Two part and kalk help

Jakepen · Jun 22, 2016

Hey @Randy Holmes-Farley just mixed up my solution. Dosed 25 ml to my tank, which raised my alk 1.2, in about thirty seconds, this is okay right? Also, my tank consumes about 2 dkh per day, so will I need to up the dosage? One more question, my calcium was 440, I didn't test it after dosing. Is it okay to keep dosing the same amount of calcium as I am alk, even though consumption is different? Won't my calcium eventually get to high? Thank you in advance.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 23, 2016

That alk boost is OK if you do it every day.

If you need 2 dKH per day, I'd split it into an AM and PM dose.

Consumption is not likely appreciably different, so I'd stick to equal parts dosing until calcium is on the verge of getting too high (say, 500 ppm). There is too much variability in testing to split hairs on calcium dosing amounts except over long time periods.

That said, limewater will very slowly raise calcium with respect to alkalinity, and so such a tank is well suited to normal Instant Ocean with a bit lower calcium.

Jakepen · Jun 23, 2016

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
That alk boost is OK if you do it every day.

If you need 2 dKH per day, I'd split it into an AM and PM dose.

Consumption is not likely appreciably different, so I'd stick to equal parts dosing until calcium is on the verge of getting too high (say, 500 ppm). There is too much variability in testing to split hairs on calcium dosing amounts except over long time periods.

That said, limewater will very slowly raise calcium with respect to alkalinity, and so such a tank is well suited to normal Instant Ocean with a bit lower calcium.

I think I'm going to stop dosing kalk, as it doesn't do much. I'm a bit confused by that last line. Such a tank is well suited to normal instant ocean with a bit lower calcium?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 23, 2016

Jakepen said:
I think I'm going to stop dosing kalk, as it doesn't do much. I'm a bit confused by that last line. Such a tank is well suited to normal instant ocean with a bit lower calcium?

A tank using limewater is what I meant. Limewater adds exactly the ratio of calcium and alkalinity in calcium carbonate, but magnesium gets into calcium carbonate in place of a small amount of the calcium, so over time, the tank is not using as much calcium as you are adding in limewater to exactly maintain alkalinity.

Because of that, water changes with a lower calcium mix like IO is a good match for such a tank.

Jakepen · Jun 23, 2016

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
A tank using limewater is what I meant. Limewater adds exactly the ratio of calcium and alkalinity in calcium carbonate, but magnesium gets into calcium carbonate in place of a small amount of the calcium, so over time, the tank is not using as much calcium as you are adding in limewater to exactly maintain alkalinity.

Because of that, water changes with a lower calcium mix like IO is a good match for such a tank.

Oh alright, now I understand. Well like I said, going to give up on kalk. Just see if I can maintain with dosing.