OMG, I am a DIY'er

[hankstanks]

Just posted some pics of the tank I set up. I was sick of paying through the ears for stands, parts etc...
I built the stand, canopy, moonlights etc...and now i am hooked on the DIY board!

So far so good. The rock seems to be shedding, I am dripping Kalk like mad to bring up the CA levels. THe transfer to this tank seemed to stir up the system a bit. Still have most of my coarls in a smaller tank waiting to be moved.

I got a hold of a box of uncured Tonga Blade rock and wanted to set up an overhang type of look. So far, so good except I need to point the power head in the caverns and under the overhangs a few times a week to make srue the mulm gets sucked up by the skimmer etc...


I am building an acrylic tank soon with a Black back overflow the length of the aquarium and a 4 inch gap between the back wall so I can hide all the componets (heather, Thermo, intake for the UV unit running on a canister filter) I plan on drilling a 1 inch bulkhead hole to drain it to the 30 sump in the basement and pump it back up with a Mag 19 which will be drilled thorugh both the back of the tank and the full wall overflow.

[Bloat]

Welcome to the "cheap "side The force is strong in you .
Same thing happend to me Built one 55 stand and canopy 2 weeks ago and now Im on my third stand. and two sumps/Refuge

[Geoff]

do you all think he is hooked?

G~

[RWD]

Welcome to the club! It never ends. So far I built my stand and canopy, a sump out of a 40 gal breeder and another one out of a Sterlite container. Not only have I saved $$, built it exactly how I wanted it. Bob

[ereefic]

I am dripping Kalk like mad to bring up the CA levels

What exactley do you mean by this?

[hankstanks]

Dude, It means I am dripping Kalkwasser each night to bring up the Calicum levels in the tank to 420. Its a calicum additive...

[ereefic]

I know it's a calcium additive.

How much are you dosing to bring it up? How much are you bringing it up? What effect does this have on your pH and Alk?

I'm asking because everthing i've read about using Kalk as it is to MAINTAIN not raise levels. When ever I read of someone using Kalk to RAISE there levels, i'm interested in knowing how they are doing it and what effect it has on there levels.

Thanks.

[Geoff]

it can raise levels if your tank is new and the coraline has not started cranking yet. it can also raise the levels if it is a softie tank and the evaporation rate is high enough to outpace the coraline.

my Ca levels did go up when i brought my kalk reactor on line, it was not much and it was only for about 2 months. when my coraline started growing well and i had several stony frags in there it was just able to maintain.

hth,

G~

[Doug1]

You might consider a 2 part to dial it in and TEST TEST TEST
Naw I don't think he's hooked yet

[hankstanks]

I did use a 2 part for a whlile. No real luck with it and couldnt get the levels about 300 with it.

I started dripping 1/2 gallon of KALK each night for a week then started adding Liquid Calicum as well everyother night.

Whamo CA levls at 485 and slowly coming down...

My KH went to 13 and my PH got as high as 8.6.

I also did a few small water changes that week to take the peaks off the levels.

[Geoff]

it sounds like your alk was low. this would cause you to have problems getting your Ca up. when you started using kalk it adds both in the proper proportions allowing the Ca to climb along with the alk. so it appears your Ca levels were climbing, when in actuality they were falling back in line with the alk as it was getting raised. if both alk a Ca are being used close to equally by the critters than dosing kalk generally will not raise the levels it will keep them constant, assuming the evaporation in the tank is high enough.

oh, Tom am i getting this right?

G~

[tdwyatt]

Originally posted by Geoff
... if both alk a Ca are being used close to equally by the critters than dosing kalk generally will not raise the levels it will keep them constant, assuming the evaporation in the tank is high enough...

The Calcium and the bicarbonate are used and removed from the water column in equal amounts, although in some scenarios another mole of bicarb is used to accept the proton from the bicarb ion being converted to skeleton as it is converted to carbonate during skeletalization (many different models for this, some account for the proton acceptor by many different methods). Essentially the alkalinity (as bicarbonate ion) and the Calcium are used in calcification (whether cis or trans models) in equimolar amounts, resulting in a net production of protons and biologically precipitated CaCO3 (skeleton). This is witnessed by increases in [H+] in near-reef waters (T.A. MacConnaughay, et al.)

To get the amount of calcium and bicarbonate in the water column at supersaturation, four factors affect it's solubility: the salinity of the water column, the level of bicarb, the level of Calcium, and the pH of the water column (for now lets assume everything else like temp, phosphate, pressure and pCO2 are constant). Salinity makes for the proper mix (in NSW) of Mg++, SO4--, the ion pairs of metals and the hydrations spheres of ions (the conservaqtive elements) that allow for the supersaturation of seawater with respect to Calcium and carbonate. The short answer is that if either of the ionic factors get out of balance (too high), they will tend to precipitate the lesser conc ion out of solution as Calcium Carbonate solids, making the situation worse, as the aquarist sees very little increase in Ca (because it is abiotically precipitating out to the substrate)... ...Sooooo they add more calcium additive (makes sense, low ca, add more ca... ). Without adding Alk, then the situation only gets worse, until pH starts to drop and alk is eliminated, forcing dissolution of any aragonite solids present in the low pH water column to return to solution and an apparent return to some sense of normalcy, however, pH is skewed (starting to sound like some of the trt threads... )

Further compounded by the presence of excess CO2 when using a Ca/CO2 based reactor.

Very difficult to fix unless you're following all the parameters.

Heh! Your answer is close enough Geoff, close enough

[Geoff]

Thanks Tom!



G~

[Viv]

So if you add White Vinegar to this situation-would it help?

[yardboy]

It could help and hurt. While you can get more calcium in solution using the vinegar, the acetate produced will act as food for the bacteria and algae, with all those associated prolblems. That is, unless you really dig green tanks.