KH Maintanence while using Calcium Reactor

[triscene]

Hello guys, kind of struggling while having Ca around 600 and i dont want to add more Ca to the tank while i would like to continue dosing Co2 to keep KH on desired level.
I have baked soda would like to avoid this due to ion inbalance, manual effort etc.
Any advice?
Thanks

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[tmz]

Do you mean CO2 or CO3--? Dosing CO2 won't provide alk directly ;it will drop the pH.

Dosing extra carbonate via sodium carbonate( baked baking soda ) is the easiest way I know to raise carbonate alk without adding calcium . It won't skew any ionic imbalance significatnly beyond the higher carbonate. The sodium addition will be minimal given the high level of sodium in the water anyway.

A calcium reactor doses dissolved calcium carbonate in proportions equal to those used when calcium carbonate forms; thus , it is a balanced dose (ca. 20ppm calium to 50ppm carbonate), so; it won't raise calcium disproportionately.

 

[jayball]

What is your alk at? If your CA is at 600PPM you may want to back off the CA reactor and manually dose ALK until you can get your CA, ALK, and Mg back to a more acceptable level.

 

[hkgar]

The only way to lower Ca without lowering dKH is to stop the reactor and dose a ALK supplement until the dKH is where you want it. I run a reactor and always have Randy's 2 part recipes on had for dosing if necessary

 

[BlackTip]

Keep everything the way it is. CA will come down on its own with water changes.

 

[Martin Kuhn]

Sounds very common to me

- stop reactor until
A) Ca has dropped to an acceptable value by its own
B) like a) but also supported by waterchanges with a salt with not too much Ca in it ( optional)

- start dosing NaHCO3 or Na2CO3 to keep KH stable immediately

- once Ca is lowered to ok levels, you can think of restarting your Ca reactor. Do this with less Water flowing into your tank than before (ca should not raise again)

- in case you again can't maintain KH -> dose NaHCO3 or Na2CO3 to keep it stable steadily


Don't even think on worsening the ionic balance. It is already disbalanced because of your disbalanced (but quite usual) Ca/Alk usage. It will get better than before if you act as suggested.


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[warriorcookie]

How did your Ca get so high?

Have you tried another test kit to make sure the one you're using is accurate?

 

[bertoni]

I agree that getting a second opinion on the test kit is a reasonable idea. An LFS might run one for free. I also agree with taking the reactor offline and dosing baking soda or soda ash for alkalinity. This calculator can help with dosing:

http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html

600 ppm of calcium should be safe for all the animals, so I wouldn't worry much.

 

[triscene]

I am using Hanna checker and double checked it with Salifert.
I was some time ago very low on Ca so i have added Ca supplement.

I have tried 200 litres change in my 500 tank but didnt lower it much. I hope my guys including clam will take care of it soon.

My impression was like this on calcium reactors. You add more CO2- u r managing kh and when you raise the outflow u r managing ca.
I hoped that using Ca reactor will avoid me to dose anything manually or by pump.

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[tmz]

My impression was like this on calcium reactors. You add more CO2- u r managing kh and when you raise the outflow u r managing ca.
I

That's not what happens. More CO2 in the reactor drops the pH leading to increased dissolution of calcium carbonate and increased calcium and alk ( carbpnate) dosing. More outflow is accompanied by more inflow ;more inflow delivers more water at tank pH level to the reactor which is higher than the pH in the reactor where CO2 concentrations reduce it. Outflow and CO2 need to be tuned in to meet a specific tanks need for both calcium and alk. Typically reactors are kept at a pH of 6.5 to 7.0 with outflow managed to meet the specific aquarium's needs for calcium and alkalinity. The media is mostly calcium carbonate ( CaCO3) ;when it dissolves it provides roughly 20 ppm calcium to 50 ppm carbonate alk; a balanced proportion.

 

[bertoni]

I agree that the reactor will provide a fixed ratio of calcium to alkalinity. There can be some very minor changes in the ratio if the media is inconsistent, but that will be a minor effect.