Getting Calcium Up; I've hit a road block.

Dom · May 15, 2016

I've been conservatively dosing my tank with Kalk for the last several days. I started with calcium at 300 and it has risen to 380. My goal is the 420-450 range.

I've been gradually increasing the dosage every day as I don't want to be aggressive and find my calcium went up to 700 over night. But it has been steady at 380 for 2 days now and I'm wondering if I should up the dosage? Also, the concentration I mixed is half the recommended amount (I used 1tsp / gal when it called for 2).

I ask because I seem to recall how much you can raise your calcium is dependent on your KH. Is that correct? My KH is at 125, a little low as I understand KH should be in the 140-160 range. Is this why my calcium seems to have plateaued?

Randy Holmes-Farley · May 15, 2016

You cannot raise calcium very much with limewater (kalkwasser) because it will push alk through the roof (not to mention pH).

Is that what you were doing?

Raising calcium 100 ppm that way will boost alkalinity by 14 dKH.

Dom · May 15, 2016

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
You cannot raise calcium very much with limewater (kalkwasser) because it will push alk through the roof (not to mention pH).

Is that what you were doing?

Raising calcium 100 ppm that way will boost alkalinity by 14 dKH.

Yes; that is what I was doing. I've been monitoring pH and it is steady at 8.2

What is the proper way to get calcium up?