Dosing kalk instead of Red sea Calcium

[doubleshot00]

Ive been dosing the red sea a (cal), b (alk), c (mag) supplements but my ph has been dropping (slowly) and wondering if dosing kalk would be better (and cheaper) instead of the red sea supplements. Or can i dose both?

 

[HuduVudu]

Ive been dosing the red sea a (cal), b (alk), c (mag) supplements but my ph has been dropping (slowly) and wondering if dosing kalk would be better (and cheaper) instead of the red sea supplements. Or can i dose both?

I would check your ambient CO2 first. This will give you a good idea of where the problem is and how to proceed from there.

FWIW

 

[KStatefan]

Do not know about better but I do not think there is anything else cheaper per dKh then Kalk.

 

[Tuan’s Reef]

I dose both Kalk and the Red Sea foundation kit CA,ALK,MAG . If my levels are low, I increase the Kalk dosage and manually dose the Red Sea foundation kit to keep up. My PH is rising since i have added Kalk. I do have a Co2 scrubber as well. Highest PH i got so far was 8.29 . So close to making the 8.3 club lol

 

[Ccote]

How are you dosing the kalk? Is dosing all at once ok?

 

[Tuan’s Reef]

I wouldn't dose kalk all at once....the PH spike will be high if you have to dose in 1 shot. Should be dosed slow and continuous

 

[radfly]

How are you dosing the kalk? Is dosing all at once ok?

Add to ATO, start at 1/4 teaspoon per gallon to start.

 

[doubleshot00]

I dose at night. Using a doser.

 

[ClownSchool]

I’ve started dosing kalkwasser to buffer my pH and noticed it also raised magnesium, so you may want to track that parameter, as well.
I know those two elements go hand-in-hand, but it may just be my tank. It is just a thought.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I’ve started dosing kalkwasser to buffer my pH and noticed it also raised magnesium, so you may want to track that parameter, as well.
I know those two elements go hand-in-hand, but it may just be my tank. It is just a thought.

I think there must be another explanation, such as a salinity change or test error.

I do not believe that it can be the case that dosing any type of kalkwasser can raise magnesium. It's not soluble in kalkwasser, even if you manually add it into the kalkwasser.

 

[ClownSchool]

I think there must be another explanation, such as a salinity change or test error.

I do not believe that it can be the case that dosing any type of kalkwasser can raise magnesium. It's not soluble in kalkwasser, even if you manually add it into the kalkwasser.

Well, I did recently find my Hanna Calcium checker was off by A LOT and my mag was around 1200. So, it may have something to do with the aggressive dosing a few weeks ago. It may take a while to stabilize.
Like I said, it’s a good possibility my experience is unique to my tank.
Thanks for the info on mag and kalkwasser.

 

[Ccote]

I dose at night. Using a doser.

Can you give me a rough idea on the time and amounts your are dosing? I have all the equipment. I’m a little worried about messing this up

 

[doubleshot00]

Can you give me a rough idea on the time and amounts your are dosing? I have all the equipment. I’m a little worried about messing this up

I dose from midnight to 7am 150 ml of super saturated. Keeps my alk at 9.3. It does nothing for my PH btw.

Tonight im going to dose 250 ml to see if it makes a difference on my PH.

Hard to mess up Kalkwasser.

 

[Ccote]

So I’ve been dosing kalkwasser 24/7 for the pass 4 days. I haven’t figured out a way to only dose at night with the Kamoer stepper doser I’ve been using. I’m dosing .5 ml/ per min. It’s keeping my alk at 9.0 - 9.3. A lot easier than I expected