fish gallery when i saw it, and it was only the small container, maybe i'm not remebering things right. They told me they use it on there Coral tank, and all the corals in there esp. sps look great, so this may be the way i will go. Where did you get that 10lb bucket for 36 bucks? I'd like to know.]
 
[By all means, buy it online. The only place I know of that sells it online is That Fish Place out of Lancaster, PA
(thatpetplace.com).

The great thing about this product is that it does not act like B-Ionic whereby it does not affect alkalinity. Therefore you can use it as a supplement to the calcium w/o affecting the alkalinity and maintain your balance. This is where the reactor came in for me, because it took away the need for the B-Ionic. Over time, the reactor will pay for itself in what you'll pay over time for the B-Ionic. However, we'll go one item at a time - start with the Bio-Calcium.]
 
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