Calcium questions

[mwolek]

[Calcium and water hardness is what allows stoney corals to grow, without calcium the corals would not be able to produce new skeleton.

Test for Alkalinity and Calcium. Do not be obsessed with keeping both at thier max. A Calcium of around 400 is good and an Alk of around 4meq/l (8KH) is good.

The reason the additives are 2 part is just for this reason, one part is calcium and the other is buffering.

Once your tank is established you can do a calcium test 3 days apart, and divide by 3 to see about how much Ca your tank is using up wach day.]

 

[Maldivan]

[Excellent advice Mwolek. Let me chime in here and give you another article to read about the PH / Cal / Alk references and how to keep them in line. Like Mwolek said, dont be over zealous in trying to keep the readings withen a certain range : 350-450 Cal , 3 - 4.5 alk , and ph 8.1 - 8.3 sould be great.Kalkwaser or pickling Lime can be dripped nightly to maintain these levels after you have established your tanks cal useage. Have a look at these :

http://advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2002/chem.htm


and another thread on this forum on the same subject :

http://www.dfwmas.org....;t=3511

Andy]

 

[Maldivan]

[I do 5% water changes every 2 weeks on the 55. I know its not a lot but it meets the recommended 10% monthly of most reef sites. It also helps to keep my alk in line. However, I have had my alk drop to 2.5 before and I added 1 teaspoon of Baking Soda per gallon of RO top-off water and it brought me right back up to 3 meq/l.Baking Soda is powerfull stuff so you want to be carefull with it.You can use B- ionic 2 part additives.They are very usefull in maintaing the alk/Cal in your tank. I have been dripping Pickling Lime / Kalkwasser nightly for the last 2 months and My cal has stayed at 400 with my Alk always at 3.5 meq/l.I havent had to use any other additives.I did switch to oceanic salt as well from Red Sea and 'm sure that also had a lot to do with it.

Did you ever try that mod to silent your sump/overflow? id love to check it out if you did.Reading through all those threads from RC made my head hurt! Id like to see it in real life so I can get a grasp at what they were talking about!

Andy]

 

[melev]

[ESV's B-Ionic is your ideal dosing product. You add a small amount every day and it maintains beautifully.

Andy, changing 5% of your water every two weeks is not the same as 10% monthly. Are you actually changing 2.75g every two weeks?

FWIW, the rule is 25% a month, or it used to be. If you change 25% once a month, you are going to remove 25% of the impurities in the water. If you changed 12.5% every two weeks, you'd remove 12.5% of the impurities, leaving 87.5% in the tank. Two weeks later, that 87.5% is even higher, right?

Watch out, I bet Ian will run a spreadsheet on me if I use more details. ::]

 

[mwolek]

["What would you suggest to raise both alkalinity and calcium?"

I would use a 2 part calcium like Marc suggested, or Kalkwasser (limewater) though being new to it all you will be better off with the 2 part, much more newbie friendly.

What size is the tank / sump?

"I had some problems fine tuning the plumbing (even with gate valves) and I am going to install 2 float vlaves. One will be in teh main tank (incase the water level gets too high, it will shut the tank off) and the other will be in teh bottom of teh return area of my sump to shut off the pump if the water level gets too low."

Whoooaa wait a minute...We need more details now

The tank should never overflow or 'get to high'. The whole concept of the overflows in the tank is to well, overflow as needed via gravity.

Adding something that shuts off the systems main return pump if the water gets to low is also not what you want, it can happen a lot if you evaporate a lot.

What is the problem your having? Your pump may just be to powerful for your overflow. do you have a ball or gate valve in the return, after the pump? (never restrict a pumps intake)]

 

[Maldivan]

[Hey Marc,
I change 2.5 gals every 2 weeks.LOL its all my bucket holds! I did use B-Ionic 2 part to initially get my Cal/Alk where I wanted them.After that was achieved I started dripping Kalk to maintain that balance.I test my water weekly as im still new and my numbers have been really good.Infact I tested them last night:

PH : 8.1
temp:79
Cal: 400
alk : 3.5 meq/l

The dripping of Kalk has really made my Corraline start to grow and spread rapidly.Ill increase my water changes to weekly now

Andy]

 

[mwolek]

[

Is the tank drilled? I would look into Durso or Stockman mods for the overflow. I recently installed a durso standpipe in my friends 75 gallon and it is now silent.

I think using valves on the overflow / drain is a horrible idea personally, though I see where your coming from with it...

I've never heard of or seen this happen. Use a non-transparent tubing so algae will not be an issue. You can always soak your tubes/hoses in vinigar once a year if it makes you feel better.

So you mean if the auto topoff fails and keeps the topoff pump turned on?]

 

[melev]

[Andy, I'll give you a 5g bucket!]

 

[mwolek]

[Let me know how it works out. I have the same problem with my 125, except there are 2, 2" drains in the back wall....its pretty loud to say the least lol but boy can it move some water.]