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Old 01/14/2005, 02:03 PM
Randy Holmes-Farley Randy Holmes-Farley is offline
Reef Chemist
 
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Arlington, Massachusetts
Posts: 52,068
Calcium wouldn't drop at all when you first added the baking soda.

When that alkalinity is consumed by corals or through precipitation, calcium will drop by about 18-20 ppm Ca++ for each 1 meq/L of alkalinity.

The exact ratio for calcium carbonate is 20 ppm Ca++ per 1 meq/l of alkalinity, but since magnesium and other ions can get into the CaCO3 in the place of calcium, the number is a tad under 20 ppm.

I discuss such issues in this article:

When Do Calcium and Alkalinity Demand Not Exactly Balance?
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-12/rhf/index.htm
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Randy Holmes-Farley