Kalkwasser and DI water?

Discussion in 'Water Chemistry' started by GraviT, Aug 18, 2004.

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  1. Birdlady

    Birdlady Finback Whale

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    Cool.....I can't wait to get my tank back up again. It is going AGONIZINGLY slow. Soon!! Next week or two....
     
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  3. JohnO

    JohnO Moderator

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    So what's holding you up?

    John
     
  4. GraviT

    GraviT Coral Banded Shrimp

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    I decided to go ahead and scrap the water in the top-off reservoir (actually an old, 5 gal bow front tank). I did mix some last night, about 1/2 tsp to 2 gallons of water in my usual drip container. It didn't really clear much, but not as cloudy as the larger container. I've started dosing that at a VERY slow drip in hopes of bringing my calcium level up at least a bit. Perhaps tomorrow I will research some alternative means of calcium addition. :-/
     
  5. JohnO

    JohnO Moderator

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    GraviT,

    Why are you using such a low dose?

    Isn't it usually dosed at 1 Tablespoon per gallon (approx)?

    John
     
  6. Birdlady

    Birdlady Finback Whale

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    Mom in Law moved in this summer, I have a 6 year old daughter who hogs all my time when not in school, vacation, saving money for the last few things I needed!!! Almost there!
     
  7. JohnO

    JohnO Moderator

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    BL,

    LOL, Life got in the way :) Cheers and join the ' joys of family' club

    John
     
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  9. GraviT

    GraviT Coral Banded Shrimp

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    The dosage on the package is 1/8 to 1 tsp per gallon, and I'm still a bit of a chicken when it comes to my little slice of the ocean.;D

    The tank is only a couple of months old, and I've had pretty good luck at keeping the calcium level between 400-410 using the RO/kalk mix at 1/4 tsp per gallon. When I upgraded my sump, and adding another 15 gallons of water to make it work, the level dropped a bit.

    I'll check the calcium, ph and alk tomorrow night and see how the current dosage is affecting things. JohnO, what do you use for a calcium supplement? In the event I decide kalk is also not for me, it would be good to have some advice to fall back on. :)
     
  10. JohnO

    JohnO Moderator

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    Well, I threw away most of that stuff when I moved but am about to get some more. I'm sure though that it was called Turbo Calcium.

    Don't shy away from the KW just yet though. It is messy but it does give some other benefits. If you can get over the cloudiness problem and you aren't a slob like me I would persevere a bit longer.

    John
     
  11. JohnO

    JohnO Moderator

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    Gravit,

    Do a bit of research on KW, I really think that you need to have a fully saturated solution for it to work properly, if you underdose you might not get the results you are looking for :)