Raising Ca and Mg with BRS

[Ryan1190]

I bought the kalkwasser package on BRS and want to use the Calcium chloride and Magnesium mix to raise my Ca and Mg level before moving on to kalkwasser top off.

For Ca, using the BRS calculator, is the product "dry calcium chloride crystals"? For Mg I assume it's BRS magnesium mix solution. My plan is to add the required amount to my top off water. Can I add both Ca and Mg supplements at the same time in the same reservoir?

 

[disc1]

I bought the kalkwasser package on BRS and want to use the Calcium chloride and Magnesium mix to raise my Ca and Mg level before moving on to kalkwasser top off.

For Ca, using the BRS calculator, is the product "dry calcium chloride crystals"? For Mg I assume it's BRS magnesium mix solution. My plan is to add the required amount to my top off water. Can I add both Ca and Mg supplements at the same time in the same reservoir?

Yes, dry calcium chloride is the right one.

You can't mix the two in one container. The sulfate in the magnesium mix will precipitate with calcium at that concentration. You should mix them up separately.

 

[Ryan1190]

Thanks. So if I need to run through 2 ATO reservoirs, 1 with Ca supplement and 1 with Mg supplement, which do I raise 1st? Mg?

 

[itz frank]

Thanks. So if I need to run through 2 ATO reservoirs, 1 with Ca supplement and 1 with Mg supplement, which do I raise 1st? Mg?

You don't run this is ATO. Mix them separately and dose them by hand to raise them to the levels you want. Then switch over to the ATO for kalk.

 

[Ryan1190]

Oh. I was planning to use ATO kind of like a doser so I don't change the Ca and Mg too fast. So if I'm just mixing separately and adding does it matter how much RO water I mix with as long as it's enough to dissolve the Calcium chloride or magnesium mix?

 

[bertoni]

If the magnesium level is below 1100 ppm or so, I'd raise that level first. Otherwise, the order doesn't matter. You should be able to mix magnesium and calcium supplements in a single ATO if you want, but it'd be harder to control the dosing ratio. I would add the supplements by hand. Up to 100 ppm per day of either calcium or magnesium is fine. You could target 50 ppm for the first dose since calculating a dose requires a guess as to the water volume. This calculator should help:

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

Changing the calcium and magnesium levels is safe, and I haven't heard of any problems as long as the 100 ppm limit is met.

 

[Ryan1190]

Awesome, I'll do it by hand and dose conservatively to start. Thanks for all the help

 

[RT_BRS]

I bought the kalkwasser package on BRS and want to use the Calcium chloride and Magnesium mix to raise my Ca and Mg level before moving on to kalkwasser top off.

For Ca, using the BRS calculator, is the product "dry calcium chloride crystals"? For Mg I assume it's BRS magnesium mix solution. My plan is to add the required amount to my top off water. Can I add both Ca and Mg supplements at the same time in the same reservoir?

Hey Ryan! One quick thing to point out, is that if you are planning on mixing the calcium chloride into a gallon of solution first (i.e. 2.5 cups to and water to make one gallon of solution), you'll actually want to use the "2 Part Calcium Solution" option in the calculator.

 

[Ryan1190]

Thanks for the heads up. That brings up another noob question. Can I add the dry Calcium chloride and mag mix (enough to increase no more than 50ppm) directly in a high flow area of the tank? Or do I need to mix it first in the gallon jugs to make the 2 part?

 

[bertoni]

Mixing into water is safer because the dry supplements might not dissolve all that easily. The particles could land on organisms and irritate them, or fail to dissolve until some later date.

 

[Ryan1190]

Will do. 1 more question then I'm good to go. Just remeasured everything for accuracy and got

Ca - 395
Mag- 1230
Alk - 7 (lower than I expected)

Am I ok getting Ca and Mag up first or should I be alarmed about my Alk and start kalk?

 

[bertoni]

I would make sure that the alkalinity doesn't drop any further. The daily low shouldn't go below 7 dKH. It's okay to dose all three supplements, though.