has any one used pickling lime as a calcium suppliment? I know that pickling lime is calcium hydroxcid and is used with or as kallswagger or how ever you say it, My point is how would you add it if so . since i started useing my ro/di it takes all the crap out of my water but on the flip side my tap water had a good amount of lime in the water and my corals were doing well untill i started my ro/di unit...I didnt think about that at the time.I have a algae scrubber up and running now for 3 months and the algee is still in controll,Been using ro/di for 3-4 months and still the algee flurishes its really pissing me off.
picking lime
- Thread starter AHill40
- Start date
coolhandgoose
Reef enthusiast
You're algae bloom doesn't have anything to do with using ro/di water, and adding calcium won't make a difference to algae. In all likelyhood it has to do with phosphates that were in your tap water that soaked into your live rock and is now leaching out. You can test your water and even if it says 0ppm it's still there just being consumed by the algae. Is your scrubber running at max capacity? Are you scraping every week and getting lots of hair algae?
coolhandgoose
Reef enthusiast
Well you should check out Biff's thread on Kalk disasters and maybe you won't want to do that.
A lot of people use this method An Improved Do-it-Yourself Two-Part Calcium and Alkalinity Supplement System by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com
Also check out this Reef Chemistry Calculator to see how much of a product to add.
A lot of people use this method An Improved Do-it-Yourself Two-Part Calcium and Alkalinity Supplement System by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com
Also check out this Reef Chemistry Calculator to see how much of a product to add.
Bifferwine
I am a girl
I would say, if you can use any other way to get calcium up, then do that and use lime as a last resort. What is your calcium testing at? Are you sure you need to increase it?
Brian_G
overly obsessed
Kalk(limewater) is not a cal suppliment. Its a way of keeping your cal and alk stable. you will not be able to raise your cal by dosing any amount of kalk in one day. For one it will rocket your ph out of sight in seconds and two, its wayyyy to easy to overdose.
kalk needs to be dripped constantly to maintain cal and alk levels. The safest way to drip it is with a ph monitor so you cant overshoot your ph.
you need to raise your cal and alk to where you want them using another method and then start using kalk to keep it there.
but DO YOUR RESEARCH. kalk isnt something to just jump into without seeing the side effects.
positive things of kalk.
-keeps ph higher that a lot of sps like (8.3-8.5)
-easy to use to maintain cal and alk
-fights dinos and other forms of algae by slowly depleting PO4(very slowly)
negative things of kalk
-easy to F%^& up and lose a lot of money
-depletes magnesium
kalk needs to be dripped constantly to maintain cal and alk levels. The safest way to drip it is with a ph monitor so you cant overshoot your ph.
you need to raise your cal and alk to where you want them using another method and then start using kalk to keep it there.
but DO YOUR RESEARCH. kalk isnt something to just jump into without seeing the side effects.
positive things of kalk.
-keeps ph higher that a lot of sps like (8.3-8.5)
-easy to use to maintain cal and alk
-fights dinos and other forms of algae by slowly depleting PO4(very slowly)
negative things of kalk
-easy to F%^& up and lose a lot of money
-depletes magnesium
