Calcium calculator?

[lswenberg]

Randy,

I am starting to dose nightly with a kalk slurry (taking care that pH doesn't swing too much). It has only been a few days. How long before I see Ca rising significantly? Should I actually retest it within minutes of the dosing? It was 380 before I started dosing and now maybe 385 (about the same really). I started very conservatively

I have some Tech CB, and hate to not use it. Would I do better to dose with the part A only rather than or in addition to the kalk? Maybe kalk at night and Tech CB in the AM?

My alk is stable at 3 meq/L. My pH is a little low still at 8.1 1 hour after lights out.

Also, I can't get to Andy's Ca calculator due to a Java error. It must not like Macs I guess.

I have been reading your articles. I am much indebted to Anthony Calfo from WetWebMedia who referred me to you. Now you know how I got turned onto the simple kalk slurry dosing method, btw.

Thanks,
Linda

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I think that using the calcium only part of the Kent product is a fine way to raise calcium. It will certainly be faster, and probably more successful than limewater becasue it is not simultaneously trying to push up alkalinity too. If you used limewtar to push calcium to 420 ppm, then your alkalinity will hit 5 meq/L. With the Kent product it will stay at 3 meq/L or so.


Now you know how I got turned onto the simple kalk slurry dosing method, btw.

:lolspin:

I'm not as much of a fan of a slurry as compared to clear limewater, but it will work. My concern is impurities, as described in this article:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/may2003/chem.htm

The slurry method is more limited in the amount that you can add as well, assuming that it is all added at once. The more that you add, the more calcium that you'll gt into the tank.

As to testing, I wouldn't suggest testing calcium for at least 2 hours after you add a calcium supplement to be sure it is thoroughly mixed in and you get a true reading.



Good luck!

[lswenberg]

I'm not as much of a fan of a slurry as compared to clear limewater, but it will work. My concern is impurities, as described in this article:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/may2003/chem.htm

Here is what I don't understand. I use aged tapwater for water changes and amquel-treated water for top-offs. My tapwater is from Northern CA and the source is mountain surface water. Why wouldn't the lime slurry be beneficial in the end in precipitating out any metals in the water so that I can vacuum them off the bottom with the next water change? Does this never happen due to water circulation? The morning after the first slurry dose, there was some brownish residue at the bottom of my tank, on the substrate surface. I assumed this was diatoms, but maybe it was precipitates that had settled?

Also, my water barrel for water changes had low pH which I was able to bring up by aeration. I did aerate the barrel inside of my garage, so I don't think the CO2 is high in the ambient garage air, as we originally thought.

In http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/aqfm/1997/sep/bio/default.asp , Craig Bingham briefly mentions that some municipalities might be adding CO2 to manipulate pH. Maybe that is the source of the CO2 in my water. Would it be better to add CaOH to my saltwater barrel to sop up the CO2 and also to help precipitate out impurities from the tapwater that I use?

Also, I never checked the CO2 of the tankwater with the aeration experiment. If the tankwater pH responds to aeration, should I add an airstone to my tank? I hate the noise of air pumps, unfortunately. I have a very simple algal-based filter and no, I am not currently skimming the water. I provide a lot of circulation in the tank with powerheads.

Finally, I did read your article about the various Ca supplementation schemes, but what I don't understand is if kalkwasser is superior to the balanced, 2-part supplements. I have a relatively small tank, so cost would not be very prohibitive but complexity would be.:)

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Here is what I don't understand. I use aged tapwater for water changes and amquel-treated water for top-offs. My tapwater is from Northern CA and the source is mountain surface water. Why wouldn't the lime slurry be beneficial in the end in precipitating out any metals in the water so that I can vacuum them off the bottom with the next water change?

It could be that it is, to some extent with some metals. But if it precipitates into the lime slurry, it may simply redissolve when added to the tank. For example, copper hydroxide that precipitates in the limewater may redissolve when put into tank water.

That's why I don't like dosing the solids.

I assumed this was diatoms, but maybe it was precipitates that had settled?

It could be either. Copper hydroxide is blue, but other metals, and mixtures of metals, might well be brown.


Also, my water barrel for water changes had low pH which I was able to bring up by aeration. I did aerate the barrel inside of my garage, so I don't think the CO2 is high in the ambient garage air, as we originally thought.

That sounds logical.:)

In http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/...bio/default.asp , Craig Bingham briefly mentions that some municipalities might be adding CO2 to manipulate pH. Maybe that is the source of the CO2 in my water. Would it be better to add CaOH to my saltwater barrel to sop up the CO2 and also to help precipitate out impurities from the tapwater that I use?

I don't think that is very common, at least not today. Most municipalities are raising pH to prevent lead and other metals from dissolving off of the inside of pipes. That's the opposite of what CO2 would accomplish. Still, many water sources, especially well water, have a lot of CO2 in it, and the starting water may have a lot of CO2.

Have you measured the pH of that starting water? If the pH is above 7, there is not much CO2 in it.


Would it be better to add CaOH to my saltwater barrel to sop up the CO2 and also to help precipitate out impurities from the tapwater that I use?

Perhaps local precipitation of metals where the limewater first hits the salt water water is significant. I just don't know.

Also, I never checked the CO2 of the tankwater with the aeration experiment. If the tankwater pH responds to aeration, should I add an airstone to my tank? I hate the noise of air pumps, unfortunately. I have a very simple algal-based filter and no, I am not currently skimming the water. I provide a lot of circulation in the tank with powerheads.

Some sort of improved aeration would be beneficial. A skimmer, perhaps, or more circulation inside of the tank, especially if it breaks the surface a bit.

what I don't understand is if kalkwasser is superior to the balanced, 2-part supplements. I have a relatively small tank, so cost would not be very prohibitive but complexity would be.

I wouldn't try to claim that one is always better than the other. If cost is not an issue, the two part additives are a fine way to go. A lot of it has to do with how much complexity you want vs how much time you want to spend. Limewater typically has more complexity, but requires less time (though these things can reverse depending on the setup).