Kalk to Carbo calcium

[SoggyNW]

Just a quick comment. I routinely switch back and forth between kalk and two parts and hybrid. Always trying to find a way around the kalk wall.

Anytime I switch fully away from kalk there's the inevitable alk consumption drop due to lower pH. It's not huge, but its there. Be aware of this when switching away from kalk.

Ohh that is really good to know. I'll keep an eye on that and see where the pH lands. I'm not actually to upset with a little slower growth, I have some anacropora that is going like an absolute weed.

 

[Hermie]

check out this calculator from Tropic Marin,

ALL-FOR-REEF - Tropic Marin®

ALL-FOR-REEF is an easy- to-use, highly concentrated solution for the supply of ALL essential minerals and trace elements in reef aquariums.

www.tropic-marin-smartinfo.com

It tells you how much calcium (mg/L) and dkH the recommended dosage provides to your tank daily.


For a 50 gallon system, they say ~9ml provides 2ppm Calcium and about 0.28 alkalinity.

So your 20mL dose would give about 4ppm and 0.56 dkH.

I think they base the recommended maximum dose on preventing the alkalinity from increasing more than 1dkH per day. But since All for Reef doesn't provide alkalinity the same way as other sources, ie it takes time for the calcium formate to process into alkalinity, there are people dosing higher levels than the recommended maximum.

I measured my alk today at about 7 dKH, this is after several days of dosing carbo calcium at just under the maximum dosage.

 

[SoggyNW]

check out this calculator from Tropic Marin,

ALL-FOR-REEF - Tropic Marin®

ALL-FOR-REEF is an easy- to-use, highly concentrated solution for the supply of ALL essential minerals and trace elements in reef aquariums.

www.tropic-marin-smartinfo.com

It tells you how much calcium (mg/L) and dkH the recommended dosage provides to your tank daily.


For a 50 gallon system, they say ~9ml provides 2ppm Calcium and about 0.28 alkalinity.

So your 20mL dose would give about 4ppm and 0.56 dkH.

I think they base the recommended maximum dose on preventing the alkalinity from increasing more than 1dkH per day. But since All for Reef doesn't provide alkalinity the same way as other sources, ie it takes time for the calcium formate to process into alkalinity, there are people dosing higher levels than the recommended maximum.

I measured my alk today at about 7 dKH, this is after several days of dosing carbo calcium at just under the maximum dosage.

Your right but I'm not sure which to trust. Their calculator doesn't add up with what the ingredients tab on the same page says.

According to the calculator I should dose 9.46 ml to raise my Ca 2mg. That would mean there is only 100mg in 9.46 ml or 10,570 mg/l. The ingredients tab says 40,000 mg/l.

However in other news it looks like the 20ml/day has kicked in and my ALK drop has slowed to .5 dkh. Doing a 2nd 24 hour test today and then I'll up my dose if it matches.

 

[SoggyNW]

Update. It's been about 2 weeks and the tank is adjusting well to the carbo calcium. A few things I observed.

- The first week a lot of the corals seemed irritated but they seem to be acclimated and bouncing back.

- Once the ALK began to show up I noticed a few days surge before the levels began to recede again. In the first 4 days ALK went from 8.0 to 8.3, in the following week it dropped back to 7.9 and has been loosing about .1 every 2 days. I don't know if this was due to a build up of unprocessed carbo calcium, or maybe the corals being unhappy were consuming less.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Update. It's been about 2 weeks and the tank is adjusting well to the carbo calcium. A few things I observed.

- The first week a lot of the corals seemed irritated but they seem to be acclimated and bouncing back.

- Once the ALK began to show up I noticed a few days surge before the levels began to recede again. In the first 4 days ALK went from 8.0 to 8.3, in the following week it dropped back to 7.9 and has been loosing about .1 every 2 days. I don't know if this was due to a build up of unprocessed carbo calcium, or maybe the corals being unhappy were consuming less.

Interesting.

Thanks for the update.

 

[Hermie]

Update. It's been about 2 weeks and the tank is adjusting well to the carbo calcium. A few things I observed.

- The first week a lot of the corals seemed irritated but they seem to be acclimated and bouncing back.

- Once the ALK began to show up I noticed a few days surge before the levels began to recede again. In the first 4 days ALK went from 8.0 to 8.3, in the following week it dropped back to 7.9 and has been loosing about .1 every 2 days. I don't know if this was due to a build up of unprocessed carbo calcium, or maybe the corals being unhappy were consuming less.

I'm also at about 8 dKH, dosing 25mL carbo calcium daily in a 30 gallon system; full top off is kalk about 1000mL daily.