calcium and alk.

[Italian Stallion]

i am planning on buying a cal. reactor vary soon, but in the mean time my ph is 8.4 my cal is 520 and my alk. is 2.06 (not measured in dkh) what can i do to ballance things i add esv when the cal needs it wich is every day because my acros drain all the cal. out of the tank

i was thinking about dripping kalkwasser but it is just such a pain

[Gargausius]

Take it a little easy with your Calcium. 500ppm is good enough, you don't need to keep it at 520ppm. I don't know what the translation from meq/L to dKH is, but keep it at 12-15dKH. Magnesium is probably all you need to balance the two out. 1,500ppm-1,600ppm is adequate. pH is a tad too high, try keeping it at 8.3.

[fish100]

Kalwasser is a "balanced" addition adding BOTH Ca and alk. You could try adding just the alkalinity part of B-ionic, slowly, or, you could use Kent dKH superbuffer as well to raise alkalinity and not Ca. :)

[gqjeff]

keep alk at 8-10 and Ca at 450.. DO NOT keep it at 12-15.. natural seawater is 6.5-7.5.. I have noticed in captive systems though going lower the 7.5 can lead to rtn and also not happy corals... Try to keep Mg at 1300-1350 aswell.. Ph 8-8.3.. if you go with the lower alk you will notice PH running 7.8-8. If you get the alk stable Ca will fall into place.. If you are adding a bunch of stuff you are going to get WAY out of balance.. I would go to the chemistry forum and read some of Randy Holmes Farleys posts... I would get some Kents turbo or liquid ca and stop the 2 part till you get it figured out.. Again go to the chemistry forum some good reading there...

Peace, jeff