Maintaining KH and calcium level

[Patrick]

Just want to check around with other reefers how you guys maintain your KH and calcium level and I have the following qns:

Using Kalk? Once a week, I mixed 1 teaspoon with water, let the residue settle down, and drip the clear mix into my 5 ft tank. But fishses dun seem to be able to take it. White powdery spots on body. Doctor fish disappeared.

Dose Part A & B? What brand is cheap and good?

CA reactor? - can it be used without CO tank? I am afraid of the tank exploding because got kids at home. Will Ca reactor also help to maintain KH?

Thanks!

[weileong]

CR must use CO2, if not the media won't be able to melt.

If you scared CO2 tank exploded, get good quality cylinders and have it certified for safety.

[iantoh]

Dear bro patrick,

do the white spots on your fish which you describe, only occur when you drip in kalk solution? also, by dripping, do you mean pouring slowly or dripping with a drip container? because if youre just pouring slowly in, more likely than not, youre causing local regions of water where the kalk solution meets the water, to rise very high in kh, causing abiotic precipitation of calcium from the water column, hence the whitish dots everywhere. you can easily just pour the clear solution after the kalk has settled into another bottle where you poke with a needle a hole at the bottom just sufficient to allow the solution to drip out slowly. its cheap and convenient, and you can reuse this bottle. bro bob has used this method for dosing kalk into his tank for years to great success. or you can diy a small tupperware container with the medical drip apparatus (available at pharmacies for $4 or so). kalk is good, but it is limited by the amount of top up water each day, so if you have corals which demand more alkalinity and calcium than kalk can replenish, you might need to look to other methods.

check out these two articles from dr holmes farley. the second article is his improved two part alk and ca additive recipe, with a third magnesium portion that is convenient to use, being dosed in equal parts.

1) http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-04/...ature/index.php

2) http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php

its similar to commercial two part (part a, part additives, just cheaper but DIY.

as for your concerns with CO2 cylinders exploding, it is not likely to do so if the cylinder has not been overpressured with too much gas pumped in for its specs. Nature aquarium at balestier (a FW planted shop), is selling 3L CO2 cylinders at $50, and i have used two of them for months now with no issues. they also sell a two stage regulator for $50 thats pretty decent in my opinion. this two guage regulator will indicate the internal pressure within the cylinder, and it should not be more than 1200psi.

CRs may be a bit complicated to the uninitiated at the start, but youll learn how to tune it quickly, and it runs itself thereafter, needing little attention, and because it is run constantly, ca and alk are maintained relatively constant, as opposed to fluctuating daily if you implement dosing methods that arent as constant.

well, hope that helps,

cheers,

ian

[johntanjm]

Just want to check around with other reefers how you guys maintain your KH and calcium level and I have the following qns:

Using Kalk? Once a week, I mixed 1 teaspoon with water, let the residue settle down, and drip the clear mix into my 5 ft tank. But fishses dun seem to be able to take it. White powdery spots on body. Doctor fish disappeared.

Dose Part A & B? What brand is cheap and good?

CA reactor? - can it be used without CO tank? I am afraid of the tank exploding because got kids at home. Will Ca reactor also help to maintain KH?

Thanks!

It depends on how big your tank is. If its like 2-3ft, I reccomend u dose Part A.B and C ReefMax. Its a homemade product from Jireh Marine at Ginza Plaza. Thats like the best product I've ever used. product concentration is amazing.

'Jireh' is the lao ban's user name here on this forum. go ask him

[Patrick]

Thanks to all bros for your replies, especially bro Iantoh for taking time to type the comprehensive reply and the very helpful links. I find most reefers I met are very friendly, helpful and easy-going, except a couple who can be a pain in the "blip".

[Blenny]

Using a calcium reactor to maintain both KH and calcium is one of the best solution, i find. It cost quite a bit for the equipement but the pros is that you do not have to fiddle with mixing thois and that and drip this and that. Once you have set up the reactor, tune it for the next few days and then you do not have to touch it for 1 year max 1.5 years. It will free up your time to sit back and enjoy your tank more or spend more time with your wife and kids. Cheers

[Patrick]

Thanks bro Blenny. Know a CA reactor is the ultimate choice. But it is ex man! On the contrary if I get one, no more wife to spend time with me liao Anyway meddling with the tank is my way of de-stressing. I am trying to achieve a "low tech" reef tank read in one magazine. If I remember correctly that chap managed to keep a huge tank crowded with mainly LPS and some SPS and some reef safe fishes only with a skimmer, water change and adding trace elements. That chap is from Australia or US. Wonder if any bros here achieved low-tech big reef tank and care to share?

[arcanehacker]

Low cost calcium dripper ..

a empty container. Those you get for chinese new year goodies.

Make a hole near the bottom of it. Stick one end of a small tube into it. . Those that you use for air pump.

Put a control valve into the other end. Get those plastic valve which is also used for air control.

now just pour water or calcium solution into the container. Set the control valve to drip slowly. Done.

Probably only cost <$1