Calcium Supplements

[@ombomb]

i'd like to start slowly raising the calcium levels in the tank to get ready for more hard corals, i'll be doing more frequent water changes to help boost the levels, but am thinking that 400+ppm will be difficult without an additional source

not really keen to go down the CO2 route and am wary of kalk; are over the counter supplements worth using?

if so, can anyone recommend a brand available in the UK?

if not, are there any options i've over looked?

FYI - i'm using aragonite sand (1"-2" deep) and have approx 70kg of rock in a 48x24x24 display with a 36x18x18 sump, current stocking coral wise is mainly softies / LPS all of which are healthy and growing well

 

[SkiFletch]

For Calcium alone, what you're looking for is Calcium Chloride salts. These are usually sold in the form of ice melters for driveways/walkways in the wintertime and at least here in the States are a pretty seasonal product. Crazy Fishes has been looking for them for a while now but has been unable to find any...

 

[ox5477]

you can use these sidewalk salt for calcium suppliment ski? Thats crazy... do you just make a kalk solution with the salts and then drip the kalk solution in?

Ox

 

[johnnyjtaylor]

am wary of kalk

Why? I've been using kalkwasser in my tank for about seven months or so now and find it to be excellent stuff. I'm dripping 2litres of the stuff in my 45gallon every night, which has been doing a top notch job of keeping the calcium up(450ppm) and keeping my ph nice and high, TBH my LPS have never looked so well. Previous to this I was using Seachems 'reef advantage calcium' which certainly does the job but I must admit is just gathering dust since I started using kalkwasser.

 

[@ombomb]

because if it goes wrong, it goes VERY wrong

may be being over cautious, will have a look into auto drips

 

[SkiFletch]

you can use these sidewalk salt for calcium suppliment ski? Thats crazy... do you just make a kalk solution with the salts and then drip the kalk solution in?

Ox

Prestone Driveway Heat man, stuff works great

I add the stuff to my topoff water, dripping is not necessary with calcium chloride cause it has no effect on pH. This is good if your pH is high, but not so great if it's low to start with... IMO, the best method is a combination of both kalkwasser and supplimentary dosing with calcium/alkalinity in heavily stocked tanks. I notice kalkwasser by itself is not enough to meet the demands of my LPS.

 

[BigC]

Two Little Fishes C-Balance
Regards
BigC

 

[sacramonel]

If you don't have many coral than water changes should put you in the proper calcium zone. I currently hover around the 550-600 mark. I only have 2 LPS. What brand of Salt do you use? I say this because from what I gather the mix itself should be more than sufficient to keep calcium high. If your calcium is low now, before any stone coral, then there may be an issue with the type of salt mix you use? I got this info. from a book called Marine Chemistry by CR Brightwell, so I'm not just making it up. lol

 

[@ombomb]

pH is around 8.2 sound that sounds ace ski

this look about right to you?

http/www.iscapoolcare.co.uk/subprod/wate...e--0000990.aspx

 

[Crazy fishes]

As Ski says I have been looking and I have found calcium chloride granules. It is laboratory grade so should have minimal impurities; it is approximately 80% pure which is the same purity of the Dowflakes that Ski and other states based aquarist use. You can get it on ebay.co.uk.
Alternately Seachem do a calcium only additive which is good; I accidently dosed with 4 caps (long story......) and my calcium shot to 620ppm. Interestingly enough it had no negative effects quite the opposite the corals loved it. This also had no effect on pH.

I hope this helps

Regards

 

[SkiFletch]

Pool supplies, good call . Tough to say what the purity is though... Might be worth a small scale test on a few frags for a month or so?

 

[Crazy fishes]

Just to let you know I have emailed the guy's about the water hardener regarding purity and ntrate and phosphate content and will post when they reply (if they ever do!!)

Regards

 

[garybuk]

sorry to hijack but been thinking my self about getting a calcium reactor one that uses co2

but seeing this is this calcium chloride granules just as good?

 

[SkiFletch]

Yes and no. If dosed routinely and properly yes. A calcium reactor is more complicated to setup at first, but once running is a great fire and forget setup...

 

[garybuk]

Yes and no. If dosed routinely and properly yes. A calcium reactor is more complicated to setup at first, but once running is a great fire and forget setup...

How complicated to setup? ill rather have somethink that will do it its self! then if i went away on holiday its mostley all good!