Ronald
04/13/2004, 10:42 AM
Hello Anthony,
I continue to have problems with ca and alk and have used slurry methods to help correct. My ro water has essentially 0 alk and ca, my salt mixes up in normal ranges (1.025/9dKH/350ca, pH 8.3). I have always had low pH chronically even wth excellent skimming,(euroreef skimmer tuned and clean) I think it is the inside air (CO2 is likely high) due to a tight house in a cold climate.
On your advise I began slurry technique Kalk additions which were great as long as I was in town. Kalk/Alk levels were almost good (dKh 9, Ca 300) but if I went out of town, pH fell, Ca dropped, alk dropped etc. :(
This made me set up a kalk reactor with a 3g bottle on a stirring platform with kalk and a dosing pump (cork in place, closed system very little air contact with kalk). I found I needed far more of this solution to maintain ca++ and pH than I needed top off water even with aggressive fanning and evaporation fascilitation.
The next step was to divert some sump water to the kalk reactor directly, and now I use seperate ro top off water and (4 liters/day) and run 15 liters of sump water daily through the bottle with kalk. This maintains pH between 8.2-8.35. I need to add 3 tablespoons of kallk every 2-3 days to the bottle to keep it going and stable. Once every 2-3 weeks I clean out the bottle and start with fresh mixed sea water (aged etc). I also do 2, 5g water changes a week. :) My ca++ and alk still run low (alk about 7-8 dKH and ca++ 250-300) :confused: My stock levels are relatively low, I have a coral garden with 6 fish , 2 euphyllia, some zoos, some porites, very prolific mushrooms, a trachyphilia, a cynarina, and claustrea (excuse spelling errors please) in a 75g tank.
My questions:
How can I stop being a slave to the tank (don't get me wrong, I enjoy it a great deal, but I worry when out of town even for 2-3 days!) I need a continuous ca/alk source that will also stabilize my pH. Balanced additives do work, but I am stuck daily dosing again, I don't trust a dosing pump to accurately deliver them over any length of time. I am worried a Calcium reactor will lower my pH. I have never tested to see how low it will go if left alone, but it easily gets down to 7.9 in 2 days (yes I use a callibrated meter)
Any ideas?
Ron
ps you can see my tank here here (http://homepage.mac.com/ronaldalberico)
I continue to have problems with ca and alk and have used slurry methods to help correct. My ro water has essentially 0 alk and ca, my salt mixes up in normal ranges (1.025/9dKH/350ca, pH 8.3). I have always had low pH chronically even wth excellent skimming,(euroreef skimmer tuned and clean) I think it is the inside air (CO2 is likely high) due to a tight house in a cold climate.
On your advise I began slurry technique Kalk additions which were great as long as I was in town. Kalk/Alk levels were almost good (dKh 9, Ca 300) but if I went out of town, pH fell, Ca dropped, alk dropped etc. :(
This made me set up a kalk reactor with a 3g bottle on a stirring platform with kalk and a dosing pump (cork in place, closed system very little air contact with kalk). I found I needed far more of this solution to maintain ca++ and pH than I needed top off water even with aggressive fanning and evaporation fascilitation.
The next step was to divert some sump water to the kalk reactor directly, and now I use seperate ro top off water and (4 liters/day) and run 15 liters of sump water daily through the bottle with kalk. This maintains pH between 8.2-8.35. I need to add 3 tablespoons of kallk every 2-3 days to the bottle to keep it going and stable. Once every 2-3 weeks I clean out the bottle and start with fresh mixed sea water (aged etc). I also do 2, 5g water changes a week. :) My ca++ and alk still run low (alk about 7-8 dKH and ca++ 250-300) :confused: My stock levels are relatively low, I have a coral garden with 6 fish , 2 euphyllia, some zoos, some porites, very prolific mushrooms, a trachyphilia, a cynarina, and claustrea (excuse spelling errors please) in a 75g tank.
My questions:
How can I stop being a slave to the tank (don't get me wrong, I enjoy it a great deal, but I worry when out of town even for 2-3 days!) I need a continuous ca/alk source that will also stabilize my pH. Balanced additives do work, but I am stuck daily dosing again, I don't trust a dosing pump to accurately deliver them over any length of time. I am worried a Calcium reactor will lower my pH. I have never tested to see how low it will go if left alone, but it easily gets down to 7.9 in 2 days (yes I use a callibrated meter)
Any ideas?
Ron
ps you can see my tank here here (http://homepage.mac.com/ronaldalberico)