Need help with dosing.

[hawks]

I've tested alk and calc this evening with salifert test kits. My calc was 340 ppm and the alk was 9.0 dKh. I know they are too low and I want to raise them with Kent Marine Tech*CB Calcium Buffer part A and part B. I would like to bring my calc up about 60 ppm and the alk up to 11.dKH. I can't figure out how much I need to add of the 2 to safely get to where I need.

I have a 65 gallon with about 95+ pounds of rock and I'm using a 29 gallon for the sump. I only have about 25% full of water in the sump though. Is there some sort of calculator I need to use to figure this out?

Thanks for the help,
Brian

[Wiskey]

I personally would leave your alk where it's at and maintain it there. I run a ALK of between 8 and 9DKH, remember Ocean levels are somewhere around 7.

Use this link to caculate how much buffer you will need to raise your levels. If you are doing anything with alk don't forget to change it from Meq/L to Dkh.

[Wiskey]

Oops

Here's the link:
http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chemcalc.html

Whiskey

[hawks]

Ok, little confused on how this works.
I used 65 gallons for the tank size and said I wanted to go from 340 to 400ppm. It says I need 8.9 fl oz of the stuff I have, which is half the bottle.... What confuses me the most is that it says the balanced alk at 400ppm would be 1.96 meq/l. That would be around 5.2 dKH alk. What am I missing Whiskey?

[hawks]

Bumping for wiskey or anyone to answer.

[Wiskey]

Hold on, I'll look.

Whiskey

[Wiskey]

Err, wait, that's right. I personally run Kh of 8-9, and Ca of 420-430, that's close enough to in ballance for me.

You would need 375 Ml, of the CA part to jump from 340-425, one heck of a jump, that's why you need so much. Don't do it all in one shot though.

Now you see why people go to so much trouble to make their own 2 part, I go through a gallon of each (CA and Alk) every 10 days in my SPS tank.

Whiskey

[jerseyguy1996]

Originally Posted by Wiskey

Err, wait, that's right. I personally run Kh of 8-9, and Ca of 420-430, that's close enough to in ballance for me.

You would need 375 Ml, of the CA part to jump from 340-425, one heck of a jump, that's why you need so much. Don't do it all in one shot though.

Now you see why people go to so much trouble to make their own 2 part, I go through a gallon of each (CA and Alk) every 10 days in my SPS tank.

Whiskey

Is there a link for how to make your own?

[Wiskey]

Here you go:

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

Whiskey

[hawks]

Wiskey, so if I at least leave the alk alone and then follow the amount for the calc I will be insyc right? I'm thinking I may need to make my own 2 part but I'm wondering if I need so much because I'm just trying to get things in order. Your thoughts?

[hawks]

I forgot to ask how much you think I should dose. I guess how many days should I spread this over?

[gwaco]

hawks just remember that if you only use the ca portion your alk will drop, as long as you hold it to around 7 dkh you will be fine . just dose the ca. over a few days and then check both again . then you need to test a few more times during the week with out dosing anything else so you can get some kind of base line for what your consumption is . then start the process over again dosing and testing , by the second week you should have a pretty good grip on what you need to dose either daily , everyother day , or weekly .

[hawks]

This may be a dumb question but can you mix both the alk and calc into one mix? I know that the part a and b are in different bottles but I'm wondering if I can do it if I make my own 2 part.

Thanks,
Brian

[gwaco]

Originally Posted by hawks

This may be a dumb question but can you mix both the alk and calc into one mix? I know that the part a and b are in different bottles but I'm wondering if I can do it if I make my own 2 part.

Thanks,
Brian

no . they have to be dose as seperate chemicals . the ca will precipitate out .