Ca cl

Alwmh4 · Aug 18, 2015

quick question. First time mixing ca cl and would like to know for safety reasons if a Home Depot 5 ga bucket is adequate for heat produced.

Also. My tank, according to API (salifert is ordered) is 350. Tank is 150ga. How long should I stretch out dosing to get to 420-440.

Alk is 179
Mg is 1200 but just did water change so probably slightly higher now

jduck · Aug 18, 2015

I mix it up 5gal at a time. Only use half the water at first to get it all mixed up then top off with rodi.
You can raise it up to 420 in 1-2 days.

Alwmh4 · Aug 18, 2015

So I don't have a doser yet. It's coming soon. Should I break up the 80 ppm into several doses a day? In order words is it tricky like alk and ph?

Alwmh4 · Aug 18, 2015

And if my alk is fine, do I need to dose alk too? Or can I just dose the calcium at this point?

jduck · Aug 18, 2015

If your 179ppm/10dkh alk is fine no need to add any. Actually it may be a little high. Just bring cal up to 400's over several days. May want to increase mag as well

Alwmh4 · Aug 18, 2015

I haven't dosed anything so far but adding corals to alk is just what salt mix gives me I suppose. I'll get working on the other two. Have sps arriving tomm and like an idiot, haven't tested for ca till today bc no big load Of ca demanding corals in tank. Last question... Will dosing cacl Impact ph? How slow should I go? I have 5 small fish and a few lps frags and a hammer in now (corals added in last two weeks).

Downbeach · Aug 19, 2015

What salt mix are you using? Where are you keeping your SG? What do you use to measure it with?

Alwmh4 · Aug 19, 2015

Coral pro. 1.025
I use a refractometer.

Downbeach · Aug 19, 2015

RSCP should be mixing at 1400 @ 1.026, so it might be a tad lower at 1.025. I would check your refractometers calibration with a 35ppt solution to make sure your SG is accurate. If its off, you could be adding too little salt mix, and by extension too little Ca, Alk and Mg. Are/have you been adding any pH buffer, i.e. perfect pH, pH up, etc.? If so, that would be the reason your alk is at that level.

Alwmh4 · Aug 19, 2015

I have added no elements or buffers. Only what is in salt mix.

Can I calibrate with distilled water? I don't know how to make 35 ppm solution you are referring to

Downbeach · Aug 19, 2015

Alwmh4 said:
I have added no elements or buffers. Only what is in salt mix.

Can I calibrate with distilled water? I don't know how to make 35 ppm solution you are referring to

You should be using a fluid that has a refractive index close to the sample you are testing, which is why a 35ppt(1.026) solution is best. Here is a good article with the explanation.
I ususally just buy a small bottle like this every year, but here is another article with a home made solution you can try.

Alwmh4 · Aug 19, 2015

Gotcha. I'll look into it. I'll add about 30 ml of Randy's recipe 1 for ca today too. Shouldn't swing things too much but might help?

jgraz · Aug 19, 2015

Check this out before you start to add calcium. Very good article. You may find that if you start adding calcium your alk may begin to drop.
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-06/rhf/index.php

Alwmh4 · Aug 19, 2015

I read this article before and it's informative and does help me understand better but I don't know how to go about addressing the problem. Do I leave ca low? My alk is in higher side. But I dont want alk to drop too low. Basically I do t want to kill everything in my tank and is why I've avoided dosing to this point. Things start swinging. I like rules. I can follow rules lol. "Add x amount of y to z twice daily" for ex

Alwmh4 · Aug 19, 2015

I ordered my calibration fluid so I can be positive of that. Only adding 50 ml cacl which I know is low but figure it'll at least keep ca from dropping