Been reading ....

[Spongebobsquarepants]

Been doing lots of reading about Supplements.Over the years i been told to use Turbo cal,tech i,tech M,Tech CB, Ess.of elements,coral vite,Strontium,dkh buffer,mirco vert and Phytoplex all kent products.Now after reading i am seeing that most people dont use them.I use the products as directed.I just order Kent mairne dosers and going to use KALKWASSER MIX (by kent aslo).I only running my 20 gallon reef sould i stop using the supplements after i start using kalkwasser? and do i only run the doser at night?and do i keep using turbo cal keep cal level up? I do 3 to 5 gallon water changes once a week or 2 weeks depend on how crazy my life is lol.I was thinking of keep using mirco vert mosly for spot feeding.Now i have heard the the term dont add if can test for it.So does that work along the lines if i test for cal and it s only say 300 then use turbo cal to get to 450 and then stop using it?I have about 35 lbs of live rock in my tank and been using instant ocean salt sence got into the hobby.I was about to put other order in for refill on the products and got to thinking if i really dont need them i can be saving my self like 90 bucks!lol sorry for the rambling on. Any adive i would be greatful.

[Superman]

I would just do water changes on a 20 gallon tank, much cheaper than the suppliments. Might just does some calcium and alkalinity buffer.

[tims]

i agree, get a good test kit so you can see where your levels are, what type of corals do you have and what do they need to live in your tank. adjust those levels only.

[Spongebobsquarepants]

so i am taking that using kal water for my top of would be a good thing also ?

[Superman]

You betcha!

[Spongebobsquarepants]

ok cool what i was thinking + using top off save lot time in log run.Now do you let it run all day or mostly at night time? I heard that kal can be bad thing if not used right way .. And that for all the help btw :P

[tdwyatt]

Use saturated Kalkwasser over a 6 to 12 hour period as your evaporative replacement (for top off to replace your evaporative losses every day), over 24 hrs would be even better to maintain a consistant salinity in your tank, but will require some form of dosing pump to be truly accurate.

1. determine what your daily evap rate is as accurately as possible
2. prepare the kalkwasser by placing 2 tablespoonsful of pickling lime or Kalkwasser product (calcium hydroxide powder, USP) per 4000 ml RO/DI or distilled water
3. vigorously agitate the mix to insure good dispersion of the powder throughout the liquid. Allow it to stand for an hour to settle out the suspended undissolved powder.
4. using only the clear supernatant liquid, measure the exact amount of volume needed to replace your evaporative losses for the tank, place this in an adequate sized container with a drain attached to a piece of airline tubing, and adjust the flow so that the volume of kalkwsser will take at least 6 to 12 hours (but not more than 24 hrs) to empty into the tank. Have the kalkwasser drip into a high flow area of the tank, preferrably into the sump if so equipped.
5. repeat this once a day at the same time every day, if you make the kalkwasser in volume, it is usually good for a week if you keep the container tightly closed.
6. even better would be a neilssen reactor with a 24 hour dosing pump, see the archives for details.

This is a good way of getting started on this method of Ca and alk supplementation, although in time you may want to go with the reactor listed above. Drop all the extra additives now, and start once a week 10% or once every 2 week 20% water changes with a good quality ASW mix. This is all you'll need to do to maintain a thriving coral population in your size tank.


HTH

[Spongebobsquarepants]

cool very good info thanks tdwyatt