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ItsMee
10/13/2009, 08:47 AM
I have been testing my calcium and alkalinity levels after reading Randy's articles (BTW, thanks Randy!). my calcium is at 420ppm after slowly raising it recently from 360ppm and the alkalinity is at 9-10 dkh (3.2-3.6 meq/l). It seems that when the calcium was lower that I had to dose the limewater more frequently because the alkalinity was depleted faster. Does this make sense? I never really perfected the daily limewater dose, even after testing daily and I could not find anything anywhere to read about the process of calculating the daily limewater dosage - can someone please help here?

Thanks in advance!

:fish1: :fish1: :fish1: :fish1: :fish1: :fish1: :fish1: :fish1:

Randy Holmes-Farley
10/13/2009, 08:52 AM
I can't see a reason why you'd need to dose more limewater to maintain alkalinity when calcium is lower.

Determine limewater dose to maintain alkalinity where you want. :)

Glad you find the articles useful!

ItsMee
10/13/2009, 11:30 AM
Determine limewater dose to maintain alkalinity where you want. :)


I take it there is no other way to determine this other than test, drip, test, drip?

Where would a good place to start be for a 40 gallon tank with light calcium needs using saturated (2 tsp lime/gallon water) limewater? Is 16 ounces too much?

Randy Holmes-Farley
10/13/2009, 11:49 AM
No other good way.

Starting by slowly (dropwise) replacing all evaporated water with 1 tsp per gallon limewater is a good way to go. Then increase or decrease the solid llime added to the limewater if needed. :)