Best Calcium Additive???

[R1Bill]

I add about 10 gallons of Kalkwasser every week to my 180 and discovered that it is down to 350 ppm calc. Never used C-Balance or B-Ionic and wanted to know the concensus on which one (or other) is the best. Please let me know what y'all like the best.

Thanks,

Bill

[tdwyatt]

Originally posted by R1Bill
I add about 10 gallons of Kalkwasser every week to my 180 and discovered that it is down to 350 ppm calc. Never used C-Balance or B-Ionic and wanted to know the concensus on which one (or other) is the best

B-Ionic, but keep in mind that using Kalk as a balanced additive works once you use B-Ionic to get the Alk and Ca where you want it. Post your water parameters please, including Salinity, daily pH swing, Magnesium levels, how often you do water changes, how much coralline and macroalgal growth you have, and the number of calcifying organisms you have in what size tank and sump. These factors will make it easier to determine if you have a problem, or you just need a little bump up on the alk and Ca.

[Pirate]

When I first set up the reef tank just over two years ago I was pointed toward B-Ionic. The folks I dealt with used it and believed it to be the "right" additive. I used it for about 6 months and found it to be difficult to regulate, and frankly just a bit more expensive than I wanted. I now use a kalk drip two times a week(about 2.5 gals) and use aragamight mixed with my RO/DI fill water. I maintain my cal right at 420- 450 with no problems and much, (did I say much) less cost. Which for me is the most important thing. I really would rather purchase things other than additives for my tank. Both of these products are cheap and readily available. I also believe that the less you add the better off you are, I know folks who spend alot of money and alot of time with adding this or that and have very little success overall. I hope to someday soon get to the point where I have to add nothing at all, just regular water changes. We'll see !

[R1Bill]

TD,

Guessing here, I think that my system probably has about 180 actual gallons of water in it (see tank specs on link below). I schedule a 30 gallon change every six weeks and probably another 5 gallons randomly every week or 2.

Salinity - 35 ppt
pH - 8.2-8.4 (opposite lighting refuguim)
alk - red sea says low end of normal - yeah bogus test setup.
Magnesium - never tested
10 gallons of kalkwasser/week. Use 10 tsp Mothers Pickling lime, 200 ml of white vineger and 5 gallons of DI water.

Coraline covers everything heavily but appers to be growing slower recently. My water has always tested 400 ppm calcuim but this last time around it was 350. Lots of Macro algea in the refuguim. Harvest about 1/4 lb/week.

Only change is the addition of a bunch of stonies in the last month.

Thanks,

Bill

[tdwyatt]

Originally posted by R1Bill
...Magnesium - never tested
10 gallons of kalkwasser/week. Use 10 tsp Mothers Pickling lime, 200 ml of white vineger and 5 gallons of DI water...

Salinity and water changes are good, should be no problem with the magnesium with the water changes you do, although you might want to change over to 10% every 4 weeks (more often in the future if you have stonies and octocorals in the same tank, especially if you have heavy stocking of both types of corals).

The most likely culprit of your low Ca++ with your regimen is the amount of vinegar you are adding, might want to cut it back by half. The rational for using vinegar is to increase the solubility of the Calcium Hydroxide, and to supplement your mixing water's CO2 saturation, allowing for a more intense saturation of the water column by carbon dioxide as the vinegar reacts with the limewater to form Ca acetate and CO2. this then allows for a more rapid formation of the alkalinity component of the limewater top off solution. Unfortunately, if circumstances favor the rapid release of CO2, or too much becomes available (or if the source water is either acidic or is highly loaded with levels of CO2 to start with), then a portion of the Ca you add with your limewater will quickly reach saturation and precipitate out of solution as the carbonate salt.

Although using vinegar to solubilized much of your limewater helps in lower doses, it must be prepared freshly just prior to addition to your system, otherwise the CO2 liberated will precipitate out your Carlcium in your mixing vessel (making the precipitate chalk (CaCO3) instead of excess Ca(OH)2 precipitate). In the meantime, you might want to add a little CaCl2 to boost your Ca levels, or use more of the Calcium supplement in a 2 part additive solution. I prefer the use of Kalk over even CO2 reactors, as not only does it provide a balanced mixture of both Ca and Alk, but it does so without introducing a large amount of protons to the solution (as underutilized CO2 gas). Using large amounts of vinegar is unnecessary unless you need vary large amounts of Calcium and alkalinity due to large populations of calcifying organisms, and although acetate is quickly utilized as a nutrient in most aquaria, it is an unnecessary nutrient in the system, and may affect the acid base equilibria if too much is used. Personally, I would think that in your system, the use of vinegar is an unnecessary step, and is most likely contributing indirectly to your decreased levels of Calcium.

Might check your Ca kits just in case (mix some fresh ASW to 35 PPT and test for Ca, should be around 350 PPM if you use IO). With the large number of corals I have in my systems, I do not find it necessary to use vinegar to keep my Ca at around 400 to 420 PPM and my alk at 11 to 12 dKh (Nielssen reactors). Although there are times I use the 2 part B-ionic to correct temporary drops in either alk or Ca, they are not regular additives (although I would use them as the only Ca/alk supplement if they weren't so expensive).

Hope this helps.

[R1Bill]

thanks tom,

i knew that i should have taken those chemistry classes more seriously i'm going to order some b-ionic and stop using the vineger and see what happens.

bill