How do you keep your Ca-dkh chemistry regulated

[jerryc]

Just like to no whit everyone hear dose keep it in check

I use Kalkwasser drip with a little 2 part ever ones in a while

[Reptoreef]

Me... well... a kalkwasser auto top-off(24/7), calcium reactor(24/7), turbo calcium as needed(very rarely), PH buffer to balance the Oceanic Sea Salt's low alkalinity when doing water changes(weekly).

[dakar]

Balls pickling lime for calcium supplementation
(going to give the Dowflake again next week when I can monitor it very closely)
and
Baking Soda (baked) to raise alk (Oceanic salt mix here too)

Added via top off as needed. Can you tell I'm cheap?

[JustDavidP]

First and foremost, you need to find out what your "uptake" is and what your schedule SHOULD be. In order to measure this, I do the following:

Once every couple months, I test calcium, alk, and ph DAILY. I do this for just about a week. If you can not do a full week, you can do some math to get your answers. When you test, you can figure out what your daily or weekly uptake is on calcium and your shifts in PH or DKh.

Typically, I do not check anything in my tank unless I see something is not "right". But I do check at least quarterly to ensure that I'm keeping up with the Calc/Dkh because as your corals, clams etc. grow, the uptake will most certainly change.

I use Kalk drip at night and B-Ionics every day. I have, from time to time, used Seachem's reef buffer to get things back in order.

Dave

[davejnz]

I use pretty much the same methods,I quit using kalkwasser for a couple months as a sort of test and my tanks went downhill(probably due to low PH and instability).I dose limewater 24/7 via float-valve,and baking soda and CaChl if needed.For reference,1tsp of baking soda is balanced by 12ml liquid calcium(Kent)

[dakar]

Not to mention the biggest box of backing soda runs about $1.50ish.... and will last me well over a month. I've found just about the perfect balance for my tank finally, alternating each night with Baking soda and pickling lime the next, seems to be working out quite well for us, Alk staying 10-11dKH and Ca holding steady at 360-400ppm.