Best liquid addictive for Cal and Alk?

[PupChow]

I have a 65g tank with no sump, so I am looking to start dosing liquid Cal and Alk since I am beginning to stock some SPS and clams... with so many brands out on the market right now, I was wondering which ones are the ones that are the best "bang for the bucks"?

[Spuds725]

Any liquid 2 part should be fine

B-ionic and kent marine work just fine--- if you find you are using alot of these and its getting expensive, there are home made mixtures you can make and use. The calcium part might be hard to obtain (dow flake--calcium chloride) at this time of year but the alk part is made with food grade baking soda. So you can at least make up a bunch of this for a few dollars.

The article below has some recipe variations depending on your situation--- near the bottom of the article it links you to a online calculator for amounts to dose to raise a specific value and includes several brands of supplements as well as randy's recipes...

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php
HTH...

Spuds.

[Billybeau1]

You may also want to consider using limewater (kalkwasser) There are many benefits besides maintaining calk and alk as stated in this article.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.htm

[cecilturtle]

I don't care for the Kent brand. Seemed I had to use too much to keep same levels as B-Ionic. Kalk works very well in addition to either supplement but I dose mine at night only.

You can make your on doser or use the Kent Aquadose drip which works well...oh the irony. Dose the BI in the morning. Once you figure out what levels your tank needs then split the BI dose in half for once in the morning and once at night. HTH

[crumbletop]

First off, you will want to measure your Ca, Alk and pH in order to know what to do. There are several aditives that can raise either or both.

Calcium Chloride to raise Ca
Sodium Bicarbonate to raise Alk (and pH some)
Calcium Hydroxide to raise Ca and pH (and Alk some)

Randy's article linked above is a good one. It is really easy (and cheap) to make your own two part additive and Randy gives a nice recipe for doing so. First step, though, is knowing where your tank stands now, and then figuring out a plan to get it where you want to keep it.

Jack

[lemonhead]

i prefer seachem"s reef complete(calcium, stron., and mag.) and Reef carbonate (kh buffer). easy to use and cheaper than two parts. seachem also has powdered versions that dose more for the money, just have to premix it in to some fresh water. could use kalk to maintain levels, but without a sump you might not want to deal with dripping it in.

[PupChow]

Thank you guys! I will look into it... my SPS and clams thank you as well! ;-)

[sjm817]

E.S.V. B-ionic
-or-
R.H.F. D-IYonic

[crumbletop]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7626511#post7626511 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sjm817
R.H.F. D-IYonic

That's funny. I like it :D I haven't heard that one b4 :lol:

[sjm817]

I just made it up!

My little contribution to Randy's incredible work.