Chemistry question

[Doormatt]

Okay, the tank has been up and running for about three months now. I must admit, I've been pretty remiss in testing the tank regularly, mainly because of my very low bioload (two clowns in a 50G). Took my water into the store to get my readings doublechecked, and they were:

Calcium - 350ppm
PH - 8.0
Alk - 5.4dkhNow, I've got some C-balance, and some Kalkwasser, but I'm not quite sure if I'm working all this right. From what I understand, the C-balance will keep my levels at the right place, and won't let Calcium get out of whack with Alk, but won't do anything to correct level imbalances. The Kalkwasser on the other hand will raise Alk and Ph (not 100% about the Ph), but won't touch Calcium.

Now, I mixed up a half teaspoon of Kalk with 1 litre of top off water, and slowly poured it in. Waited 30 minutes, and then got these readings.

PH - Looks to me like 8.3
Alk - 6.4dkhNow, my question is, am I on the right track here, or am I completely barking up the wrong tree?

Thanks so much!

-Matt

[OCDP]

Okay I am not an expert as I don't use either of what you are dosing (kalk and c-balance) But your levels seem pretty good. I wouldn't even worry about calcium and alk unless your starting to stock with corals. Otherwise, the levels won't be used up by anything! Your pH is bang on .. 8.0 - 8.3 I'd say is where it should be. If you want to get picky I think your alk (i may be wrong I have a weird alk test results) But I think that could be bumped up a couple, to say 7.5 - 8. Calcium should be anywhere from 360-400+ , the higher up the better IMO.. around 400 I try to keep mine at.

Good luck.. i know I wasn't much help, but someone will be along shortly to chime in.

Cheers,

[Beverly]

Matt,

I don't have all the answers to your questions because I don't use C-balance and don't really know what it's supposed to do in your tank.

However, your alk is quite low and your Ca is a bit low. Keep alk between 8 and 11 dKH. Ca needs to be a little higher at about 400-425 ppm.

Kalk needs to be dripped slowly into the tank, not poured in slowly. I use the drip system on the left in the picture below for my three tanks:

http://www.jlaquatics.com/images/cleaning/aquadose.jpg

Kalk delivers both alk and Ca to your system. Though it will not raise either alk or Ca, it will help maintain it. However, depending on your system's needs, you will probably find that you will also have to use additives to raise both alk and Ca.

If you have low alk, you must add an alk booster. I use a mixture of baked baking soda and baking soda to raise alk, however you can use a commercial product to do this. To raise Ca, I use Kent's Liquid Calcium.

Another important component of balanced reef chemistry is magnesium. Mg should be between 1280 to 1350 ppm. I use Kent's Tech-M Magnesium to raise Mg, and try to keep mine at about 1325 ppm.

SPS, LPS, calciferous macroalgaes, coralline algae need both Ca and Mg to grow properly. If either or both of these elements are low, your livestock will not be growing optimally.

I urge you to get alk, Ca and Mg test kits so you can test for them yourself. Keep a log book of when you test, what your test results are, and how much of each additive you use. Over time, you can see trends in the uptake of alk, Ca and Mg, and you can then test less often, but still add your additives based on the knowledge base in your log book.

For more information on reef chemistry, here is a list articles and calculators that you will hopefully find useful .....

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=19425

[untamed]

...in a 50 gallon system with only a couple of clownfish, you may not be experiencing much Ca/Alk declines. In fact, start measuring both of those regularly before you start dosing anything. If they are stable, don't go messing with additives.

Regular partial water changes might keep you running along just fine. I wouldn't complicate things until you have to.

Now...tell us that you're Ca is falling from 400ppm to 350ppm over the course of 3 days...and you need to learn about Kalk and additives, quick.