New to LPS & SPS... need help urgent

Hi Nanomania

what Alex (intar shinowa) means is

Kalkwasser in top off, is influenced by your evaporation rate
I live in a warm climate as you do
evaporation for me is not constant
some days I seem to lose a couple of litres at best, other days, nothing seems to have evaporated ( depends on conditions in the room, temp, relative humidity etc)

thus Kalkwasser for me, would be very hit or miss
somedays I would be adding a lot, other days next to nothing at all
which if I am trying to maintain stable parameters of calcium and alkalinity, would be difficult under the circumstances described

Kalkwasser may work fine for you as a method in your set up
if you have relatively stable evaporation rate?
you may find that you only need a relatively small amount and you can drip that into your set up, at night ( due to its ability to increase PH)


the thing to do as stated is test
test calcium and alkalinity on a weekly basis
and provided they always read 360 and 8 each week, then water changes alone are keeping up with demand

if you notice next week that they have dropped then you will need to find a method of replacing what has been utilized

if they have dropped read on


Kalkwasser may be suitable in terms of with those corals your demand at this stage would not be excessive

you may have to experiment a little, but I would start with a quarter strenght solution of 1/2 teaspoon kalkwasser to 1 gallon of water and use approx 200 mils of that solution in your 25 gallon tank, dripped overnight
do that for 3 days then test again
if your levels have increased stop dosing that night
and then the following night reduce the amount your dosing to compensate so instead of 200 mils, dose 150 mils
test again in 3 days see where you are and adjust accordingly

eventually you will find a balance
you have a ceiling of 1 and 3/4 teaspoons of Kalk that can be dissolved into RODI water (saturation point)
thus when you find your quarter strength solution means you need to start dripping more and more to keep up - you can progress to a half strength solution
urgo - if your dosing 300 mils at quarter strenght, you could change to 150 mils mixed at half strenght ( thus reducing concerns over evaporation rates reducing your ability to add enough solution)

in a heavily stocked aquarium the other limitation of Kalkwasser is the fact you can only dissolve as muchg as 1 and 3/4 to 2 teaspoons of Kalk in 1 gallon of water
and once you get to this strenght you may find that even if you replace all your evaporated water with Kalkwasser, you cannot keep up with demand
but IMO you are a long way from that scenario

alternatively with a 25 gallon set up, you could simplify with using one of the branded 2 part products
in which case you add X amount of mils of part A followed by normally the same amount of part B and test every few days whilst you fine tune your addition routine and quantity

Steve

 

Here is what i read in Randy Holmes article what he does: "For my system, I add only limewater, iron and silicate. I boost the Instant Ocean salt mix that I use for water changes (1% of the water volume changed automatically each day) with calcium (70 ppm boost using Dowflake™ calcium chloride), as it is on the low side of normal calcium to start with. I also boost the Instant Ocean salt mix with magnesium (150 ppm boost using MAG Flake™ magnesium chloride) to offset magnesium losses in the aquarium.

I do not, in general, recommend iodine, strontium, borate or trace element mixture dosing, at least for beginners."

here is the link: The


My que is what if i dont add kalk and just add cal.chloride to my madeup slatwater and change every weekend 5%?? will that be enough?? Here we dont get 2parts..... my salt is red sea. im planning for red sea coral pro but iv heard that kh in that salt is 12. so using normal red sea for now.

 

The missing ingredient you may then have would be Alkalinity

as per Randys quote above - he uses limewater - which as you know is Kalkwasser ( German for Limewater)

he uses the calcium and magnesium to boost his instant ocean salt mix to the levels he wants in his aquarium

calcium and Alkalinity are used by the corals/ coralline etc that utilize them in a balanced ratio
water changes alone may keep up with that demand

but if and when they do not, you will need an alkalinity supplement in addition to the calcium one

Steve

 

Forgot to mention...... im already using sodium carbonate in topoff water....

 

I add sodium carbonate to topup water..

 

??????

 

Hi Nano Mania

Sodium Carbonate is an ideal means of maintaining alkalinity
so you seem to have all the basics covered

reference to test kits is key now
I do not envision any significant change in demand due to the addition of these 2 corals
but as they grow and as you add more, especially more SPS corals, that situation will change

so monitor on a weekly basis, and be prepared to increase your additions of the calcium and the carbonates as and when demand indicates you need to

 

kool... so i guess here is what ill do.
1] kalk in topoff water
2] cal. chloride in salt mix as my slat mix had cal 360. and mag is 1250 so i guess i dont need to dose mag.
3] change 5% water every week.

But will start this after 1 week as i wana see wether just WC is helping my corals to grow or no.

 

is that ok?

 

Looks like a fine plan to me Nanomania

you may or may not need the kalk at this stage
just remember to experiment with the amount and relative strenght should you need it

start low and build up, because you can always add more should you need to, but you cannot remove anything you add in excess

if you set yourself with decent parameters, of say Calcium 400 - 440 and Alk somewhere between 8.5 -9.5
slightly higher on either or both of those is not an issue

bear in mind
not to increase your DKH by more than 1 in any 24 hours and your Calcium do not increase by more than 40ppm in any 24 hours

so if for example you want to increase the calcium in your tank from 360 - 440 = you need to do that over 2 days increasing by 40ppm each day ( adding slowly via drip method is better than pouring IME)

then you have some wiggle room, meaning if you test 3 days after a water change and the levels have dropped, they will almost certainly not drop below the base line for reef parameters

reference to the test kit is key now for you