Tropic Marin - CarboCalcium vs. 2 part

[AquAttila]

Due to the lack of space under my red sea max 250 and lack of container space for dosing, I wanted to give this tropic marin "CarboCalcium" a shot and I am not sure if I made the right choice. My alk was under 8, but calcium right at 450; I wanted to bring alk up as it was slowly dropping and as I dosed some it did bring alk up to 8.5 but Calcium dropped to 420... As I understand Alkalinity and Calcium has an inverse effect, so if alk goes up then calcium would drop. How exactly can I dose this product if I wanted to keep Calcium at 450? but as per the instructions for carbocalcium it states to bring Kh to around 9 (as I recall). If I continue to dose then I would fear that Calcium will continue to drop.

Anyone has good experience with this product? am I doing something wrong?

 

[Bpp124987]

Suggest checking the “all for reef” threads. It’s like carbo calcium but also includes trace elements and mag. True one part dosing.

 

[AquAttila]

Thanks for the quick response. You know, I did try that before carbo calcium and what I found with all-for-reef is that the calcium levels were crazy high. I feel that these all in one options are not for everyone! I figured that carbo-calcium maybe ok as I still dose magnesium separate and K, A elements from tropic Marin. Maybe I need to go back to the B-Ionic 2 part as that seemed to be a good solution but will require another dosing pump and container. I don't want to give up that easy though and waiting to see if anyone else has any suggestions, or experiences they ran into with carbo-calcium.

 

[Bpp124987]

I also see really high calcium, but my reading of Randy’s and others’ posts is to not worry about it. And tanks are doing great...

 

[GabeM]

There is no reason to keep Alk at 9. Tropic Marin usually recommends keeping most tanks between 7 and 9 dkh I keep mine between 7 and 7.5

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Due to the lack of space under my red sea max 250 and lack of container space for dosing, I wanted to give this tropic marin "CarboCalcium" a shot and I am not sure if I made the right choice. My alk was under 8, but calcium right at 450; I wanted to bring alk up as it was slowly dropping and as I dosed some it did bring alk up to 8.5 but Calcium dropped to 420... As I understand Alkalinity and Calcium has an inverse effect, so if alk goes up then calcium would drop. How exactly can I dose this product if I wanted to keep Calcium at 450? but as per the instructions for carbocalcium it states to bring Kh to around 9 (as I recall). If I continue to dose then I would fear that Calcium will continue to drop.

Anyone has good experience with this product? am I doing something wrong?

No, it is not correct that "so if alk goes up then calcium would drop. ".

There is no scenario where adding carbocalcium will raise alkalinity but drop calcium, unless alkalinity is also being added other ways.

Keep dosing it to maintain alkalintiy and calcium will follow along just fine. If there are minor long term issues with alk and calcium balance, a little calcium chloride or baking soda in addition to the carbocalcium will correct the issue.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

There is no reason to keep Alk at 9. Tropic Marin usually recommends keeping most tanks between 7 and 9 dkh I keep mine between 7 and 7.5

There are reasons to keep alk at 7 or 9 or 11 dKH.

You choose 7 dKH and that is great. But do not suggest "there is no reason". One main reason for higher alk is faster hard coral growth that often is driven by higher alkalinity.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I also see really high calcium, but my reading of Randy’s and others’ posts is to not worry about it. And tanks are doing great...

If it is not over 550 ppm, I would not worry about it. If calcium is rising above that, I'd replace some of the carbocalcium with baking soda for a while to allow calcium to drop.

Carbo calcium is very slightly overbalanced toward calcium, like limewater (kalkwasser) which has the same alk to calcium ratio as carbon calcium.

For that reason, i cose a lowwer calcium mix (normal IO) to osset teh extra calcium of limewater and it worke dout fine in my system long term:

My Triton Testing Results: By Randy Holmes-Farley - REEFEDITION

Recently, Triton GmbH in Germany has initiated a method of testing many ions at once for a single price. In the US, that service is coordinated by Unique Corals. For $49 they will send you a couple of tubes to collect a tank water sample, and a prepaid mailer to send the sample back to them...

www.reefedition.com

from it:

Calcium (Ca). In my reef aquarium, I use only Instant Ocean salt and I have not added any additional calcium except as limewater for a number of years (during which time I have continued regular 1% daily water changes). So why is my calcium level (472 mg/L) higher than one would normally expect for Instant Ocean (maybe between 350 and 400 mg/L)? That long term rise in calcium is actually the expected result when using limewater to maintain alkalinity.

Limewater adds calcium and alkalinity in exactly the same proportions as in pure calcium carbonate. So if that is what is used by corals to make skeletons, and what precipitates on pumps and such, then calcium would stay constant.

But both magnesium and strontium get into growing calcium carbonate crystals in place of some of the calcium. A few percent of the calcium is replaced this way. Consequently, since the same amount of alkalinity (the carbonate) is used over time, and somewhat less than the balancing amount of calcium, calcium rises if alkalinity is maintained. I’m happy to see the result match the theory, and the calcium level seems fine to me.

 

[GabeM]

There are reasons to keep alk at 7 or 9 or 11 dKH.

You choose 7 dKH and that is great. But do not suggest "there is no reason". One main reason for higher alk is faster hard coral growth that often is driven by higher alkalinity.

Thanks Randy let me correct myself. There is no need to keep alk at 9 to run carbocalcium*

I thought the context was enough.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Thanks Randy let me correct myself. There is no need to keep alk at 9 to run carbocalcium*

I thought the context was enough.

ok, got it.

 

[AquAttila]

Thanks all for the responses! Randy, I will continue with carbocalcium as you had suggested. I was going to try to raise calcium to 450 using B-ionic but will not do that yet.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Thanks all for the responses! Randy, I will continue with carbocalcium as you had suggested. I was going to try to raise calcium to 450 using B-ionic but will not do that yet.

If you want calcium that high, its fine to boost it with a product other than carbon calcium. Calcium chloride or the calcium part of a two part is suitable.