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| Nano Reefs Learn more about how to care for tanks of 20 gallons and less. |
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11-13-2003, 10:30 AM
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#1
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Little Fishy
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: PA
Posts: 104
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Nano Kalkwasser, HELP
People,
I have a 20G that is fully cycles (been 2 months now) and has just a small clean up crew working on algae. I have 26lbs of live rock and 30lbs of liv sand with 110W PC light. My question is this:
I want to start dosing kalkwasser to get good coralline growth, but every time I test for calcium, its at 450 which is where I want to be. Now if I dose Kalkwasser then I will raise that up and OD on calcium. What do I do? I want the benefits of Kalkwasser to get the PH and coraline benefit, but I at at my Ca limit right now. My current coralline is here and there on the LR, but I can I dose Kalk if the Ca is already high? What to do?????? Do I just wait for it to go down, but then wait, its time for a 5% water change and bang, right back where I started. I thinking to wait until the coraline spreads on its own, starts eating up the Ca then dose Kalk a little at a time. What do you guys think. What did you do?
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11-13-2003, 11:02 AM
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#2
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shark bait
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: south of the north pole
Posts: 778
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have you considered a simple drip feed unit like kent's? this way you can set the amount of water dispenced with the evaporation rate, and add your calcium and other additives everytime when you refill the drip contianer.
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Remember, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday. -- Dale Carnegie
Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
-- Terry Pratchett
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11-13-2003, 04:53 PM
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#3
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Shark
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Macon GA
Posts: 2,044
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I'm a believer that you can't exactly overdose calcium.
What can happen is you mess up the ion balance which could cause your alkalinity to go down. Also you can cause some of the calcium to come out of solution as a dusting on the LR/LS.
If your calcium is staying at 450 then currently you have no need to dose but that will most likely change as your calcium needs change.
Check out your alkalinity level --- if your calcium is 450 but your alk is really low then that will inhibit you coraline from growing as good as it could.
So check both cal and alk and get them both where you want them. After that do whatever is necessary to keep it at those levels. Maybe you need to start dosing kalk but maybe you only need to dose on an irregular basis.
Here is a link to a thread on the ARC forum where I am trying a new experiment with kalk dosing. Although it might be a few weeks before I really know how well this works you might want to keep an eye on that thread.
http://205.214.81.55/forums/showthre...874#post202874
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11-14-2003, 06:29 PM
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#4
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Snooping around
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Philippines
Posts: 214
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with nanos slow is sure. big trouble come into little packages very very fast.
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"If the sight of the blue skies fill you with joy, if the simple things of nature have a message you understand, rejoice for your soul is alive!" -- Eleonora Duse
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11-14-2003, 09:30 PM
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#5
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Shark
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Macon GA
Posts: 2,044
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Quote:
Originally posted by SouthernReefer
and add your calcium and other additives everytime when you refill the drip contianer.
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Just be extra carefull reading all the instructions and precautions on all your addatives. Some can not be mixed in a topoff container and others can not be mixed together.
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Minibow.com encouraging Nano's to go where no tank has gone before !!
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11-15-2003, 01:35 PM
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#6
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Little Fishy
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: PA
Posts: 104
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Thanks guys,
I did not know if dosing kalk on an irregular basis was acceotable or not. My ALK right now is good, but my Ca is always low no matter how much additive I add, it keeps hovering around 350ppm which is low I know. I wanted to add Kalk, but since I will in and out in the next few days, I did not want to do it irregularlly and mess up the system.
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11-16-2003, 03:38 AM
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#7
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Little Fishy
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: PA
Posts: 104
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Guys,
Some people have said that dosing Kalk on an irregular basis can do more damage thatn good. What do you guys think? I think that is does not matter when you dose it as long as Ca and ALK are within limits. By the bay what Ca and ALK do you guys use as a target. My target is about 450ppm CA and 4.0 meq/L. Any comments.  |
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11-16-2003, 04:46 AM
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#8
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Snooping around
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Philippines
Posts: 214
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good targets. and you are right. as long as you maintain a range and avoid sudden changes it should work.
__________________
"If the sight of the blue skies fill you with joy, if the simple things of nature have a message you understand, rejoice for your soul is alive!" -- Eleonora Duse
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11-18-2003, 10:22 AM
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#9
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Little Fishy
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Redmond, Oregon
Posts: 147
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Generally speaking, kalk will maintain CA & ALK after you have established the levels you want. In my 10 gal. I mix 1/2 tsp per gallon. You can go as high as 1 1/2 to 2 tsp depending on what you have in your tank consuming CA. For just coralline growth start with a simple drip system at 1/2 tsp/gal & go from there.
Ken
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11-18-2003, 03:42 PM
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#10
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Shark
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Macon GA
Posts: 2,044
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If you have the book "Book of Coral Propagation" by Anthony Calfo it has a really good section on kalk dosing and it might just change your views on how you are dosing the kalk.
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Minibow.com encouraging Nano's to go where no tank has gone before !!
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11-19-2003, 07:12 PM
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#11
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Snooping around
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Philippines
Posts: 214
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or you can also go to wetwebmedia.com
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"If the sight of the blue skies fill you with joy, if the simple things of nature have a message you understand, rejoice for your soul is alive!" -- Eleonora Duse
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11-19-2003, 09:27 PM
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#12
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Shark
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Macon GA
Posts: 2,044
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wetwebmedia.com that is correct.
Anthony Clafo and a few others are the people who started up and run that website.
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Minibow.com encouraging Nano's to go where no tank has gone before !!
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11-23-2003, 02:45 AM
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#13
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Snooping around
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Philippines
Posts: 214
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that site started me. no books about artificial reefing here in the philippines (well good books that is) so the net was best source.
great site...
__________________
"If the sight of the blue skies fill you with joy, if the simple things of nature have a message you understand, rejoice for your soul is alive!" -- Eleonora Duse
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12-20-2003, 09:58 PM
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#14
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Little Fishy
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: atlanta, ga
Posts: 77
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back guys, sorry i havent replied about the tank. its a viaaqua 418 that i got from cap bay. been kinda busy lately. and im getting ready to setup a 2nd nano w/ that csl 20" light w/ moonlight. cant wait. right now im just kinda rock shopping. that rock was bought from marine fish in marietta. its great stuff. the tank in the pic is the one i setup at work. its looking real good. in fact, the hammer is starting to have little babies. ive also added a white bubble coral. |
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