culturing LR

[tigershark]

what is the cheapest way to increase PH value in a short time???? I've collected some base rock from the beach & my dead coral collection, to make sure the base rock is 100% clean, i scrub & boiled it... :D:D now is the next step where i need to increase the PH/alkaline/calcium value... heard that baking powder is very good in increasing the PH value (even up to 12!!) If i were to use my seachem chemical.... itis going to cost me a bomb.... further more, using PH buffer + reef builder... i could increase the PH value to around 8.0 only.... if i were to add in Seachem reef complete which cointain calcium, stronium and magnisium, my PH will drop again.. I'm thinking to get Kalkwasser to do it but kalkwasser is not cheap either cause i need really quite a lot...and LR culturing is not the matter of 1 or 2 months, it could takes even 6 month to 1 yr!!

anyone knows where to get Calcium Hydroxide? any chemical store that sell their stock to public??? i heard that Kalk is actually calcium hydroxide....if can get from chemical store, i think it would be much more cheaper!!

[tigershark]

anyone pls??

[Morgan]

Kalk is calcium hydroxide.

You can try to purchase from "BEST Chemical". I think I got mine from there. Not too sure whether they sell to public. Paid $20+ for 500 gm.

You have to handle with care avoid breathing the dust as it is a very fine powder. It has a ph of about 12.

[tigershark]

Kalk is calcium hydroxide.

You can try to purchase from "BEST Chemical". I think I got mine from there. Not too sure whether they sell to public. Paid $20+ for 500 gm.

You have to handle with care avoid breathing the dust as it is a very fine powder. It has a ph of about 12.

$20 for 500g is still quite ex.... but compare to LFS price for Kalk, it is still cheaper..... where is best chemical??? can provide the address & tel??? hope they dun think that I'm terrorist and try to be funny....

btw, anyone have other lobang??

[BarraCudaTM]

I think sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) is the best and cheapest choice for increasing pH rapidly

baking soda can dissolve better than kalk

btw why do you need to raise the pH?

[tigershark]

this is wat i found...

"Now we come to the two most common causes of poor coralline algae growth. The first cause is low pH and KH (alkalinity)." sources from

http://saltaquarium.about.com/gi/dynamic/o...CementRock.html

another reason is that whenever i add reef complete which contain Calcium, magnesium and strontium, my PH value drop, now only 7.8 .... i have to dose calsium to at lease 400mg/l interms to boast the growth of caroline algea... at the same time, maintain the PH at 8.3~8.5.... the best way to do it is using calcium hydroxide... which is what we call kalk... but the problem is, kalk is not cheap, in long term, it could cost a bomb, especially we are talking about 6 month to 1 yr of LR calturing, i'm not doing it for business but more for interestes.... so i'm wondering is there any source to get calcium hydroxide.... i went to guardian to try my luck but unfortunately, no one know wat the hell i'm try to say... anyone can help??

barracuda.... you are still studing rite can ask your chemistry teacher for sources??

[Morgan]

The address you requested:

Best Chemical Pte Ltd

60 Senoko Rd

S'pore 758124

Tel 67552400

You can only add only so much calcium to the water before it crash. Sound like that what happen to your water condition right now.

Do a search and read up on the calcium/magnesium relationship saltwater.

[tigershark]

thank's for the address morgan, I'll call them up tomorrow..... btw, wat do you mean by crash? does it means that unbalance in water paremeter?? any suggestion???

[BarraCudaTM]

when you add too much calcium, strontium or magnesium, they will precipitate and make yr water cloudy and the kH will go down

and if the kH is too high, calcium and other trace elements will precipitate too

if you want to raise calcium and kH fast, you can use seachem reef advantage calcium and buffer, that will push the calcium and kH up

but must be carefully monitored as calcium cholride can upset the ionic balance of the water if there is not enough buffer to counter it

[Morgan]

Read this article on calcium http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/mar...ar2002/chem.htm

Hope it help.

[tigershark]

hey morgan, this article is great! but need a bit time to digest....very deep ...... thank's

barracuda, thanks for your advice too..... will closely monitor those parameter....