is high calcium a bad thing???

[drummereef]

kinda contradicting my self but today i went out and bought:

kent marine Concentrated Liquid Calcium
Seachems Reef calcium Maintains Calcium
kent marine Phytoplex (phytoplankton)
kent marine Zooplex (Zooplankton)

I didnt see anything about the zooplank, or the photoplank in the notes you guys gave me, would it be ok to add this to my tank to feed my sps, and xeniasa??

did i waste my money on this stuff???

im about to go use the calc you guys gave me to measure how much i dose with cause i wanna get my cal up to 420.

then again, i think i need to read more before i do so i dont know what the heck im gonna do, i think i may just wait till this weekend til i do a water change

my cal is somewhere around 300 to 320, i know im not suspose to raise it that fast either

i dont know

i guess i got some more reading to do!!!

what is a "meq/L"

Use the "Kent marine Concentrated Liquid Calcium" to adjust your Ca level. Just use the calculator and pick this product.

 

[drummereef]

i just read over alot of my home work and one of the articles said that if i have a imbalance in my tank then i need to adjust it before i need to start tring to maintain a balance i try to keep my tank at

it sounds alot easier then i thought

since i have a low calcium ratio should i try messing with my calcium levels 1st then, some one told me that i could use kent marine turbo cal, and it would safley rasie my cal and nothing else

would Kent marine cal be ok to use??

it says its concentrated and bio-available, that means that its basically already broken down and ready for the consumption by the corals correct, in which i would think that it would leave the calcium levels in my tank alone possibly causing them to rise????

that dont sound right though!!!

Does it just raise the cal or what

I really like the read so far, but i got a long way to go

but its really coming to gether

thanks,and usually i dont read links people send me but you guys send some good, interesting links!!!

thanks again peeps, i may read a lil more and have a few more????s

The "Kent marine Concentrated Liquid Calcium" is fine. It is basically the same as Turbo Calcium, just in liquid concentrate form. Use the calculator and you'll be fine. I recommend manually adjusting your levels, just like Randy said in those articles first. Then, maintain with an appropriate 'balance' additive.

 

[drummereef]

what is, and how can you tell if you have calcium carbonate build up on heaters or something

will it build up on titanium heaters or glass heaters???

will the kent turbo cal buffer mess with ANY thing else if raised over a 5 to 6 day period, i know you said you can safely add it but i just wanna make sure cause ill be getting some this weekend!!!

basically a kalk just keeps your cal, and alk levels as they are, and dosent cause your mag, or your ph to swing either correct
a 2 part system is kalk correct???

and the corals intake bicarb and then turn it into carb, that produce a cal carb skelton right

so i dont understand why my cal level is soo low if my alk level is like 196 ppm, which is right at normal conditions

since my alk is basically what the bi carb is made up of is it possible that my corals are getting enough intake, but for some reason the magnesium molecules are forming crystals on my calcium ions, causing them to go neutral, or to deplete???

could this be the cause??

if so the kent turbo should do the trick correct???

Calcium carbonate buildup will look like bleached coralline. It's just a hard, white buildup on your equipment. I don't really have a problem with it.

If you are using Kent Turbo Calcuim or Kent Liquid Calcium, it will only raise your Calcium level, nothing else. Kalk and 2-part additives are 'balanced' additives.

Yes, corals will take up bicarbonate, calcium, and magnesium.

Even if your Alkalinity is normal, your calcium level could be out of balance, low in your case. You will need to manually adjust the calcium with the products listed above to get it back in balance. Use the calculator. Then you will be ready to maintain with either kalk or 2-part.


Once you get your Alkalinity, Calcium, and Magnesium within the 'recommended' levels, it is safe to start using a balanced additive.

Recommended levels:
Alkalinity 7-11dkh or 2.5-4meq/L
Calcium 380-450ppm
Magnesium 1250-1350ppm

 

[trillyen]

thank you buddy, im gonna go start the dosing right now

Im so excited!!!

i dont have any way to test for mag yet, but i should still be ok right????

i hope!!!

 

[trillyen]

hey what about the zoo plank, and the phyto plankton i got from kent marine?

and i do see a bleached build up of coraline algae on my glass

so this means that i have a big bnuild up of cal carb correct, what exactly does this mean???

is it BAD???

 

[drummereef]

thank you buddy, im gonna go start the dosing right now

Im so excited!!!

i dont have any way to test for mag yet, but i should still be ok right????

i hope!!!

Cool, good luck! Just try to get the Mag test soon. Most likely if there's a problem, it will be on the low side. Instant Ocean is chronically low in Mag. The only side effect will be the ability to raise and hold calcium levels up.

 

[drummereef]

hey what about the zoo plank, and the phyto plankton i got from kent marine?

and i do see a bleached build up of coraline algae on my glass

so this means that i have a big bnuild up of cal carb correct, what exactly does this mean???

is it BAD???

The Phyto/Zoo plankton is your choice. Personally I don't use it because the fish poo is enough to feed my corals. The bleached corallline could be from many reasons. Low calcium levels (which you are fighting at the moment?, lighting, exposure to air, etc... I wouldn't worry about it too much. Just get those levels together and everything else will fall into place.

 

[trillyen]

ok thank you so much

but 1 more question please

it may be a stupid ?, but if i get my cal at a steady 420 ppm will my mag fall into place???

thatd be nice!!!

 

[plack]

Probably, unless you either add too much of something Or if you use alot of Kalkwasser (over time) and dont do water changes then it will fall . Water changes alone would correct that though.

Paul

 

[trillyen]

thank you, i hope that happens then cause i am determined to get my cal up 1 way or another

yes i do also plan on keeping up on water changes, but i wanna change to a salt that has a bit higher concentration a trace elements like cal, alk, and mag

would reef crystals be good, or any other reccommendations????

 

[drummereef]

ok thank you so much

but 1 more question please

it may be a stupid ?, but if i get my cal at a steady 420 ppm will my mag fall into place???

thatd be nice!!!

Actually no, not necessarily. I wouldn't trust your salt mix and straight calcium carbonate is not going to do it. Get the Mag test kit and see where you stand first. If there's an issue you can dose Kent Tech-M to straighten it out.

Reef Crystals is a good salt. Made by the same manufacturer of Instant Ocean. I stand by my IO salt though. All I have to do at water changes is bolster the Calcium with about 40ppm calcium chloride. Easy Peasy.

 

[trillyen]

Actually no, not necessarily. I wouldn't trust your salt mix and straight calcium carbonate is not going to do it. Get the Mag test kit and see where you stand first. If there's an issue you can dose Kent Tech-M to straighten it out.

Reef Crystals is a good salt. Made by the same manufacturer of Instant Ocean. I stand by my IO salt though. All I have to do at water changes is bolster the Calcium with about 40ppm calcium chloride. Easy Peasy.

By i o im guessing you mean instant ocean

id really rather stick with io also, no since in changing now i guess

i would more than love to get a mag test, or to dose for mag but i cant take a shot in the dark so im just gonna cross my fingers and keep dosing the kent marine and see what happens.

who knows if my cal dosent go up any when i check it a min i may try to dose again today

it shouldnt hurt, i hope

plus the water change, will help with alot of the other fading elements wont it???

how can i tell how much mag, and other stuff instant ocean has in it???

 

[drummereef]

trillian - PM me your total water volume and current calcium level. I want to double check the numbers in the calculator.

 

[NaH2O]

trillyen - did you get a good calcium test kit to double check your numbers?

 

[trillyen]

HEY, nah20 i hope your trip went good glad you made it there ssafe, and back good to hear from ya!!

no im still using the same 1 cause i figure even if it aint accurate it will still tell me if my call is going up and down

couldnt afford it saturday

i did my homework though if you can tell

drummer reef i think i got my cal up to around 320 ppm today i added like 3 whole table spoons of cal cause the amount i was adding wasnt working at all

i think my actual water volume is like 105 gallons cause i have a 30 gallon refuge, and i was adding the cal to the refuge and not the dt.

so i was kinda unaware of that until today, silly huh???

looks like my sps is growing or some thing

how many inches do they usually grow a month??

im about out of cal, and may have to get some more

i wasnt aware that i could raise it and add that much over the course of 3 days, thopugh now that you meention it i do remember some one mentioning that.

i started adding 1/4 of a tea spoon a day, then after 3 days i went up to like 1 whole tea spoon and a 1/2 of one for a day and still no results then yesterday i added like 5 or 6 teaspoons through out the day, and still no results, so this morning i added like 3 whole table spoons, and that did raise it up about 20 ppm.

After that i added about 2 more full table spoons to the water in my refuge, and im about to go check my cal again here in a min!!!

im also going to do a water change tomorrow, was planning on doing it today, but i went to sleep last night and didnt want to leave my ro/di system running and take a chance of it over flowing.

 

[NaH2O]

As far as SPS growth goes, you'll notice the bottom encrusting more on the rocks. The base starts spreading out more. How many inches is really hard to say. It depends on a number of things in your tank and everyone's tanks are different. That question is a tough one to answer.

 

[trillyen]

Finally, a good question from me huh, that dont happen to often, im about to go checkj my cal right now.

ive been looking all over for mag tests on the internet and everyone is out

alot of people say that salifert is the best!

im gonna get 1 as soon as possible

thanks for ALL the help ladies and gentlemen

I love you guys, lol!!!!