calcium additives ???
- Thread starter helipilot
- Start date
Gonodactylus
Premium Member
From my experience, if you can keep your pH up in the 8.2 range, the calcium will be fine. However, low pH may cause stomatopods problems and calcium can help with this.
Alkalinity plays a more significant role in pH regulation than does calcium (of course the two work in tandem -- ocean water is a nearly saturated calcium carbonate/bicarbonate solution, literally "liquid rock").
The only "real way" to do this is by testing your water. Get some high-quality test kits, keep your calcium at about 350+/-50 ppm, and your alkalinity at about 3.5 +/- 0.5 meq/l (I forgot what that is in dKH -- 9-11?). I dose daily with B-Ionic (about 1.5x the recommended "starter dose") and my water parameters have remained "excellent", with the pH between 8.1 and 8.3.
Your calcium/alkalinity utilization will depend drastically on what's in your tank. Obviously SPS and aggressive LPS corals will suck up a lot more than sand and a little rock, or a few mushrooms.
Have fun,
Dan
The only "real way" to do this is by testing your water. Get some high-quality test kits, keep your calcium at about 350+/-50 ppm, and your alkalinity at about 3.5 +/- 0.5 meq/l (I forgot what that is in dKH -- 9-11?). I dose daily with B-Ionic (about 1.5x the recommended "starter dose") and my water parameters have remained "excellent", with the pH between 8.1 and 8.3.
Your calcium/alkalinity utilization will depend drastically on what's in your tank. Obviously SPS and aggressive LPS corals will suck up a lot more than sand and a little rock, or a few mushrooms.
Have fun,
Dan
