Recommendations for low Ca

[Capsle]

Hey Reefers,

So I currently have low Ca and wondering what you guys use to dose Ca?

Mg 1350
Alk 9.9
Ca 300-330
Salinity 1.024.

I tested Wednesday and Ca was at 430 so I'm guessing I need to start dosing. Last WC was last Sunday. I will do one tomorrow.

Thoughts and suggestions would be appreciated.


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[shadowmonster]

I'm currently using Kalkwasser in my ATO to maintain Calcium, but if I ever need to bump it up a little I use Kent's Turbo Calcium. There are plenty of supplements on the market that will achieve the same results though. The link below might help. If you "Pick a Product" there's plenty of examples.

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

 

[Sk8r]

same

 

[Ron Reefman]

Test again! Ca doesn't go from 430 to 330 in 3 or 4 days unless you have a tank overflowing with sps & lps corals.

Just use some of the Ca half of any 2 part Ca/alk dosing regime. Because I have too many tanks, I use Dowflake which is used to melt snow off the sidewalks up north. Other Calcium Chloride snow melt products can work too, just double check to make sure it doesn't have any other chemicals in it. A 1 gallon bottle (8 pounds) of Ca from BRS is $20+ (that's $2.50/lb). Dowflake comes in a 50lb bag and costs under $20 ($0.40/lb). But then I use a 50lb bag of Ca every 12 months, for most reefers it would last 5 or 10 years.

There are reef dosing calculators on the net to help you figure out how much to dose. Plug in your current Ca level, the level you want to get to, the water volume of your system and which brand of Ca, alk or Mg you are dosing and it will tell you how much to add. I use the same one shadowmonster linked to.

 

[Capsle]

Test again! Ca doesn't go from 430 to 330 in 3 or 4 days unless you have a tank overflowing with sps & lps corals.

Just use some of the Ca half of any 2 part Ca/alk dosing regime. Because I have too many tanks, I use Dowflake which is used to melt snow off the sidewalks up north. Other Calcium Chloride snow melt products can work too, just double check to make sure it doesn't have any other chemicals in it. A 1 gallon bottle (8 pounds) of Ca from BRS is $20+ (that's $2.50/lb). Dowflake comes in a 50lb bag and costs under $20 ($0.40/lb). But then I use a 50lb bag of Ca every 12 months, for most reefers it would last 5 or 10 years.

There are reef dosing calculators on the net to help you figure out how much to dose. Plug in your current Ca level, the level you want to get to, the water volume of your system and which brand of Ca, alk or Mg you are dosing and it will tell you how much to add. I use the same one shadowmonster linked to.

Awesome thanks for the info. Yes I will retest before doing my WC today and also before I start dosing anything.


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[gone fishin]

I agree with Ron on the calcium drop. If things are running smoothly I would suspect a test error.

 

[johnike]

And if you do need to dose, I just use pickling lime in my ATO as an inexpensive substitute for Kalk.

 

[Capsle]

I agree with Ron on the calcium drop. If things are running smoothly I would suspect a test error.

Yes, I believable it was an error. I re-tested this morning 430 :rollface:

I also thought that was a huge drop for a couple days. I expected a couple ppm but not 100.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Caps, it will all come together as you gain some experience. At least you're smart enough to ask questions rather than going off half cocked and doing something that might cause a bigger issue. Keep up the good effort.

 

[gone fishin]

:thumbsup:

 

[Capsle]

Caps, it will all come together as you gain some experience. At least you're smart enough to ask questions rather than going off half cocked and doing something that might cause a bigger issue. Keep up the good effort.

I always say "ask stupid questions to avoid stupid mistakes".

I'm a technical district service manager for Easter Canada and 80% of my job is technical support to truck technicians and all too often I wish they would have asked a question 10 steps prior to where they are in their troubleshooting as they often take wrong turn.

I don't mind asking as long as there is someone "willing " to answer.

RC is awesome for that. So thank you!


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