Calcium/Alkalinity Help

[MasonK24]

75 gallon ~ 20 gallon sump mixed reef
75 gallon total water volume
evaporation averages 1 gal/day
10 gallon weekly water change (was doing 15 gal just recently stopped cause i dont have enough buckets)

After water change:
Calc-400 ppm
Alk-8.5 dKh

1 week later:
Calc-340 ppm
Alk-8.5 dKh

Goal Param:
Calc-420 ppm
Alk-8.5 dKh

My alk is very stable but my calcium is depleted more than i can keep up with. I am open the the idea of dosing. im currently laid off from my job which makes my finances tight right now so a decent calcium reactor is out of question. Do you have any suggestions for what i can do to maintain good chemistry? Kalk? A Calcium Supplement?

I searched everywhere and usually people have vice versa problems than i do with alk dropping/ calc stable. Any feed back is much appreciated. thankyou.

 

[NY_Caveman]

How confident are you in the Calcium test? In my experience with Hanna Checkers for example I find Calcium to be less accurate than Alkalininity dKH, although Calcium is usually within the range I expect. You could certainly add Calcium, but I would wonder why Alkalinity and Calcium seem out of balance. Do you have a heavy coral load? Lots of coralline algae? Looked for a build thread for more info, but did not see one.

 

[MasonK24]

How confident are you in the Calcium test? In my experience with Hanna Checkers for example I find Calcium to be less accurate than Alkalininity dKH, although Calcium is usually within the range I expect. You could certainly add Calcium, but I would wonder why Alkalinity and Calcium seem out of balance. Do you have a heavy coral load? Lots of coralline algae? Looked for a build thread for more info, but did not see one.

my coral load is not extremely heavy, i have 8 medium sized LPS and 5 medium sized SPS and some assorted softies. im seeing skeletal growth in all the coral so they are contributing to calc consumption by all means but i dont think they could use that much in a week

i have a spot or 2 of coralline but growth slowed dramatically after i could not keep up with the calcium

also my test kit is API. Hanna checker would be wonderful but i am reefing on somewhat of a budget. API from my own research seems to be within 20 ppm so even if it was wrong calc is still lower than i would like it to be

 

[NY_Caveman]

Got it. If you would like to simply raise Calcium you can use Calcium Chloride. Get as pure as you can.

You can get a pound for $7.50 from
https://aquariumfertilizer.com/

 

[MasonK24]

Got it. If you would like to simply raise Calcium you can use Calcium Chloride. Get as pure as you can.

You can get a pound for $7.50 from
https://aquariumfertilizer.com/

would using this have an effect on my alk at all?

 

[MasonK24]

Got it. If you would like to simply raise Calcium you can use Calcium Chloride. Get as pure as you can.

You can get a pound for $7.50 from
https://aquariumfertilizer.com/

would using this have an effect on my alk at all?

 

[NY_Caveman]

would using this have an effect on my alk at all?

Not directly. Calcium Chloride is the Calcium part of a 2 part regimen. The Alkalinity part is typically Soda Ash.

If interested here is some good info about Calcium and Alkalinity
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-06/rhf/

 

[MasonK24]

Not directly. Calcium Chloride is the Calcium part of a 2 part regimen. The Alkalinity part is typically Soda Ash.

If interested here is some good info about Calcium and Alkalinity
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-06/rhf/

thankyou for the help!

 

[NY_Caveman]

My pleasure.