CA levels

[skriz]

I am dialing in my calcium reactor and wondered what others keep their level at, so...What do you keep you Calicium levels at?

 

[calireefer]

Calcium 400-450 dKH 10 at a sg of 1.025. Trying to keep the sps happy

 

[showtime305]

For me it's between 410-420ppm

 

[dakota9]

420 is the target that you find most on the web, but up to 450 seems to be popular too.

 

[glxtrix]

I usually maintain mine at 430.

 

[FutureInterest]

I haven't checked my calcium in 3-4 months? After checking it diligently every few weeks forever it seems, it never seemed to be far from ~420. So now I don't bother...

 

[ouling]

Mine is solid at 500ppm with a modest 12dkh alk and 1600ppm magnesium.

 

[jeep9783]

Mine is at 540 but don't knwo what the alk is at havent checked in a week is was at 8

 

[skriz]

wow! 500 and 540, that's strong!

 

[slayer]

mines runs >500 ppm.... i stop testing as long as i know its over 500... my alk runs anywhere from 14 to 16..

 

[skriz]

What are you dosing to keep Ca and Alk so high?

I have a beast of a calcium reactor that I am sure will keep up the CA, but what about Mg and Alk? I am dosing kalk to raise the Ca slowly. Last time I checked it was 430ppm. I'll check tomorrow and see where I'm at. I haven't dosed in a week, so I'll see what difference that has made.

 

[schwaggs]

I guess I am way more conservative than the rest of you... I shoot for:
CA 400 - if it is 380-420 I leave it alone
Alk 10 DKH - if it ia 8-12 I leave it alone

Also, use your CA reactor to maintain your set level, use normal additives to get it to the levels you want. Using you CA reactor to boost your CA levels typically causes trouble in the long run.

 

[slayer]

i dose kalk via kalkreactor also,,,and when im the mood i add calcium hardner (the swimming pool kind)

 

[skriz]

jaime, how do you dose the calcium hardner?

 

[slayer]

i add 8 teaspoons of it to my system every couple of days.. (my system has over 600 gallons in it)... i'd say 1 tsp per 100 gallons of water is safe.. just watch your alk..

 

[glxtrix]

man a couple of you guys are close to snow globes

 

[megadeth]

to be honest I've seen the pretty much the same growth from 300 and 500

but I've snowed my whole tank when I ran too close to the edge, and let me tell you, it is NOT Fun getting that stuff off the glass, it cements itself to the glass, it's horrible

and my sandbed turned to cement

no more sps here, I'm doin softies/lps now, with just a kalk reactor

 

[kwl1763]

Schwaggs;83057 wrote: I guess I am way more conservative than the rest of you... I shoot for:
CA 400 - if it is 380-420 I leave it alone
Alk 10 DKH - if it ia 8-12 I leave it alone

Also, use your CA reactor to maintain your set level, use normal additives to get it to the levels you want. Using you CA reactor to boost your CA levels typically causes trouble in the long run.

Exactly what I keep mine at!

 

[skriz]

ok, just checked mine and it is 8dkh and CA 430. I also noticed my calcium reactor line was blocked so it has not been dripping. I may need to speed up the drip rate.

How do you guys raise the alk?

 

[glxtrix]

personally i use baking soda. Randys recipe solution.