IO users

[ScottT1980]

I am sure many of you are dosing CaCl to get your Ca levels up. Does anyone have a standardized dosing protocol per gallon of makeup water to get your calcium in the 400 range? In other words, I am lazy and don't want to add a little bit of CaCl, test, add a little more, test, etc...

If not, looks like I need to do the work for the sake of the hobby. It just seems to me that someone has this figured out...

Thanks
Scott T.

[Witfull]

i know the perfect formula,,,buy oceanic

[ScottT1980]

With oceanic there is the Alk suppliment, but you have that one standardized don't you Dave? I remember you telling me you add washing or baking soda to either your RO/DI water or you makeup water. How much was it again?

Take er easy
Scott T.

[Witfull]

i add appx 1 tbls to 40gal.

[Witfull]

arm and hammer is cheaper than calcium,,,but then again, i just bought a 50lb bag of calcium chloride for 13$,,,lol.

[NaH2O]

Scott - IMO, the elevated Ca and Mg levels *edit at a salinity of 35* (high 500s and 1500+ ppm, respectively, in my case) in Oceanic are tough to deal with. I'm quoting Mike/mojoreef here on the subject (the 1290 & 1260 are in reference to Mg), and if you are interested in the full thread, PM me. Also, dosing a supplement would vary from tank to tank based on consumption. Your calcium demand to keep levels in the 400 ppm range may be different than mine, make sense? Or, are you looking for a 400 ppm in the premixed water?

Here's the quote from Mike:

Originally Posted by mojoreef

I agree starting a little lower is alot easier to fix then when the levels are at the point of saturation. NSW at a salinity of 35ppt or 1.026-5 is supposed to be 1290, IO comes in according to bingmans testing at 1260..good enough. Calcium at NSW levels comes in at 415, Io is a little low at 355, some were in thier and alk should be 7-8 dkh, so again a little low. The way I see it is that regardless of it being low I have to use a reactor or additives, so no real concern thier.
The big problem with the oceanic is the mag., If were normal and it was just calcium it wouldnt be a problem, you could balance it with alk and call it a day. But with the mag so high, it take the alk out of the picture and calcium runs wild and your buffer is gone.
Calcium inhibits growth in corals so running the levels so high is a big stress factor on your corals. They have a built in system to remove the calcium and waste it onto thier skeliton, but carbonate is what they use, and when you dont got it, it dont happen.

[ScottT1980]

Or, are you looking for a 400 ppm in the premixed water?

Yeah premixed water, so if I have a tank balanced at 400(ish), I don't have to worry about depleting my Calcium supply through water changes. All of this makes kalk dripping sooo much more effective IME, and kalk is really my only option at this point.

I am just looking for amt. of CaCl to add to say 10 gallons of IO premixed water to get it around 400. I know Andy's SPS page had a calculator for this, but it only tells me in grams. I was just wondering if anyone has a routine with teaspons or cups of CaCl that they reguarly add to their IO maeup water to keep things balanced...

Good info on the oceanic, one of the main reasons that I have switched back to IO.

[ScottT1980]

For those interested, I used 1 tablespoon of Turbo Calcium and a dash of seachem reef builder to 10 gallons of makeup water to get my calcium to 420 and have it balanced to alkalinity (started at 330).

Take er aesy
Scott T.

[Woodstock]

Thanks for the info scott!