best calcium additive to use??

hi... i was wondering the best calcium additive to use...just added an open brain coral...i have a calcium test kit...so recommendations please...the place i bought the coral from use esv b ionic calcium buffer...
thanks
wade

 

I have been using a DIY recipe for over three years now with excellent results:

An Improved Do-it-Yourself Two-Part Calcium and Alkalinity Supplement System by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

Not only does it work just as good as the commercial products, it is ridiculoulsy cheap. I think I spent about $20 total getting everything together 3 years ago and I still have some left.

 

Thnx for the link, I have been needing a cheaper way into it all....
Danny

 

Bummer I need the link to make the reactor....Do you have it?
Danny

 

how big is your tank? How often do you do water changes. Honestly wiht only a brain you can get away with just doing frequent water changes with a good reef salt.

 

My own recent experience reflects what Schackmel is saying above
having decided to take the plunge and come out of my comfort zone and get a couple of SPS corals, I also decided to purchase Seachem additives for Calc, Mag and KH (convenience) Im using Red Sea Coral Pro at 1.026 and have as yet not used any of the additives I purchased as I do 10% water changes weekly and these are maintaining without additives thus far ( SPS now 8 weeks with me and no additives used and levels are staying constant Ca - 460 , Mg - 1470 and DKH - 12

Steve

 

I use the stuff from www.bulkreefsupply.com . It's quite cheap and you don't have to worry about hunting down the right stuff or any quality issues.

But I'm agreeing that a single coral is probably not going to require supplementation, unless it's a 3' acropora colony or something.
Just to clarify calcium is not the only additive needed for corals, if you decide to add more coral to where supplements are needed you will probably want to test for magnesium, alkalinity and calcium.

If you want to know more, the chemistry articles at the top of this page are great. Don't feel bad skipping over the super technical stuff either.
Reefkeeping Online Magazine - Randy Holmes-Farley

 

when you have a heavy sps and or lps dom tank is when you need to dose other then that water changes will work for a few frags of each. you can easily over dose a tank if you are not careful. as I once did. not knowing better listening to one of the lfs here in town. he had a schedule all planned out after a week my ca was @ 700+ I didn't test for the rest only did a large water change. but figure out what you want and how many sps and LPS you will want and then see about dosing or test for 2 weeks with out dosing test every other day to get a log of how much is being eaten up. in all the test ca mag alk and then you know if you will need to dose if it goes down drastically.

 

but for dosing I heard nothing but good things about BRS 3 part system and cost wise it is also great. I personally use b-ionic and I love it. i should just hook up my reactor as I dose 30ml each every other day.

 

I use kalkwaßer. I've never had any issues w/ low alk.