Low Calcium...

[jrodjordan]

Hey I am having some trouble getting my Calcium to raise.

Ca= 275
Ak= 3.5
Ph= 8.3
Nitrates, nitirites, Ammo = 0

Any suggestions on a good CALCIUM Buffer.
I am using Kent marine's concentrated liquid Calcium adding 5 tsp a week...
I spent a month adding 2tsp a day, to see if my Ca tests would come back higher, but nothing changed---> I figure Kent Calcium is merely a suppliment, not a buffer.

I went back to the recommended dosing 2 weeks ago.

Any suggestions on a suppliment that will raise Ca?
***please only suggest if you have actually used or have been inolved in using your suggestion. no speculation please.

I have a near healthy tank, and i dont want to jeapordize it's health

 

[jackson6745]

What are you using to maintain alkilinity? You can boost your calcium with a product like kent turbo calcium, but unless you have some sort of dosing scheme or reactor, it will just come back down again.
Since your tank is mostly softies, dosing a 2 part like B-ionic would be great or simply ysing kalk for your topoff would be enough.

 

[Deanos]

You should measure your Magnesium. I'd imagine it's below 1200 if you're having problems raising your calcium levels.

 

[Pedro]

Lovely tank, i wish i had low calcium and have my tank look like that, lol.

 

[cali_reef]

What about the things people suggested already?

http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9817

 

[spykes]

heheh good stuff perice =D

 

[jrodjordan]

low calcium

You should measure your Magnesium. I'd imagine it's below 1200 if you're having problems raising your calcium levels.

Thanks deanos, I decided to use seachem's product that says it raises Ca levels... and it includes magnesium. It's been in my tank for 20hours so far, will test tonight and tomorrow to see what changes. Right now my corals/ clam are reponding nicely.

thanks again!
jarrod

 

[jrodjordan]

cali_reef: What about the things people suggested already?
http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/...ead.php?t=9817

heheh good stuff perice =D

that thread was about kalk... And was very helpful.

In this thread, I am asking who has used a CALCIUM BUFFER (not kalk) to correct a low calcium issue. And to see if someone could suggest a brand that actually worked well... being that so many of these "helpful" products are actually crap.

...suppose i should've kept to the same thread :redface:

 

[Pili]

I would guess its Mg also. I was having a hell of a time trying to get my Ca levels to rise above 375 and then i tested my Mg levels which were about 900.

As soon as i raised the Mg up to about 1400 my Ca went straight up and has been holding at about 425 now.

 

[Deanos]

Can you explain how a "calcium buffer" differs from a calcium additive? I thought the term "buffer" usually applied to the alkalinity.

 

[cali_reef]

Can you explain how a "calcium buffer" differs from a calcium additive? I thought the term "buffer" usually applied to the alkalinity.

I think you are right

 

[jrodjordan]

first of all, thanks for all the help!

I guess buffer wasn't the right term...
I meant something that actually raises the calcium.

I was adding Kent, but it did nothing. I tried Coralife, still nada...

Now
Seachem has raised me 30 points in 3 days.
every thing else (ph, Ak, etc.) is staying steady or unchanged.

I think there is a difference between an Suppliment, like Kent or Coralife, and a product that raises Ca. but i am not sure? anybody know?

only seachem says it actually raises calcium and the others don't.
and of the 3 products i have tried, only seachem worked. (it is also the only one with Mg-- hmmm I guess i better order a Mg test)

 

[Deanos]

hmmm I guess i better order a Mg test)

Yep.

Also, you need to read the product descriptions more clearly. Both Kent Marine Liquid Calcium and Coralife Calcium Supplement state that they raise calcium levels.

 

[kimoyo]

Like others have said, get some dowflake or get some B-Ionic (calcium part) or whatever and dump that stuff in there. Calcium (without impurities) can be add quickly (100-200ppm is ok) but you could split up the dosages if your worried.

 

[jrodjordan]

Yep.

Also, you need to read the product descriptions more clearly. Both Kent Marine Liquid Calcium and Coralife Calcium Supplement state that they raise calcium levels.

Actually, I didn't misread. I have both bottles in front of me and no where on the coralife bottle does it say anything about raising calcium (nor does it say anything about raising Ca on the Coralife link you posted)

The Kent marine bottle says, "may be used with Kalk. to increase calcium level." but doesnt claim it raises Ca on its own... the link you posted is more descriptive than the bottle, and explains better, so that helps.

So my reading wasn't off. Just my understanding of the relationship of Ca to Mg & Ca to Kalk was off---

BUT I am VERY thankful for all your help Dean!! Thanks
You ROCK!!

As you can see in my first post, my tank is doing really well, and the low Ca level was a new problem (about a 2 months). I wanted to catch it before it caught me, the kent & coralife suppliments werent working. Now I know that simply Mg was my issue. Easy enough... thanks!!

 

[spykes]

uhm you should look into the ingredients more, not what it does, what happen was your magnisum part was probably low, and your ions are off balanced, if you look at the alk part, it has bicarbonate and carbonate, each of those molecules has a sodium part to it, While the calcium part must have a chloride part with the calcium. Sodium and chlorides binds together and creates salt, but your ion was balanced therefore it's probably still bounded by the chloride. That is why some calcium additives would lower the amount of alk when added to the tank. basically dissolveablity. your magnisum acts as a binder to these two as well, therefore your balance might be really off. seachem was smart enough to add some of the magnisum in their calcium part so that might have increase some magnisum as well. It all ends up as what can be dissolved and attach better.