Explain what you do for dosing Alk/Cal/Mag

[creefer]

I am strongly considering the use of kalk. I have a RR 110 gallon tank and a 5 gallon tank in stand for top off water. I lose about a gallon a day from evaporation. Will kalk be ideal or will water changes be enough? Currently i have duncans coral, acans, several monti caps, frogspawn, hammer coral, blastomussa , toadstool, birdsnest , open brain, scoly , armor of god, hairy mushrooms., ricordea, etc... i made a ato. How :much kalk should i start with. My pump for ato is a maxi jet 4. Would that pump to much kalk in at one time

Before you start, you should first determine how much alk and ca is being consumed by the system. I think you should also consider what fieroguy had to say. My approach is similar to his and has worked well. Watch your pH and start slow with kalk. It will raise your pH.

I'm currently in the process of dialing my dosing regime in. I use an Avast Marine kalk reactor and use it to maintain what I establish with 2 part. I have been testing every batch of change water I make and adjusting it to the current tank parameters and have been logging this to establish my base line needs for my SPS dominant reef. As the tank is young, the consumption will only increase, so I need the baseline to help determine how I need to supplement the system. That said, you could start using 1 tbsp per gallon of RODI in your top off once you know what you're consuming and test daily for a week or 2 and make adjustments from there.

I started my previous tank that way and ended up increasing the kalk in the ATO to 2 tbsp per gallon. This worked for a couple years until I outgrew the tank.

 

[fireman23]

What is best way tp determine alk and ca usage. Testing daily weekly?

 

[creefer]

What is best way tp determine alk and ca usage. Testing daily weekly?

I would test daily between water changes to see what the consumption is. Once you've done that, assuming there's no change in stocking, you should be able to determine your baseline consumption. While you're doing this you should also track your evaporation and check out BRS to see what their calculator says for kalk is it relates to your consumption and evaporation. Then start your kalk in the ATO and keep testing daily to be sure your levels are maintained. If not, adjust the kalk saturation. Just be sure that the ATO is pulling from top of the vessel using the clear fluid vs. the "cloudy" fluid.

 

[ritter6788]

What is best way tp determine alk and ca usage. Testing daily weekly?

I'd start out testing daily until you get dialed in. Then cut back to weekly testing if you are comfortable with the dosing.

I add baking soda to my top off water to dose for alkalinity. I add the desired amount of baking soda to the top off jug when I refill. I test before filling up a new jug to see make sure parameters are in line, usually once a week. I've only once had my alkalinity get out of hand and it was back when I was using metal halides and I changed to a lower par bulb while slacking on my testing. SPS weren't growing as quickly therefore not as much alk usage. I had alk burn and lost a few SPS.

For calcium I use a dosing pump from BRS connected to my Reefkeeper Lite. It took me about 3 days to dial it in and so far I've only had to up the dosage once. I plan on switching to dosing pumps for alk soon and eventually magnesium if needed.

At this time water changes have kept my magnesium at a good level. I have not had to dose Mag at all yet.

I tried Kalkwasser in my ATO at one time but it didn't work out for me. The 2 part method is easier for me with my set up. I'd suggest trying both Kalk and 2 part and deciding what will work best for your system.

 

[impur]

I tested my tank daily for 2 weeks and charted the levels, Then I used one of the online calculators to determine how much I need per day of each supplement to keep my levels steady. I use a Bubble Magus triple doser to accomplish the dosing each day. Its been like night and day compared to when I used to use kalk in my topoff and weekly WCs. Now I do 2 WC a month and my params haven't budged since I got it dialed in.

 

[ckozma]

+1 for the bubble magus doser. I just got one and love it. Just tell it how many mL for each pump and let it go. I have to dose Mg in equal amounts to Ca and Alk for some reason to keep it up, but it works for me. It is like using three part haha.

 

[Aquaph8]

Anybody else wanna share.

 

[beaslbob]

What is best way tp determine alk and ca usage. Testing daily weekly?

Following the diy two part you do:

1) a one time adjustment to get things in line.

2) then add equal parts of the calcium and alk solutions when dkh drops down.

3) after using up 1g of the calcium/alk mixtures you add 300ml of the magnesium.


So the only on going testing is just the simple alk measurement. After a little while you probably find out that testing ever day is not needed and test at longer intervals.


my .02

 

[bullysam]

Is it 2 teaspoons or @ tablespoons per gallon?? confused :squigglemouth:

 

[RacinRevo0818]

2 teaspoons per gallon is the max unless you have a kalk reactor. I think 2 teaspoons is all that is the water can absorb if you add more then 2 to a gallon of water it wont mix correctly. I wouldn't start out with 2 teaspoon, to start maybe 1 teaspoon per gallon and check from there. Also it really helps to monitor ph as it is very easily elevated with kalk. I have mine hooked up to dose a maximum of 1.5 minutes an hour with my apex. Just start small and test often!!

 

[redtop03]

Aquaph8,I do about the same as you,'cept I only dose kalk at night time and I use the Bubble Magus dosing pump for Ca,Alk,and vodka and I use only BRS 2 part,I haven't tried the DIY stuff yet...I also manually dose the mag portion

 

[Eric23]

I dose manually on a daily basis using esv mag and esv two part. It took a long time for me to get a handle on how much to dose of each how often and in the beginning I went thru a lot of test kits. My advice to new reef keepers is to start with a hi quality salt get your parameters where you want them and then test every day for a week and record your results. Then come back here and ask how much to dose based on how much your tank is using. I tried to start dosing when my parameters were already low and I had no idea what my tank was using on a daily basis which made it hard to get things stable.

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[reefin101]

I dose daily ALK & CAL via a bubble magus triple doser. Love it. I use BRS 2 part. The MG i dose manually every week or two when needed.
I am currently dosing about 130ml of each CAL & ALK.

 

[zebe00]

3 months ago I switched over to the Red Sea Reef Care system, and the results are amazing! For me, I never understood how these three chemicals WORKED together until now, I just knew you needed them. It starts out tough for reefers, but you first test all parameters, then add nothing for 4 days. Test again, subtract the two levels, and divide by 4. You now have how much of each element is used on a daily basis, and you find your corresponding dosage. Their trace elements are all based off of your calcium take.

On a daily basis, I dose:

1. Mg - Mg keeps the calcium and the buffer from combining before they enter the coral. Ever get the "snow" after dosing to quickly?
2. Alk - Buffer before Calcium
3. Ca - I usually wait 5 minutes after the Alk
4. 4 Trace elements for color
5. 2 part reef energy supplement
6. NoPOx - Their phosphate and Nitrate controller

I have learned a lot that makes sense out of all the LFS talk you hear, but no one has a reason for.

 

[rarelyseriousb]

Nice thread. The redsea program interests me.

 

[Guerry]

I started with Vertex duro six cal. reactor on my 300gal+ sps system but as corals have grown I now have had to add 1.1ml dosing pumps to keep up with demand, I use EVS B-ionic @ rate of 187ml alk and 154ml cal. daily to maintain levels. I find sps to have best colors with alk7.8 dk and cal 400ppm

 

[specvjeff]

I use BRS two part dosing pumps. They are controlled by timers set up on my Reef Keeper Elite. The two part I use is ESV bionic. In my 63g tank primarily stocked with LPS I dose 20 ml's of calcium and 12 ml's of alk. I dose my alk buffer 4 hours before my lights come on and my calcium a couple hours later.

Jeff
SDMAS B.O.D Member
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