diy calc and alk

greatgman001

New member
ne1 here using the diy calc and alk recipe found in the reef chemistry section on rc?

i have mixed up part a (calcium) by using prestone driveway heat (1 cup heat to 1 gallon dechlorinated water)

but as to the second part
i cant seem to find magflake or meltsnow (repaked mag flake)
so i got some roadrunner ice melt
it says it has
magnesium chloride
potassium chloride and
sodium chloride
it dosent say at what percentage
so if ne1 has used this stuff please chime in
thanks
 
Mag flake is not the alk part. For that you use regular baking soda. You bake it for an hour and then disolve it in RO/DI water.

I doubt you will find mag flake around here. You can order it online but it will come to about $40 after shipping. I have some left that I could sell.

Here is the link for the recipe:
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php

Ray
 
hi ray how u doin?
hows the froggie?
very soon i can take it back
currently my lighting is 2 shoplights w 2 10k t8's
2 ge daylight t8's
and 2 t5 atnics (no)
does that seem enough for now
 
can some one help me with this

my computer is acting strange
every time i go to the reef section to get the recipe to do the alk and hardness part
and the computer give me a bsod (blue screen of death )and restarts
i have epsom salt and 2 4 lb boxes off arm and hammer baking soda
i know i have to bake the baking soda
but what about the epsom salt?
]
 
Do not add any of these mixtures to your tank unless you have test kits for Ca, Alk, PH and Mg, remember how out of whack your parameters were when you were adding 'Purple Up' without testing? I would recommend maybe adding 30ml of each to your tank to start (after you test your current levels). And then check the levels every day to see if they go up or down. You don't have much of anything that uses calcium/alk currently so you can overdose very quickly.

Here you go, I copied it from the link, all you bake is the baking soda:

Recipe # 1, Part 1: The Calcium Part

Dissolve 500 grams (about 2 ½ cups) of calcium chloride dihydrate (such as Dowflake 77-80% calcium chloride or ESV calcium chloride; see below for substitutes and sources) in enough water to make 1 gallon of total volume. You can dissolve it in about ½ gallon of water, and then pour that into the 1 gallon container and fill it to the top with more freshwater. This solution has about 37,000 ppm calcium.

If you use an anhydrous or monohydrate calcium chloride (such as Dow Mini-Pellets, Kent's Turbo Calcium, Prestone Driveway Heat or Peladow Calcium Chloride), then you should use about 20% (1/5) less solid calcium chloride by volume to make the recipe. Note that the solution will get quite hot when dissolving anhydrous calcium chloride. See the section on substitutions for further information.

Recipe #1, Part 2: The Alkalinity Part

Spread baking soda (594 grams or about 2 ¼ cups) on a baking tray and heat in an ordinary oven at 300°F for one hour to drive off water and carbon dioxide. Overheating is not a problem, either with higher temperatures or longer times. Dissolve the residual solid in enough water to make 1 gallon total. This dissolution may require a fair amount of mixing. Warming it speeds dissolution. This solution will contain about 1,900 meq/L of alkalinity (5,300 dKH). I prefer to use baked baking soda rather than washing soda in this recipe as baking soda from a grocery store is always food grade, while washing soda may not have the same purity requirements. Arm & Hammer brand is a fine choice. Be sure to NOT use baking powder. Baking powder is a different material that often has phosphate as a main ingredient.

Once these two solutions are created, they can be added as frequently as necessary to maintain calcium and alkalinity. For further dosing instructions, see below.

Recipe #1, Part 3: The Magnesium Portion

The magnesium portion gives us two options, with Part 3A being preferred from an aquarium chemistry standpoint. Pick one and follow the same dosing directions regardless of which version you select.

Recipe #1, Part 3A

Dissolve Epsom salts (3 cups) and magnesium chloride hexahydrate sold by the Dead Sea Works company (5 cups) in enough purified freshwater to make 1 gallon total volume. There will likely be a precipitate that forms even if you fully dissolve both ingredients separately. That precipitate is calcium sulfate (calcium as an impurity in the magnesium chloride and sulfate from the Epsom salts). It is fine and appropriate to dose the precipitate along with the remainder of the fluid by shaking it up before dosing.

This solution is added much less frequently than the other two parts. Each time you finish adding a gallon of both parts of Recipe #1, add 610 mL (2 ½ cups) of this stock solution. You can add it all at once or over time as you choose, depending on the aquarium's size and set up. Add it to a high flow area, preferably a sump. In a very small aquarium, or one without a sump, I suggest adding it slowly.

The first time it's added, I recommend adding just a small portion and making sure there isn't any problem (such as corals closing up due to stress) before adding the remainder. Make sure corals and other organisms don't get blasted with locally high concentrations of the main ingredients or impurities, or else they may become stressed. This solution contains about 47,000 ppm magnesium, 70,000 ppm sulfate and 86,000 ppm chloride.

Recipe #1, Part 3B

Dissolve a 64-ounce container of Epsom salts (about 8 cups) in enough purified freshwater to make 1 gallon total volume. This solution is added much less frequently than the other two parts. Each time you finish adding a gallon of both parts of Recipe #1, add 610 mL (2 ½ cups) of this stock solution. It can be added all at once or over time as you choose, depending on the aquarium's size and set up. Add it to a high flow area, preferably a sump. In a very small aquarium, or one without a sump, I suggest adding it slowly.

The first time it's added, I recommend adding just a small portion and making sure there isn't any problem (such as corals closing up due to stress) before adding the remainder. Make sure corals and other organisms don't get blasted with locally high concentrations of the main ingredients or impurities, or else they may become stressed. This solution contains about 47,000 ppm magnesium and 187,000 ppm sulfate.
 
since im using prestone drivway heat
do i dissolve 1 cup heat AND 3 cups epsom salt together with 1 gallon water for mag part 3a?

and thanks a bunch ray
for doing this
 
Last edited:
If you don't have magflake then you would not do part 3a, you would do part 3b which is just the epsom salts.

I bought a bunch of Magflake last winter and have extra that I can sell pretty cheap.

The first part is just 2 cups of Prestone Heat with enough RO/DI water to make one gallon.

The second part is 2 and 1/4 cups of baked baking soda mixed with enough RO/DI water to make one gallon.

Part 3 is either 3 cups of Epsom salts and 5 cups of Mag Flake (if you have it) or just 8 cups of Epsom sales mixed with enough RO/DI water to make one gallon. It takes the longest to disolve part 3 in my experience.

----Ray
 
You do not nead to bother with the Mag part of the recipe for now.

Just mix up the Cal and Alk parts.

Buy a SALIFERT kits for ALK and CALCIUM!! As Ray said, get a good baseline reading..

Post those numbers here. We can tell you how much to dose.

Remember those recipes are "TO MAKE 1 GALLON" NOT "ADD TO 1 GALLON". In other words you add enough water to the dry components to make 1 gallon of solution. You DO NOT add 1 gallon of water to the dry components. You should be using RO/DI water for this if possible.
 
Salifert is the way to go. West Hills Pet Center has the best prices on these kits locally from what I have seen. You can get them online for pretty cheap here:

http://www.aquatictech.com/misc.html (third listing on page)

Or better yet, call Salty Critter and have them match these prices.

--Ray
 
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