What do you dose to maitain Calcium and Ph? Kalk, 2-part, 2-part home made? Why do you choose your method? Also how do you dose? Daily measured? Top-off? Auto pumps? What do you feel is the best and or easiest way for a person to learn. Ive been trying to keep up with 2 part but im not home every day to dose and then when i do water changes i feel like I am playing catch up with my Dkh. Looking to exploer easier better methods. Im looking at Kalk but know very little about it or how to best dose on a budget! i know a auto top off and a lakl reactor would probaly be the easiest but thats not gonna happen!
I dose kalk with my auto top off all I do is mix up about 18 gallons one night in a plastic tub and have a power head in it to mix it for about one day. Then I let it settle and take the clear fluid and that is my top off water but I have found that my tank is out growing the calcuim demand and Im having to go to a two part solution. But I have been using that method for about one year but I still have to add a mag. supplement. I think the easiest way and most accurate is 2 part, but if your not at home every day you may want to try the kalk mix as auto top off but it still takes some time to get it mixed up.
I dose two part. Every now and then drop in some kalc., but not very often. Sam how much top off do you add to your system at once? Does it effect your PH very much? I used to drip kalk but got tired of it. I just aquired a Deltec Kalk reactor to compliment the Deltec calcium reactor I will eventually set up. I just plan on two part dosing for now though.
I use about 2 1/2 gallons a day but its on a gravity float valve in the sump so its not put in all at once its dripped over the coarse of the day. My ph runs a little low to me around 7.9 to 8.1. A calcuim reactor and a kalk reactor would be awesome to have then you could run your top off through the kalk reactor and it would keep the ph at a constant I would think that is a very good setup. But the problem with Jamie is he's not home every day so we need to think of an easy way for him to maintain his system. It might be possible to use a dosing pump to dose 2 part but that would get kinda expensve for a good double dosing pump you could put a little more money to it and buy the calcium reactor. Well there I go thinking and typing again. I brainstorm a little to much I guess.
Bulk Reef Supply has instructions on how to dose 2-part. They also sell dosing pumps at a reasonable price. I buy my Ca from pool supply store. It is about 35 bucks for about 20 pounds or so and is 99% pure. I mix 2.5 cups in one gal of ro/di H2O.(which last a very long time) For Alk I bake baking soda for 1 hr then mix 2 cups in 1 gal ro/di H2O. I mix about 1ml per gal of tank H2O (Ca and Alk) and spot check every couple weeks or so. Again BulkReefSupply has instructions. At some point I plan to get dosing pumps and mix 5 gal at a time and be done with it. But I tend to pittle with tank some every day so now manually dosing is not a problem. I also have a tunze osmolator for dosing kalk which serves as my auto top off. Fishermann actually gave me good advice a while ago. You can do a search for Ca reactors on this site. I think you really need auto top off especially if your not at home often. Then you could at least dose kalk. Good Luck
Here a really good read... Supplementing Calcium and Alkalinity: What Method? http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-04/rhf/index.php
Jamie I dose 2 part for now, the alk in the morning and then the calc. in the evening, I buffer the mag in my water change water. Get some calc. chloride pellets from a swimming pool supply store and use baking soda or reefbuilder by sea chem., can't get much cheaper then that. Mix up some of each in a gal milk jug. You well have to determine how much and the dosage. Go to the chemistry forum and the first thing is a sticky of articles by RHF. There well be several articles on dosing whatever way you want to. This guy has forgotten more about this hobbie then all of us well ever know and he is a chemist to boot. Being gone a day or two at a time shouldn't make that much difference. You may just have to bump the dose a bit more for a day or two when you return, but should easily be able to maintain it. You mention water changes. Every bucket you buy, you should do a calc., alk., and mag. check to see what it mixes up at and buffer it up to where you want it to be and let it mix for 24 hrs.. Make sure you add the salt SLOWLY to the mixing vessel with a power head in it already, if you add to fast or add the water to the salt, stuff can come out of suspension, mainly calc.. Check every new bucket you buy too, even though it is the same brand the stuff can vary and sometimes by quite a bit, it has happened over the years more then it should. If you do a 20% water change and the big 3 are out of whack, then youir tank is going to change, that is why I do a 5 gal. twice a week on my 240. So check a fresh mixed bucket and let it mix for several hours first because some of their buffers can take sometime to mix, then as stated above buffer to where you want and let mix for the remaining time. I don't know what salt your using but it can be on the low side for the alk. out of the bucket.
