Maintaining Alkalinity and Calcium

[Chin_Lee]

I'm just interested in how everybody is maintaining their Alk and Cal regardless if they have predominantly sps or lps.
I guess there are several methods and realistically this should be two seperate polls. But I'm lazy and I would only like to vote in one poll instead of two.
So the choices are:
Calcium reactor ONLY
Calcium reactor and kalkwasser (limewater/calcium hydroxide)
kalkwasser ONLY
Brand name calcium and buffers products
Brand name two part calcium and alk additives
Homemade two part calcium and alk additives
I do nothing - just water changes
I do nothing - not even water changes

PS - brand name I'm referring to is like Kent or Seachem

[Joe Reefer]

I use a kalk reactor connected to my auto top-off. Sometimes I add buffer to tweak my alk, but the calcium hovers between 420 ppm to 450 ppm.

[marie]

I use Kalk, spiked with vinegar, and kent 2 part, don't know which to vote for :biggrin:

[Ruth]

I voted calcium reactor only but with 6 clams and SPS I do adjust every once in a while with turbo calcium (kent) and if I have to seachem reef builder or reef carbonate (basically the same thing - one powder and one liquid) for alk.

[Johnny Reefer]

SeaChem's Reef Advantage Calcium and Reef Builder.

[adidas]

Kent Essential Elements and kalkwasser. Calcium is just over 400, Alk 10DKH

[Beverly]

Drip kalk nightly. Add Mg weekly without testing. Also test for alk, Ca and Mg every 2-3 weeks and adjust where things are low, which Mg and alk usually are. Ca is sometimes low in one of the three tanks.

[EmilyB]

Ca Reactor only on the 230g.

[ron101]

Kalk for all top up plus homemade bulk calcium chloride and baking soda solutions.

[untamed]

Kalk on a dosing pump. Currently dosing 32ml/hr. Kalk is dosed independently from top off water. Sometimes need to adjust alkalinity by adding some Seachem reefbuilder (don't know why, it's just how my system behaves). Alk has needed less adjusting since my new skimmer was added.

[dirtyreefer]

I dose kalk for maintaining top off, but I use Kent's Turbo Calcium and Kent's Coral Builder for boosting Cal/Alk.

[Chin_Lee]

I'm actually quite surprised how little people use the homemade solutions. I thought it would have been a lot higher. Your thoughts?

[reeferaddict]

To keep my Ca at 420 - 450, Alk at 10 dKH, I use mostly Kalk... every 3 - 4 days I mix up a 7 gallon container of Kalk with strontium and iodine that is fed to the sump for top off via a float switch. (I'm going to build a reactor soon, just deciding how I want to do it... :idea: :confused: )

I have to dose Alkalinity which I am currently using Kent Superbuffer dKH, (powder). I WILL be looking at cooking baking soda and mixing my own alk supplement, but I want to find a source for borate... still reading up on that... :mrgreen:

And yes I have a Ca reactor... every time I have tried to dial it in, I got algae every freaking where, :evil: so I switched back to Kalk.

[Invigor]

kalk and baking soda.

[danny zubot]

Funny you should poll this question, I should have done that a few months ago before I tried everything on the market. I don't have space for a reactor so Kalk is the best way for me. I also dose for alk using the home made 2 part additive. I've tried everything else and nothing compares to Kalk (besides areactor) to raise and maintain calcium levels for my 80 gallon system. Good poll!

It would also be helpful to know what sized tanks everyone has.

[OCDP]

Is kalk available locally? :confused: Haven't seen it around.

[Bob I]

I do nothing, including testing, except for running Chemipure. :mrgreen:

[danny zubot]

Is kalk available locally? Haven't seen it around.


Its at BA's, its cheep, it comes in two sizes!