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Maintaining calcium and alk

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by blackx-runner, Nov 8, 2011.

  1. Nov 8, 2011 #1
    blackx-runner Cedar Rapids, IA

    blackx-runner Administrator Website Team Leadership Team

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    Whats everyone's favorite or most successful method and why?
    The time has come where I need to be looking for a better way to maintain consistent parameters. Testing tonight it looks like I am slightly out of balance here.
    Calcium ~480. I was adding purple up. I will hold off on that for now.
    Alk 6-7 dKH. I'll monitor this over the next couple days, but it appears to be dropping.
    I want something fairly simple and easy to maintain, and I'm not afraid to buy some equipment either if it will help me maintain a healthier and more stable system while making my life easier.
    By the way my tank is a 250 with a 125 sump. I would say water volume is around 300 gallons.
     
  2. Nov 8, 2011 #2
    Waverz

    Waverz Expert Reefkeeper

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    A calcium reactor would be my first choice. If you use a controller to control the ph of the effluent its pretty much a" set it and forget" solution.
     
  3. Nov 8, 2011 #3
    Guest

    Guest Guest

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    i do water changes very 5 days i dont dose or add any thing to my tanks but fule coralvite rods foods and rotoritch and phytoplanktion my sps and lps and sofftis grow great and the clors are allsome but what works for me might not work for the next guy
     
  4. Nov 8, 2011 #4
    einsteins

    einsteins Experienced Reefkeeper

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    Balanced alk and calcium is one of the single best things you can do for your system!!!
    For example if your target alk is 9dkh the balanced level of calcium is 425ppm

    When it comes to balancing youralk and calcium this site is your bible:
    http://reef.diesyst.com/flashcalc/flashcalc.html
    Use it to keep your tank in balance

    Good Luck!!
    einsteins
     
  5. Nov 9, 2011 #5
    Guest

    Guest Guest

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    im just scared to crash my tanks is why i don't dose i would be out a lot of money and i know their is members that have a lot more in their tanks than i do
     
  6. Nov 9, 2011 #6
    blackx-runner Cedar Rapids, IA

    blackx-runner Administrator Website Team Leadership Team

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    Thanks for the link, that's getting bookmarked in my reef tab. /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default/emoticons/biggrin.gif. Now I'm curious what method you chose to keep everything in balance. I consider myself a noob to the hobby, so there may be some methods I am not even aware of. That was the purpose of this thread. To find out what methods are available so I can do further research before choosing the one for my tank.
     
  7. Nov 9, 2011 #7
    einsteins

    einsteins Experienced Reefkeeper

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    what we dont know is what you plan or what you are keeping in the tank.if you are keeping a lot of sps you will have a high demand for alk and calcium on the other hand a FOWLR tank woundnt need much at all.
    I am inclined to say with a tank your size and a medium sizecoral load you should look into a calcium reactor or use kalkwasser for your top off water.
    I have done both and prefer a calcium reactor along with manual alk addition to keep the balance i spoke about  earlier in line.Alk additive is super easy and cheap to make also.
    Now if you go with a low nutrient system thats a whole nother story.
    do some reading in the chemistry forum on Reef Central...you can find a lot of info on different methods there.
    eins
     
  8. Nov 10, 2011 #8
    blackx-runner Cedar Rapids, IA

    blackx-runner Administrator Website Team Leadership Team

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    Right now plans are mixed reef tank. Mostly LPS and softies but also some SPS , I'd also only like to do it once, so if I decide to go more towards SPS and I want to be able to without more equipment.
    I browse reef central quite a bit, but sometimes its just a PITA finding the info i'm looking for. Just too much info to sort through.
     
  9. Nov 12, 2011 #9
    mfisher

    mfisher

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    Try just looking for stuff written by Randy Holmes Farley. IMO he is one of the most knowledgable and writes well about aquarium chemistry.

    The calcium reactor is a great way, esp. if you have a controller. Two parts really work well, but for me (gone alot, infrequent maint., hate test kits, etc.) they aren't practical. Might be a good stop gap measure until you can buy a calcium reactor?

     

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