[blu23girl]

I have been cycling my tank for a month now, and i finally broke out the "reef" testing kit, i was testing for Salinity, pH, Alk, Nitrates, Nitrites, Ammonia, and phosphorous. Well i decided i would test out Calcium too, and holy crap, it was so low! I didn’t realize that i should be dosing Calcium even during the cycle... didn't think i had much that would need it yet! guess my rock is sucking it all up! It was at 250ppm, and i did a 20% H2O change, and its up to 300ppm, still a ways to go... so, few questions...

1. How can i get that up there in the short term? Keep H20 changing, or supplements?

2. I want to use a ATO, i evaporate about 2-3 gal/day in my tank, and the topping off is becoming ridiculous! I want to use this (JBJ A.T.O. - Automatic Top Off System Water Level Controller), can i dose Kalkwasser using this system? I want to have ~10gal (2-3 day) supply at all times... I have read that you need to use the Kalk solutions within a day of mixing, so, guessing this wouldn’t work... Is there anything you can use to hold/mix/use that doesn’t require me to add/mix daily?

3. During the cycle should i be adding other supplements? My Ammonia is back to 0, Nitrates and Nitrites, are still high, no phosphorus.

4. I have been circulating my RO storage H20 with a powerhead, is this nessisary? I thought i read somewhere i should, but now, i cant seem to find where i read that...

Thanks!

[Dr. Clyde]

I just store my ro water in buckets & mix it up with salt withing 24 hours of a water change. My ro unit only does 10 gallons a day so I have to store in up or I won't have enough.

[sgarron]

I don't think you need to raise your calcium until your cycle is complete, than a large water change and use Turbo Calcium or similar to bring your ca level up. Kalkwasser won't raise your calcium it will maintain it at the level you set with the turbo calcium. (hopefully).

When you set up your auto topoff system you could use a kalk reactor like this one GEO Kalkwasser Reactor: Premium Aquatics
This is the one I use and It's great. I add more kalk every month or so. There are many others out there as well.

You don't have to circulate rodi water, only salt water. Although I do, I run a phosban reactor on my rodi resevoir just to stay ahead of the game. And it keeps the water churning in the process.

[Taras1]

With regular water changes, you really shouldn't need to add additives other than Ca, Alk and Mg. The two part additive systems like Kent Marine do fine for me. It may be a bit expensive in the long run, but it's convenient.