Vote Here Alk Or Calcium

[Radiography14]

WE ALL KNOW THAT CALCIUM AND ALK PLAY A HUGE ROLE ALONG WITH MAG WITH SPS TANKS. BUT LETS SAY YOU HAD 20 BUCKS YOU COULD ONLY GET ONE TEST KIT WOULD YOU GET CALCIUM OR ALK TEST KIT. WHATS MORE IMPORTANT TO YOU


VOTE NOW ALK OR CAL

[twon8]

alkalinity without a doubt is what i test more often. plus 20 bucks isn't enough for the salifert ca testkit

[Znut Reefer]

Another vote for Alk.

[Scissorhand]

Alk all the way.

But honestly you will eventually need to buy the Calcium and the Magnesium test kit.

The loss of all your corals due to low parameters or over-dosing will far outweigh the cost of these 3 basic test kits. Unless all you have in your tank is Monti Caps. :)

[aquarius77]

alk 4 sure.

[chris4869]

Another vote for Alk. Learned the hard way too.

[acrylic_300]

Alk

[murphreef]

alk has the most impact in the sps IME... my calcium can sway from high 400's to high 300's with not a problem but if my alk drops into the 7's which can happen overnite then believe me my sps will tell me they arent happy

[rynon]

I think you have your answer and I agree. Calcium can swing quite a bit with little impact (450-350) but an alk swing of 4 OR SO Dkh will have you in some troube......ticked corals at the very least.

[cutegecko3]

alk.

[wentreefgirl]

Alk all the way.

[fastfish]

Alk all the way too.

[LobsterOfJustice]

Alk.

I havent tested myt calcium in a long time. Its always rock solid. And IME corals arent nearly as sensitive to Calcium. Ca is more of a long term need, for growth. Poor alk, or swings, and SPS will die very quickly.

[afelder]

magnesium oh sorry alk

[Craig Lambert]

Alk. Not even contest.

[HBtank]

Alk

[ReefRockerLive]

Alk

[bigt0706]

another for alk way more important

[SERVO]

Redundancy is Good, good, good


ALK!

[Echidna09]

Wow, I didn't think everyone would vote Alk. I however, would choose alk as well because mine has never and still isn't where I want it to be at. Ca has always stayed fairly stable up until very recently.

[trueblackpercula]

Alk...........

[Rays]

Yep............

[Liteon]

ALK here!!!!!!!

[miwoodar]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10964897#post10964897 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Scissorhand
Alk all the way.

But honestly you will eventually need to buy the Calcium and the Magnesium test kit.

The loss of all your corals due to low parameters or over-dosing will far outweigh the cost of these 3 basic test kits. Unless all you have in your tank is Monti Caps. :)

True.

[Dave VG]

alk

[MCsaxmaster]

A reeftank without an alkalinity test kit is a disaster in the making. One without a calcium test kit is managable, though perhaps less than ideal.

cj

[afelder]

Can I change my vote just to be contrary???

[DJ44]

ALK

[SERVO]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10972424#post10972424 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by afelder
Can I change my vote just to be contrary???

Do you really want to be known as Mary?:)

[matt the fiddler]

Alk, as too much can burn and kill stuff.. if you overdue calcium it will precipitate....


seriously though- get alk, cal, and Mag

[MCsaxmaster]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10988841#post10988841 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by matt the fiddler
Alk, as too much can burn and kill stuff...

Hmmm, not so sure about that. A couple of decades ago, when folks were first really being successful with corals, in Germany many would maintain the alkalinity in the neighborhood of 12 - 18 dKH. That's probably higher than it "needs" to be, but I'm not sure there's any reason to think that higher than NSW levels of alkalinity are harmful to anything, and in fact there is strong anecdotal AND experimental evidence that higher carbonate alkalinity leads to higher calcification in corals and other critters.

cj

[gcarroll]

What's a calcium test kit?

[afelder]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10990334#post10990334 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by gcarroll
What's a calcium test kit?

Greg I thought the real question is what's a test kit.

[eskymick]

Alk for sure.

[stony_corals]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10990068#post10990068 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MCsaxmaster
Hmmm, not so sure about that. A couple of decades ago, when folks were first really being successful with corals, in Germany many would maintain the alkalinity in the neighborhood of 12 - 18 dKH. That's probably higher than it "needs" to be, but I'm not sure there's any reason to think that higher than NSW levels of alkalinity are harmful to anything, and in fact there is strong anecdotal AND experimental evidence that higher carbonate alkalinity leads to higher calcification in corals and other critters.

cj

Thiel was an early proponent, from a hobbyist perspective, of keeping alk levels above 15 dKH. Those mag pumps though sure need to be cleaned frequently though :) Do you have anything published on this?

You should setup an experimental system with one of the probiotic systems and see what happens when your alk is greater than NSW...

[matt the fiddler]

Then what is all this talk an ALK burn? I have seen numerous respected [10 year+ers} talk about it, though I have never witnessed it myself....

[dvanacker]

Here is my thought on why alk is more important and most likely the MOST important element in seawater.

The fact that coral skeleton (calcium carbonate) is made up of 20ppm calcium to 1meq/l (=50ppm) of carbonates (alkalinity). 1meq/l = 50ppm. Yet there is much more calcium in seawater then there is alkalinity.

SO skeleton building corals utilize calcium and alkalinty roughly in this ratio. Meaning although there is a greater quantity of calcium in seawater, it is alkalinity that is used faster. You can see how flucations in alkalinity would occur faster then calcium. A "balanced" supplement will also have this ratio of 20ppm calcium to 50ppm alkalinity.

This factor would also play a role in what we are discussing.

[MCsaxmaster]

Thiel was an early proponent, from a hobbyist perspective, of keeping alk levels above 15 dKH. Those mag pumps though sure need to be cleaned frequently though :) Do you have anything published on this?

Agreed--I think that high is probably higher than things really need to be or necessarily even should be. Rates of abiotic precipitation of CaCO3 on pumps and heaters and things does get pretty high (assuming calcium and pH are not low).

See Marubini and Thake 1999. Bicarbonate addition promotes coral growth.

You should setup an experimental system with one of the probiotic systems and see what happens when your alk is greater than NSW...

Yeah, I hear that folks have problems with that, but it's no clear why or what is going on at all or even that problems happen universally which such systems. If they do, then that suggests to me a pretty serious weakness of those systems...

Then what is all this talk an ALK burn? I have seen numerous respected [10 year+ers} talk about it, though I have never witnessed it myself....

Ha, you tell me ;) I've heard of people talk about "alk burn" and attributing problems they were having to higher than NSW alkalinity, but I've heard people blame everything imaginable as a cause for problems they were having. Considering the number of people that normally maintain higher than NSW levels of alkalinity with no problems, and the experimental evidence that suggests that it increase the rate of coral growth, I see no reason to think that levels of alkalinity commonly maintained in captivity (e.g., 3 - 4 meq/l) are harmful to corals.

Chris

[five.five-six]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10967103#post10967103 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by afelder
magnesium oh sorry alk

yep, mag, alk and calcium can be kept in ballance with kalkwasser or a reactor, just so long as your mg is in check... if mg is out of wack, all is for not


<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10993948#post10993948 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MCsaxmaster
[B]Thiel was an early proponent, from a hobbyist perspective, of keeping alk levels above 15 dKH. Those mag pumps though sure need to be cleaned frequently though :) Do you have anything published on this?

oh yea, I remember that from back in ther early 90's i ran a reactor, topped off with kalkwasser AND doesd reef builder... shooting for DKH ~13... you get home from a wang chung concert and check out my tank with the black formica stand and 6500 kelvin halides

lol

[five.five-six]

dp

[JOSE CASAS]

alk

[moo0o]

alk