calcium / alk

[Scots_art]

sorry in advance if one of these products are not available across the pond . i am not sure if it is or not.

But i have absolutely no room for dosing pumps / reactors so please do not suggest using either.

I would like to maintain alk and calcium levels in my tank in-between water changes ..

i was originally considering using Prodibio Calci_Reef+ buying 2 boxes at a time so this would last 20 weeks.
and the Prodibio Alkareef at 2 boxes which would only last over 2 months as its 2 a week.

, but i was then told i should look at Seachem Reef Fusion 1 & 2 . which ive worked out i would need to add 4ml of each bottle for my tank . and you add it every 1 or 2 days.

so has anyone got any experience with either of the products.

 

[chichimom79]

I prefer dripping kalkwasser for calcium and alk.

 

[Scots_art]

i have read Kalkwasser and it strongly advises do not use if you are not confident to use it.
a lot of people unsure of how to use it have reported serious issues especially when using Seachem Kalkwasser.
so i am not wanting to use it as i have read there site and its not for me.

 

[noy]

I use reef fusion 1&2 and have been using it for over a year now. I however apply it using dosing pumps.

Its a good system and except for mg - you pretty well don't have to worry about other trace elements. I don't follow the recommended dosages and actually would recommend that you monitor your levels weekly and adjust accordingly. The nice thing about this system is that it doesn't affect your ph (significantly).

I have a system that depletes calcium rapidly (lots of sps) so i use a lot more of the part 1 than part 2. That's why i recommend starting with the suggested mfg dosage but then monitoring things to see how much you need to add. You will get a sense of how much Ca/alkalinity your system depletes and then adjust your input accordingly.

Try to add them at different times of the day - if you add them at once - they will precipitate out into this white powdery stuff (calcium carbonate). I add them into the sump because i'm afraid of alkaline burns on my corals.

I am going to start dripping kalkwasser to supplement my Calcium levels (and reduce my part 1 usage). The thing with kalkwasser is that it will raise your ph and if you don't watch it it will crash your tank. I have a ph monitor for that purpose.

 

[yote]

What I normally recommend for dosing ( any chemical ), is to test daily for at least a week. Test at the same time every day and log the results.That will show you what the tank is using over a period of time, allowing you to figure out how much you need to dose daily to keep the parameters stable.

 

[Scots_art]

cheers for that Noy , just the kind of thing i was looking for .
yeah Yote i test my tank once a week at the moment , but i had planned on testing daily for a bit until i knew exactly what my system uses.
as my tank will be over 90% LPS so i have been told will soak up calcium like a sponge lol.

 

[yote]

LPS doesn't use it up like SPS does. But you still have to stay on top of the usage..
Of course, don't forget that Coralline algae also uses it's fare share of calcium and alkalinity.

 

[Scots_art]

thankfully i do not have any coralline algae as i have ceramic rock in my tank so 100% coralline algae free.


with what i have in my tank just now my tank is using 1 dKH a week , as i do not have a calcium kit i cant test for that.
but water changes are all that are needed for now , until i start getting more corals again.