Ca vs kH

[Petar]

Hi all,
I have some difficulties to put Ca and kH in equlibrium.

Ca is 450 by salifert test kit, 460 by Tropic Marin test kit.
Mg is 1400
kH is 8 , and if i am raising it by adding NaHCO3 kH will go up and after few days it will go down to 7. If I reach 11kH(ever) should I have to continue to add NaHCO3 every day until Ca goes+ down and match Ca vs Alk. ?

pH is 8.22
sgt 1025
thx

[Adamc1303]

The KH is decreasing because your tank is consuming it. Figure out exactly how mucht he consumption is and suppliment it. It should not affect the CA. What are you using to suppliment?

[Petar]

Hi AdamC,
thx for reply , I am dosing Balling light methode from Fauna Marin.
1. Calcium Chloride-Dihydrate
2. Magnesium Chloride-Hexahydrate
3. sodium hydrogen carbonate NaHCO3
I have soft corals and very low demand for Ca.
I don't use grotech controller.

What's my Alk target has to be? 12kH?

kind regards,
Petar

[Petar]

There is noone to help ?

[fijiblue]

Petar - you are on the right track. Your corals/system use kh in order to utilize yoy Ca so your kh will drop much faster then your Ca. I would figure out your dose to maintain perhaps 8 dkh and dose like Adam suggested. Good luck!

[Billybeau1]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14014479#post14014479 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Petar
There is noone to help ?

Petar, it is Christmas Day. The big boys have families too. :D

I would target 9 dkh as this is in the middle of the recommended range and will allow for a little test noise. But alk is a matter of personal preference. Some choose to keep it a little higher.

Just don't over-analyze this chemistry thing and you will be fine.

Come back with more questions if need be. :)

[cybrsufr]

100% agree with Billy. Don't get too caught up in trying to stay exact. The range for DKh is 7-12 and some people even run as high as 14, however NSW is about 6.5 -7.5 so I generally shoot for 8-9 so it has some room for error. Granted I use reactors and kalkstirrer instead of the Balling method so once my equipment is dialed in, it generally just stays there +/- 1 . Even though you only have soft corals and such, other things use the CaCO3 as well such as Coralline Algae, Clams, Shrimps and Crabs, as well as the soft corals themselves to build the Scelerites (sp) within the tissues. My 180, Heavily SPS Dominated take uses approx 2.5 DKh a day. I spent a lot of time testing to figure this out, due to very wild fluctuations in DKh when setting up my reactors. I overshot three times and ended up with a 16.5 DKh. Every time after three days of no dripping Kalk or Ca Reactor, the tank would drop approx 2.5 DKh each day so at the end day 4 with no additions I would be down to 6.5 DKh and then would restart the drips. I now have mine dialed in at 8.5 DKh and 410-430 Ca.

[artur]

Is kalk enough for Ca and dhk, when dhk demand seems to be higher than Ca, like the example of cybrsufr, I have a tunze kalk doser

[Petar]

Hi to all,
guys, you are fantastic, i know what to do now.
Thank you.

BR/ Petar

[Billybeau1]

:thumbsup:

Good luck. :)