Jeramy Posted September 27, 2011 Share Posted September 27, 2011 So my KH has been steady at 7 and my calcium has been steady at 360 which are both a bit low. What products would you recomend I use to buffer them up its only ten gallons of water so I dont need anything extreme. Just thought I would hit up some of the vetran reefers out there Thanks =) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cellowithgills Posted September 27, 2011 Share Posted September 27, 2011 What's your pH? If it high (8.4) you can you baking soda (sodium bicarbonate). If it's lower than that you can use BAKED baking soda (put the baking soda on a cookies sheet and bake it at 400 degrees for 3 hours). This will help with the kH. BRS has a calculator to find out how much you need. For calcium, use some sort of calcium hydroxide to raise it. Make sure you are testing your magnesium as well or else they'll never stay where you want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefboy Posted September 27, 2011 Share Posted September 27, 2011 test your Mag but kent makes a good nano two part additive that I use on my daughters 5 gal nano that works great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefnjunkie Posted September 27, 2011 Share Posted September 27, 2011 Bulk reef has some great products as mentioned-Depending on what you have in the tank, I assume softies, maybe some LPS the swings wont matter as much but certain corals wont tolerate "swings" Add a calcium reactor and a controller (laugh) just set it and forget it-(clap) I know its 10 gallons but there is something to be said about stream lining things-A doser would be a great add on, I dont suspect you have a lot of corals that are top demanding in regards to Calcium so a reactor is not needed but a doser makes life easy-dunno(scratch) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haywood Posted September 27, 2011 Share Posted September 27, 2011 i would do a weekly water change....just a couple of gallons...with that small of a system it will be easier to keep your levels in check. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeramy Posted September 27, 2011 Author Share Posted September 27, 2011 Thanks for all the input =) My ph is 8.2 and I will run and get a mag test tonight. I oly have a hermit and a snail in the tank right now I am only about a month into it but wanted to make sure eveery thing is fully stable befor I put any corals in there. my amonia and nitrate have both been at 0 for that last three days so I am getting there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeramy Posted October 5, 2011 Author Share Posted October 5, 2011 Ok so I added garf grunge to my tank and after the long shipping process it had some heavy amonia levels in there and reset my cycle no big deal however. After adding it now my KH has droped to 5 and my calcium has gone up to 760 through the freakin roof I know not sure why one would go up and one would go down. My ph is 8.2 I also turned the skimmer off when I added the grunge and actualy moved it for the time being to the QT tank I had set up. I am not sure exactly how calcium and carbonate hardness work togather but and help would be great . Just let me know if you need any further details =) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeramy Posted October 5, 2011 Author Share Posted October 5, 2011 Oh yeah I also have not picked up a mag test kit yet not sure if that plays a role in the balance between the two or not. I know that it plays a role for how the corals are able to absorb it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saltfinsax Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 I would just stay with weekly or biweekly water changes. And yes if you raise one of the three Calc, alk or Mag way high it will push the other's out of the water system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeramy Posted October 5, 2011 Author Share Posted October 5, 2011 Ok so doing some water changes till it comes back down, I have some new salt water mixing right now so tomarrow I will do a 15% water change. Thanks =) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewisriverfisherman Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 If you add alk to your system it will lower your calcium. If it was me i would be testing the new water to see where the parameters were at. You could continue to raise your calcium if there is not enough alk in the new water. Just my opinion. By adjusting your alk up to around 9 should lower your calcium to a lvl where it should be. you would still need to do water changes for the ammonia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeramy Posted October 14, 2011 Author Share Posted October 14, 2011 I have been doing lots of water changes to try and get my calcium and kh back in check however when i tested this morning my kh was 7 and my calcium was 720. I tested the water I am doing changes with and it had a kh of 9 and acalcium level of 420. I have changed 5 gal of water over the last week my tank only holds ten but my calcium level wont go down. I only do about a gallon at a time so I dont take the water level below the top of the rocks if you see any thing i am missing please let me know thanks =) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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