Ok, been dosing Kalk, water levels...

[Mooch18]

At......

380 Calcium (according to seachem test kit, measures in increments of 20 ppm)

3.5 or 10 dKH Alk (according to seachem test kit and AP test kit)

8.3 PH (according to seachem test kit)

Now i have only 1 or two small corals, and 230 lbs of live rock. Tank is 110 gallons, with 30 gallons sump, but id say i have roughly 100 gallons of water volume with all that rock.

Now im dosing Kalk at 2 teaspons per gallon, and roughly 2 gallons of it for top-off per night, every night.

My alk, and PH seem fine, but i think my Calcium looks low?? what do you guys think??

should i just continue doing things the way i am in terms of Kalk, and not worry about my levels, or should something be adjusted??

thanks.

PS. Also, someone told me today Kalk can improve skimming, any truth to this??

[dkh0331]

A little low.

Kalk is great at maintaining levels. You might try something like Turbo Calcium to raise it up to the 400-425 range and let the kalk maintain it after that.

[Mooch18]

I thought of that, but will that not lower my alk??

Do i not want to maintain my Alk at 3 - 3.5??

[bertoni]

Adding calcium chloride will not affect alkalinity in any significant way as long as it's not overdosed. I agree that the alkalinity level is fine.

[bertoni]

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...70#post9037970

That calculator will help with a dose.

[Mooch18]

Ok, so lets say i want to raise by 30ppm, would i stop dripping Kalk and just top off with regular R/O and start adding Calcium like turbo calcium in small increments (10 ppm per day)?? Once done, continue with Kalk drip....

would this help raise Calcium without effecting Alk??

[bertoni]

I don't see any need to stop dosing kalk. I'd compute the dose needed, and add about half that, and see how the Ca level changes. The tank's total water content is hard to guess, so there's some uncertainty as to the dose. I wouldn't add more than 100 ppm in one shot, but this tank's requirement is fair below that.

[Mooch18]

Thanks, but will adding that much calcium in one shot not lower the Alk??

Or will the continued dosing of Kalkwasser keep Alkalinty stable, while i raise Calcium??

[bertoni]

Dosing calcium will not affect alkalinity significantly as long as the calcium isn't raised above 450 ppm, and probably a lot higher.

[Mooch18]

Thanks a ton, appreciate the help!!

[Mooch18]

Hey guys,

what about using Caribsea purple up to raise my calcium??

[bertoni]

There's a number of problems with that product. One of its constituents is finely-ground calcium carbonate, which is effectively just fine sand. I wouldn't dose it.