Alk swings

[blenny100]

I am on the verge of buying a Ca reactor to control my Ca and Alk. Specifically, my Alk swings, which go from ~6 - 9dkh. Would this be considered a large swing? It occurs within 3-4 days.

I have a pretty successful tank, mostly LPS and Soft. But have had trouble with some euphylllias. I don't really need SPS - and I hope to have clams sometime.

My Ca is pretty steady around 400.

Is it worth getting the Ca rector? I am currently using Randy's 2-part, but dosing the alk is difficult because the baking soda always ends up collecting at the bottom of the bottle.

Also, I tested Mg for the first time - it was 1100. Is this very low? I will add Randy's Mg recipe over a few days (2.5L according the the calc) to bring it up.

[Boomer]

No, that is a pretty normal swing for some.

Your Mg++ is about 200 ppm to low. Try to get it up to 1300 ppm.

IMHO you have no need for Calcium reactor.

Try to keep the baking soda solution warmer. Are you sure you are not using to much BS for your solution ?

[blenny100]

After more reading, it seems like a kalkwaser system makes sense than an expensive Ca reactor.

I currently have a top-off system, can I just use this to add kalwasser (assuming that I work out the evaporation rate and the alk/ca consumption rates)? I think my tank consumes about 1dkh / day.

How much of an issue is it to keep the water in the 5G resevoir moving, ie., will the limewater solution settle to the bottom of the tank if I don't put powerheads into the reservoir to keep things churning?

[bertoni]

The lime dissolves in fresh water, so there's no need to stir. In fact, stirring destroys the potency of the limewater by introducing CO2, as describe here:

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-05/rhf/feature/index.php