a little help with kent marine turbo ca

[cmiller]

i've been trying for about two months to raise my ca levels. i haven't been able to raise it above 400 ppm and this in not sufficient given the ca needs of my reef (see tank inhabitants below). i had been dosing about 45 ml of b-ionic ca supplement for about two week to try and raise it, but this only allowed me to raise it to about 400 ppm.

it was recommended that i try using kent marine's turbo calcium which i started doing last week. i set up a drip line feeding into my sump and dripped about 2 1/2 gallons of the turbo mix (3/4 teaspoon of kent marine in 2 1/2 gallons of ro water). this did little to nothing in terms of raising ca. it is still at 400 ppm. the instructions on the label for the turbo ca are vague and not very helpful. how much turbor ca should i be adding to my tank and at what rate?

i'm using elos ca test kit and red sea ca test kit to double check my readings.

here are my other levels:
Mg: 1400 ppm
Alk: 8.2 dKH
pH: 8.2
po4: 0
nitrate: 0
specific grav: 1.025

any help is greatly appreciated.
many thanks.
chris

 

[gas4544]

I imagine that Kent MArine Tubo Calcium is similar to the Seachem Reef Advantage Calcium that I use in my 30-gallon monti tank. I add 2 teaspoons mixed with water to my tank 2-3 times per week. I also add kalk as part of my topoff, maybe a gallon per week.

Check this out: http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html

I just found it when I searched online for instructions for dosing Kent Marine Turbo Calcium. It covers all kinds of products.

Gary

 

[cmiller]

I imagine that Kent MArine Tubo Calcium is similar to the Seachem Reef Advantage Calcium that I use in my 30-gallon monti tank. I add 2 teaspoons mixed with water to my tank 2-3 times per week. I also add kalk as part of my topoff, maybe a gallon per week.

Check this out: http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html

I just found it when I searched online for instructions for dosing Kent Marine Turbo Calcium. It covers all kinds of products.

Gary

thanks for the link to the ca calculator. follow up question for you.
the instructions on the kent marine bottle say not to mix more than 1/4 teaspoon of the ca crystals per gallon of ro water. the calculator says to gradually add 7 teaspoons of the turbo ca to get my ca up to 450 ppm, but to do this would mean i would need to mix up 28 gallons. that can't be right. your thoughts on this?

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

I use Turbo Calcium to boost my water change water up to 410 or so. To make things fast/easy, I mix up a solution of 1 quart of RO/DI water with 4 teaspoons of the TurboCalcium. That gives me a solution of Ca of about 7650 ppm. I will then mix about 1/3 cup of that solution into my 5g water change water to bring my Ca up to where I want it. More info than you wanted... but just letting you know that nothing terrible will happen if you exceed 1/4t per gallon. [I'll have to check out those instructions tonight! I never noticed that one!]

When increasing the Ca level in your tank, just make sure you don't do it too fast - say more than 20ppm per day.

Also... I'd argue that you really don't need more than 400 ppm Ca in your tank anyway, regardless of the inhabitants. But that's a different thread!

 

[cmiller]

I use Turbo Calcium to boost my water change water up to 410 or so. To make things fast/easy, I mix up a solution of 1 quart of RO/DI water with 4 teaspoons of the TurboCalcium. That gives me a solution of Ca of about 7650 ppm. I will then mix about 1/3 cup of that solution into my 5g water change water to bring my Ca up to where I want it. More info than you wanted... but just letting you know that nothing terrible will happen if you exceed 1/4t per gallon. [I'll have to check out those instructions tonight! I never noticed that one!]

When increasing the Ca level in your tank, just make sure you don't do it too fast - say more than 20ppm per day.

Also... I'd argue that you really don't need more than 400 ppm Ca in your tank anyway, regardless of the inhabitants. But that's a different thread!

thanks for your reply. helpful to know how others use turbo ca. i think i need to increase the ca ppm in my mix and add slowly with my drip system to have an affect on the tank.
i've read that clams use a high amount of ca and with three of them in my tank, along with several other ca critters and coraline all over my glass, i was shooting to get ca up to 450 to keep stuff happy. it's been around 375-400 and the inverts have been suffering.
thanks again,
chris

 

[Boomer]

I agree with Kurt. However, it is safe to raise Ca++ but to no more than 50 ppm /day. That is what jd means by gradually raising it. Marine life forms can not grow faster at levels higher than ~ 360. So, anything above NSW is just a waste. What controls growth is higher temp ( to a degree), pH and Alk.

it's been around 375-400 and the inverts have been suffering.

This has nothing to do with Ca++ at those levels. If they are suffering it is something else that is doing it. If the ocean is 390-410 and clams grow like weeds, how can the clams suffer at 400 ppm ?

 

[returnofsid]

While you've been focusing on Ca, have you tested or dosed for Alk or Mg? What are your rest results?