levels off, dosing Ca and limewater.

[leeweber85]

I made a mistake of overdosing for alkalinity and now my alk is 9dKH and my Ca is 300 ppm. (magnesium is a little over 1300ppm)

I've been adding just the Calcium part of the 2 part additive and it hasn't raised it at all.

Do I need to discontinue my limewater dosing until it gets up to the right level? Or do I need to be more patient and give it some time?

[748S911]

i have a similar proplem, but my calcium is at 500 ppm and alk is at 7dkh, how do i keep both up???

[David Grigor]

Duplicate post.

[David Grigor]

Did you use the reef chemistry calculator as a guideline to how much CA it is going to take ? I'd suspect you haven't added near enough. The CA test kits aren't super accurate so it could have gone up by 20ppm or so and between user testing and test kit sensitity you might thing it hasn't changed at all when in fact it has some....

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

You can use either calcium chloride (less expensive) or just the calcium part of the two part (not both parts) as per the calculator.

This article may also help:

Solving Calcium and Alkalinity Problems
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2002/chem.htm

[leeweber85]

Yeah, I've browsed through that article one too many times. And it's a good resource ;)

It just seems like I'm dumping in more than I should be and getting nowhere.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

It just seems like I'm dumping in more than I should be and getting nowhere.

That's what happens if you add both parts of a two part additive when trying to boost calcium. :)