A couple questions

[maffs]

Randy,

My tank has been running for about 5 months and I'm about to begin to add stony corals so I wanted to get calcium and alkalinity right. My tank is 350 litres (including sump), I am running a mud based refugium with Caulerpa and no skimmer;) .

I haven't even bought the test kits yet but have read a number of your very helpful articles. My feeling at the moment is to run limewater alongside your "Recipe 2".

Question 1: my tank seems to have a quite low evaporation rate, about 0.8 litres per day. This is just under 1% of the tank's volume and so I wondered if it is still worthwhile dosing limewater? Would vineger increase the potency significantly? If so, I would plan to make a 20 litre resevoir that would last 2-3 weeks. Would this work alright as it obviously much smaller than your 44 gallons? My initial thought is to use a Tunze Osmolater that I have sitting unused at present.

Question 2: My LFS has SeaChem's "Reef Advantage Calcium" on sale at the moment. It claims to have calcium, Magnesium and Strontium in the same ratio as used up by corals (100:5:0.1). Could I use this instead of the pure Calcium Chloride you recommend for the Calcium Part? If I did use this would I still need the third part (Magnesium Sulphate)?

Thanks so much for your articles. Its all beginning to make a bit of sense now.

Matthew.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I haven't even bought the test kits yet but have read a number of your very helpful articles. My feeling at the moment is to run limewater alongside your "Recipe 2".

That's a fine plan. :)

my tank seems to have a quite low evaporation rate, about 0.8 litres per day

Yes, that is low. More typical is 1-2% daily. Yes, it is still worth dosing the limewater. My tank has all its needs satisfied by less than fulls trength limewater.

Would vineger increase the potency significantly?

Using 3 teaspoons solid lime and 45 mL vinegar per gallon of fresh water will up the potency by about 50%. You may not need that much initially, even with low evaporation.

If so, I would plan to make a 20 litre resevoir that would last 2-3 weeks.

Sounds reasonable.

Question 2: My LFS has SeaChem's "Reef Advantage Calcium" on sale at the moment. It claims to have calcium, Magnesium and Strontium in the same ratio as used up by corals (100:5:0.1). Could I use this instead of the pure Calcium Chloride you recommend for the Calcium Part?

You can, yes. If all you were using were the two part system, then you could back off on Part 3, but since the limewater won't deliver magnesium, maybe stick to the recipe and see what happens to magnesium after a few months.

[maffs]

Thanks again Randy for your quick reply.

Matthew.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

:thumbsup:

Good luck.

[maffs]

Randy,

one final question. If I did use the SeaChem product, I am assuing that I would use 15% less than in your recipe as it is ahydrous but has 5% magnesium). Is that right? How I wish I'd payed attention in chemistry!

Matthew.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Yes, that's a reasonable approximation. :)