KH/ALK Calcium

[gregwhelan]

Hi all,

Please help.

Been running reef aquarium for a few months now, overcome serious Nitrate prob, bubble algae, aptasia, slime, etc and come out shinning. Moving on I want to improve things so I can add more SPS/Hard corals, but my KH/ALK and Calcium levels are quite low and I need your advice in increasing them.

Bought new test kits and levels are as follows:

KH 5.8
ALK 2.06
Calcium 320

I've been advised to use Kent Liquid reactor and have been last 4 nights, 2-3 capfuls per night, but levels have not changed.

I am limited to what external option I can have so have to resort to liquid/powder based method.

Has anyone used Liquid Reactor and what do you guys/girls suggest I do without involving expensive equipment I can't house?

many thanks in advance.

[bertoni]

I would recomend getting some B-Ionic as a way to get started. In the meantime, you can dose some baking soda dissolved in fresh water to raise the alkalinity. I'd target about 3.5. This calculator might help:

http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chem_calc3.html

This article talks about a number of options:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/feb2003/chem.htm

[bertoni]

Oops, meant to add that you might not be dosing enough Liquid Reactor. The calculator might be able to help with that. What size tank is this?

[theop]

Here are a couple more useful articles...

Adding kalkwasser may help solve your problem.

http://advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2002/chem.htm

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/april2004/chem.htm