shaggydoo541
New member
I am getting more and more SPS and in doing so began testing my ca/alk. I found both were very low, ca <300 and alk at around 6dKH. So I began dosing.
I ran out of B-Ionic quickly and wanted a cheaper option. So I got some kalk but before putting it in I did some reading and realized the pH was way too high for my uses. So I decided to try using 1/2 strength kalk. After only a couple days dosing my pH went a little high and the ca/alk reached proper levels. So I lowered the strength of my kalk to 1/4. I do not drip but topoff the weakened kalk in a high flow area of my tank to replace evaporation. I haven't noticed any pH issues with the 1/4 kalk and all my corals seem fine when I slowly add the kalk.
Is this a bad idea? I haven't been doing this for too long and decided I should get some more advice before setting this up as my long term solution. Also I'm not even sure if the 1/4th strength kalk will be enough to keep my levels where they should be. If not, could I use B-Ionic as well as the 1/4th kalk? Having such a small tank, it is turning out to be harder than I had imagined to dose w/o causing problems. Any imput or alternative recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks.
I ran out of B-Ionic quickly and wanted a cheaper option. So I got some kalk but before putting it in I did some reading and realized the pH was way too high for my uses. So I decided to try using 1/2 strength kalk. After only a couple days dosing my pH went a little high and the ca/alk reached proper levels. So I lowered the strength of my kalk to 1/4. I do not drip but topoff the weakened kalk in a high flow area of my tank to replace evaporation. I haven't noticed any pH issues with the 1/4 kalk and all my corals seem fine when I slowly add the kalk.
Is this a bad idea? I haven't been doing this for too long and decided I should get some more advice before setting this up as my long term solution. Also I'm not even sure if the 1/4th strength kalk will be enough to keep my levels where they should be. If not, could I use B-Ionic as well as the 1/4th kalk? Having such a small tank, it is turning out to be harder than I had imagined to dose w/o causing problems. Any imput or alternative recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks.
