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blazing
10/18/2009, 07:39 PM
sup ya i am going to start dosing cal and alk in my tank but came across a lil problem. i want to keep my alk and cal the same level as it is when i mix up a fresh batch of SW. i am using seachem and after i mix it up with water my cal reads 520 and alk is 9-10. i was hoping to keep my cal around 450 but the cal in my salt mix is higher than that. i wanted to keep it the same level as my salt mix so when i do WC's it wont shift my prams to much but it seems like my cal is pretty high. should i still shoot to keep my cal at 450? or should i keep it at 500? any help would be great thxs

Toadally
10/18/2009, 09:42 PM
I wouldn't worry too much about it. The cal will come down on it's own, in fact, depending on the demand of your tank, you may have trouble keeping it at 450. How often are you doing water changes? Are you dosing anything right now?

blazing
10/18/2009, 09:49 PM
I do wc every e weeks and I don't dose anything at all.

Toadally
10/18/2009, 09:59 PM
I don't think water changes are gonna make that much of a difference. Just watch your parameters and adjust when needed. Another way to keep your ph up is to dose kalk.

blazing
10/19/2009, 12:21 AM
That's what I was going to do. My plan was to bring my cal and alk to where I want it then test and find out how much to dose. I read that kalk will keeps ur cal and alk stable but when I went to pick up my cal and alk I also grab a container of kalk. The worker there said I don't need kalk and should just use the cal and alk. Now I kinda reget not getting it. Should I go pick some up?

Randy Holmes-Farley
10/19/2009, 04:42 AM
There are many ways to supplement calcium and alkalinity. Limewater (kalkwasser) is one, but there are others that work just as well. :)

These have more:

How to Select a Calcium and Alkalinity Supplementation Scheme
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/feb2003/chem.htm


The “How To” Guide to Reef Aquarium Chemistry for Beginners, Part 1: The Salt Water Itself
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-03/rhf/index.php

The “How To” Guide to Reef Aquarium Chemistry for Beginners, Part 2: What Chemicals Must be Supplemented
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-04/rhf/index.php

The "How To" Guide to Reef Aquarium Chemistry for Beginners, Part 3: pH
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-05/rhf/index.php

The “How To” Guide to Reef Aquarium Chemistry for Beginners,
Part 4: What Chemicals May Detrimentally Accumulate
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-09/rhf/index.php