Dosing - Calcium, Alk, Mg
Hi all,
I did my first tests on dKH, Ca and Mg last week.
As posted they were :
dKH - 8,40
Ca - 350
Mg - 1400
I was advised to get the dKH and Ca up.
I dropped by Guppies yesterday and asked about Kalkwasser, and was told there is there alternat option - the famous Randy's Recipe.
I had read about it, but to be frank, at the time I thought his is too early, and did not pay much attention.
I was told I can buy the commercial Kalkwasser, but I should first focus on getting my Ca and Alk up - 420~440 for Ca, and 9 for Alk. Once I get these close, I can consider using Kalkwasser to maintain/stabalize with a dosing pump, or stay with the Randys Receipe.
Long story short - I bought a 2 Kg bag of Calcium Chloride and a 2 Kg bag of Bicarb for Alk.
When I asked about how much of each in what quantity of water, I was advised to go on line and find Randy's Recipe for directions.
I did this, and got a BFS video. Think I may have misunderstood it, as it said not o add more than 10 teaspoons for 5 Gallon RO water. I think he was referring to Kalkwasser.
Anyway, this fool, took 3 Lts of RO water, and added 3 teaspoons of the Calcium Chloride powder to it. Seemed a very weak solution, but who am I to double guess. Let it settle for an hour.
As a base level I first did another test.
dKH - 5,30 ( ?? !!)
Ca - 350
Mg - 1440
The dKH shocked me, as I did not expect such a dramatic swing - unless i did the initial test wrongly ?
I then dosed 50 ml of the Calcium Chloride solution into the sump. I checked every hour if there was any change to my pH, but it remained at 8.00
At 06:30 this morning I dosed another 50 ml .
By lunchtime, I noticed that my Gona and the Sinularius did not seem happy - now extension. My pH still showed 8.00
I have added images of them last week, and this morning. Is it just a coincidence that they are both not happy today, or did that minimal dosing cause it ?
I have now read up on the prep for a Randy's Recipe, from this site - preparing a 3.8 ltr ( 1 Gall) mixture for each Ca and Alk.
Seems I have the correct Calcium Chloride powder, and the Bicarbinate powder for Alk is also ok, once I have baked for 90 minutes at 180 Degrees.
The part 3 is the need to then dose Mg after having finished the Ca and Alk mixtures.
Apparently he has both, so I will pick some up later this week, although it is not going to be needed until after i have dosed the Ca and Alk, and my existing Mg levels are already ok at 1440.
So my question is, should I go ahead and make my 2 initial mixtures of
Calcium Chloride at 132 grm per 1 Ltr of RO water and 100 grm of Calcium Bicarb per 1 Ltr of RO.
Then initially no need to add the Alk, but to gradually add approx. 30~50 ml of the Ca mix a day, to get my Ca up to the target 420~440.?
If I notice a swing on my pH, I can then add the Alk mix ?
Thanks for any advice in advance.
Jac
I did my first tests on dKH, Ca and Mg last week.
As posted they were :
dKH - 8,40
Ca - 350
Mg - 1400
I was advised to get the dKH and Ca up.
I dropped by Guppies yesterday and asked about Kalkwasser, and was told there is there alternat option - the famous Randy's Recipe.
I had read about it, but to be frank, at the time I thought his is too early, and did not pay much attention.
I was told I can buy the commercial Kalkwasser, but I should first focus on getting my Ca and Alk up - 420~440 for Ca, and 9 for Alk. Once I get these close, I can consider using Kalkwasser to maintain/stabalize with a dosing pump, or stay with the Randys Receipe.
Long story short - I bought a 2 Kg bag of Calcium Chloride and a 2 Kg bag of Bicarb for Alk.
When I asked about how much of each in what quantity of water, I was advised to go on line and find Randy's Recipe for directions.
I did this, and got a BFS video. Think I may have misunderstood it, as it said not o add more than 10 teaspoons for 5 Gallon RO water. I think he was referring to Kalkwasser.
Anyway, this fool, took 3 Lts of RO water, and added 3 teaspoons of the Calcium Chloride powder to it. Seemed a very weak solution, but who am I to double guess. Let it settle for an hour.
As a base level I first did another test.
dKH - 5,30 ( ?? !!)
Ca - 350
Mg - 1440
The dKH shocked me, as I did not expect such a dramatic swing - unless i did the initial test wrongly ?
I then dosed 50 ml of the Calcium Chloride solution into the sump. I checked every hour if there was any change to my pH, but it remained at 8.00
At 06:30 this morning I dosed another 50 ml .
By lunchtime, I noticed that my Gona and the Sinularius did not seem happy - now extension. My pH still showed 8.00
I have added images of them last week, and this morning. Is it just a coincidence that they are both not happy today, or did that minimal dosing cause it ?
I have now read up on the prep for a Randy's Recipe, from this site - preparing a 3.8 ltr ( 1 Gall) mixture for each Ca and Alk.
Seems I have the correct Calcium Chloride powder, and the Bicarbinate powder for Alk is also ok, once I have baked for 90 minutes at 180 Degrees.
The part 3 is the need to then dose Mg after having finished the Ca and Alk mixtures.
Apparently he has both, so I will pick some up later this week, although it is not going to be needed until after i have dosed the Ca and Alk, and my existing Mg levels are already ok at 1440.
So my question is, should I go ahead and make my 2 initial mixtures of
Calcium Chloride at 132 grm per 1 Ltr of RO water and 100 grm of Calcium Bicarb per 1 Ltr of RO.
Then initially no need to add the Alk, but to gradually add approx. 30~50 ml of the Ca mix a day, to get my Ca up to the target 420~440.?
If I notice a swing on my pH, I can then add the Alk mix ?
Thanks for any advice in advance.
Jac
.... and this despite having the new lights on for 9 hours a day. !!
