Calcium +3 Question

I have been using Red Sea's Calcium +3 for a while now and I just wanted to know if anyone else uses it, and if like myself have they noticed an increase in nuisance algae growth in the tank. I am thinking of switching to "Purple Up".

 

my advice is to look into using kalkwasser and turbo calcium, it's a lot easier on you and most likely cheaper too!

 

Serotonin brought up a good alternative, though I have used the Calcium +3 as well as Purple Up! The only word of caution to take into consideration is the fact that both, Kalkwasser and Turbo Calcium are highly concentrated, and if you are NOT CAREFUL when using these products, you could overdose and cause problems with other areas of your water parameters, mainly with regards to Alkalinity and PH!!!
Purple up and Calcium+3 are great products which IMO work remarkably well as I have use them as well as Turbo Calcium and Kalkwasser.
If you are not having any problems thus far with your calcium levels and everything is doing well, stick with what you are using now-if it isn't broke-don't fix it!!!!!
Lugol's Iodine is another fine example of going with a more concentrated form of iodine/iodide-you have to be careful with this product as it could prove detrimental if overdosed!!!!!! BE CAREFUL!!!!! make sure to perform routine tests of your water regardless fo what forms of calcium/iodine etc. you use!!!

 

I would stay away from such products as Calcium + 3 which contains unknown amounts of Calcium, Strontium, Molybdenum, Iodine. There is no need for Sr, Mo or I. Water changes and food introduced into the tank has enough.

I would also stay away from Purple-Up. It contains powdered aragonite, which can sit on the bottom without going into solution. If the pH drops it will readily dissolve and raise the Alk and Ca++ to very high levels. There have been a number of instances where this has happened.

Turbo Calcium has no effect or pH or Alk it is just CaCl2 in water. Think of it just like table salt, NaCl, only it has Ca++ instead of Na+,

CaCl2 → Ca + Cl2.

Kalk is by far the best additive if it by itself one can maintain their demands of Ca++ and Alk. It is a truly balanced additive and adds nothing other than buffer and Calcium. It is the only additive that does this par a calcium reactor. In water.

Ca(OH)2 → Ca++ + 2 OH

These 2 OH will combine with CO2 and remove it from the tank, no only buffering by adding Alk but raising the pH by removing the CO2. And CO2 is a very big issue in many tanks. CO2 will drop the pH no matter what the Alk is.

2OH + 2CO2 → 2HCO3-

For each 20 ppm increase in Ca++ with kalk there will be a 1 meq / l ( 2.8dKH) increase in Alk.

The addition of kalk or Turbo calcium and how much one needs to raise the Ca++ and what Alk one should have can be seen here using this calculator. So, overdosing is not an issue. There are many additives in this calculator which has a drop down menu. There is also a link for Mg++ addition and tank volumes.


Reef Chemistry Calculator

 

Strontium, people are beginning to think, may stunt coral growth. Be carefull whenever adding anything to a tank, a good rule of thumb is if you don't test for it don't add it