Can I add Alkalinity/Calcium powder directly to the tank?

enb141 · 08/01/2016, 03:26 AM

Hi, I just bought some Alkalinity and Calcium powder to increase the Alkalinity and Calcium to my tank to desired levels, so the instructions says first to wait at least 30 minutes to dose a different powder and also says the powder must be mixed in freshwater before adding it.

So my question is do they call freshwater RODI water or tap water?

What happens if I add the powder directly to my tank?

bundybear1981 · 08/01/2016, 03:58 AM

The freshwater they refer to is RODI water, you mix it well so it can be dose/dripped over a period to prevent a spike. You want any changes in water parameters to be done slowly to avoid shocking/stressing the life in the tank.

Waiting the 30 mins between additives allows it to stabilise before making other changes.

If you add it directly to the tank it could cause a spike and might not dissolve as well. ALWAYS follow the instructions on the product and NEVER dose what you don't test for.

enb141 · 08/01/2016, 12:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bundybear1981

The freshwater they refer to is RODI water, you mix it well so it can be dose/dripped over a period to prevent a spike. You want any changes in water parameters to be done slowly to avoid shocking/stressing the life in the tank.

Waiting the 30 mins between additives allows it to stabilise before making other changes.

If you add it directly to the tank it could cause a spike and might not dissolve as well. ALWAYS follow the instructions on the product and NEVER dose what you don't test for.

Thanks for the advice, I'm currently dosing directly in the part were there's a lot of water movement, to be precise a part in the back of the sump that the skimmer is absorbing water that comes from the main tank, I've done this for a couple weeks adding tiny parts a few times a day to rise gradually the Alkalinity of my tank.

I'll test with RODI water to see if I achieve better results and thanks again.

bertoni · 08/01/2016, 02:25 PM

You can dose them dry. Products like Tropic Marin Bio Calcium are designed to dose that way. As long as the particles dissolve well and don't land on animals, the process works well enough.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

louscal · 08/02/2016, 06:44 PM

when I dose I turn my powerheads on and does in the middle of the turbulence and seems to disperse pretty quickly.

enb141 · 08/03/2016, 04:03 AM

Guys after doing some tests I found that alkalinity seems to be fine to be added directly to a high water flow, but calcium seems to produce white dots (like ich) on the glass if added directly to the tank so my suggestion is mix with at least 1/4 cup of water (can be tap or purified water) and that's the best method for calcium, alkalinity doesn't seems to have this issue.

I hope this helps some other guys too.

bertoni · 08/03/2016, 03:47 PM

Hmm, that's interesting. I suspect you're seeing some precipitation. That might be due to the volume of the dosing area. Since you're dosing into a sump, that's a distinct possibility.

enb141 · 09/12/2016, 03:18 AM

Probably but after a few months of dosing alkalinity and calcium I've found that even mixing on a cup of water it always will add tiny dots everywhere in the glass, they are easily removable but still they appear.

tmz · 09/12/2016, 01:24 PM

Never dosed it dry, personally. Mixed with some ro/di and dosed to a high flow/volume area,with some time between the calcium and alk part is my preference. I suppose it could work dry in a high volume/hihg flow area but never tried it.

Don't know what the dots are ; I've never seen that reaction.

enb141 · 09/12/2016, 03:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tmz

Never dosed it dry, personally. Mixed with some ro/di and dosed to a high flow/volume area,with some time between the calcium and alk part is my preference. I suppose it could work dry in a high volume/hihg flow area but never tried it.

Don't know what the dots are ; I've never seen that reaction.

For the last month or so I'm mixing it with a cup of RO/DI water in a high flow volume (The in/out area of the skimmer) but still I got some small dots over the tank.

bertoni · 09/12/2016, 05:19 PM

I'm not sure what the dots are. Are they on the surfaces of the tank itself? A bit of precipitation is reasonably normal.

enb141 · 09/20/2016, 10:26 PM

Yes here is the picture of the dots in the glass, they are all around the glass

pscott99 · 09/21/2016, 06:58 AM

Looks more like natural coralline growth due to the extra ca. How old is the tank ? Do you have coralline on the back glass.

enb141 · 09/21/2016, 02:05 PM

The tank is about 13 months old and yes I have coraline in the whole tank, all plastics pieces are covered by coraline algae and also live rock, the glass is not covered my coraline.

bertoni · 09/21/2016, 05:33 PM

Those dots look more like some sort of organisms growing than precipitation, in my opinion. I wouldn't worry about them.

enb141 · 09/21/2016, 07:09 PM

They don't move and they look like coraline algae and only appear when I add calcium on my tank.

bertoni · 09/21/2016, 08:02 PM

Do they disappear on their own?

enb141 · 09/21/2016, 08:25 PM

Nope, they never disappear unless I remove them with any magnet glass cleaner, by the way they are very easy to remove not as hard as algae or coraline.

cubbyman60 · 09/21/2016, 10:17 PM

I would not dose directly into the tank, even though it's probably okay most of the time.

I recently dosed alkalinity (mixed in RO) directly into the tank and saw and immediate adverse reaction.

Now, I always dose into a high flow area in the sump.

enb141 · 09/21/2016, 11:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cubbyman60

I would not dose directly into the tank, even though it's probably okay most of the time.

I recently dosed alkalinity (mixed in RO) directly into the tank and saw and immediate adverse reaction.

Now, I always dose into a high flow area in the sump.

Yep that's what I've been doing all the time, first mix with RODI then dose it to a high current flow.

bertoni · 09/22/2016, 05:54 PM

Well, I have to agree that dosing directly might be part of the cause of the dots. If you're worried, dissolving the supplements before dosing might help. They might be something other than calcium carbonate, but my first guess would be precipitation.

enb141 · 09/22/2016, 10:40 PM

This are the "dusts" I'm using

http://www.seachem.com/reef-adv-calcium.php

http://www.seachem.com/reef-builder.php

I dose with a cup or RO/DI water mixing it if I were doing a tea cup (shaking it for about 3 minutes).

The dots never disappear by their own, I have to manually remove them.

tmz · 09/23/2016, 11:14 AM

The ingredients for those look pretty standard. I assume you mix them separately. Perhaps a bit more dilution would help.

The dots ,in form, look a lot like the dots of coraline I get on glass; but, coraline is a rhodophyta species which usually has some tint of red or pink. It's possible, I suppose that the lighting is washing out the color on newly forming coraline . When pink dots form in my aquarium they are much easier to remove when new and thin than more mature coraline patches .
It could be some abiotic precipitation but abiotic precipitation of calcium carbonate would likely also show up in other areas , like pumps and heaters if it is occurring.

enb141 · 09/23/2016, 12:30 PM

Yes I mix them separately with about 6 hours of difference between each one.

I'm gonna take another picture of coraline algae growing on the glass and those dot's doesn't look like coraline at all, they look more like planaria in size but totally rounded or in oval like form.

enb141 · 09/23/2016, 03:31 PM

Here is the image in high resolution comparing coraline with this dots

08/01/2016, 03:26 AM	#1
enb141 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2015 Posts: 148	Can I add Alkalinity/Calcium powder directly to the tank? Hi, I just bought some Alkalinity and Calcium powder to increase the Alkalinity and Calcium to my tank to desired levels, so the instructions says first to wait at least 30 minutes to dose a different powder and also says the powder must be mixed in freshwater before adding it. So my question is do they call freshwater RODI water or tap water? What happens if I add the powder directly to my tank?

08/01/2016, 03:58 AM	#2
bundybear1981 Registered Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Bundaberg, Queensland, Australia Posts: 685 Blog Entries: 1	The freshwater they refer to is RODI water, you mix it well so it can be dose/dripped over a period to prevent a spike. You want any changes in water parameters to be done slowly to avoid shocking/stressing the life in the tank. Waiting the 30 mins between additives allows it to stabilise before making other changes. If you add it directly to the tank it could cause a spike and might not dissolve as well. ALWAYS follow the instructions on the product and NEVER dose what you don't test for. __________________ Tank inhabitants : 2x Clownfish, 1x Blue Koran, 1x Foxface Lo, 1xCoral Beauty, 1x Blue Tang, 1x Sailfin Tang Current Tank Info: New Build : 250g (6x3x2) with 2x RW15 pumps, 2x 2200lph return pumps, Tunze ATO, Jebao Dosing Pump, AquaOne G220 Skimmer

08/01/2016, 02:25 PM	#4
bertoni RC Mod Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mountain View, CA, USA Posts: 88,616	You can dose them dry. Products like Tropic Marin Bio Calcium are designed to dose that way. As long as the particles dissolve well and don't land on animals, the process works well enough. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk __________________ Jonathan Bertoni

08/03/2016, 03:47 PM	#7
bertoni RC Mod Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mountain View, CA, USA Posts: 88,616	Hmm, that's interesting. I suspect you're seeing some precipitation. That might be due to the volume of the dosing area. Since you're dosing into a sump, that's a distinct possibility. __________________ Jonathan Bertoni

09/12/2016, 01:24 PM	#9
tmz ReefKeeping Mag staff Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: West Seneca NY Posts: 27,691	Never dosed it dry, personally. Mixed with some ro/di and dosed to a high flow/volume area,with some time between the calcium and alk part is my preference. I suppose it could work dry in a high volume/hihg flow area but never tried it. Don't know what the dots are ; I've never seen that reaction. __________________ Tom Current Tank Info: Tank of the Month , November 2011 : 600gal integrated system: 3 display tanks (120 g, 90g, 89g),several frag/grow out tanks, macroalgae refugia, cryptic zones. 40+ fish, seahorses, sps,lps,leathers, zoanthidae and non photosynthetic corals.

08/02/2016, 06:44 PM	#5
louscal Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: long islnad Posts: 75	when I dose I turn my powerheads on and does in the middle of the turbulence and seems to disperse pretty quickly.

08/03/2016, 04:03 AM	#6
enb141 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2015 Posts: 148	Guys after doing some tests I found that alkalinity seems to be fine to be added directly to a high water flow, but calcium seems to produce white dots (like ich) on the glass if added directly to the tank so my suggestion is mix with at least 1/4 cup of water (can be tap or purified water) and that's the best method for calcium, alkalinity doesn't seems to have this issue. I hope this helps some other guys too.

09/12/2016, 03:18 AM	#8
enb141 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2015 Posts: 148	Probably but after a few months of dosing alkalinity and calcium I've found that even mixing on a cup of water it always will add tiny dots everywhere in the glass, they are easily removable but still they appear.

09/12/2016, 05:19 PM	#11
bertoni RC Mod Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mountain View, CA, USA Posts: 88,616	I'm not sure what the dots are. Are they on the surfaces of the tank itself? A bit of precipitation is reasonably normal. __________________ Jonathan Bertoni

09/21/2016, 06:58 AM	#13
pscott99 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Stratford ON Posts: 241	Looks more like natural coralline growth due to the extra ca. How old is the tank ? Do you have coralline on the back glass. __________________ 80 gal euro brace center overflow. Mixed reef. Vertex LED. Acrylic sump. Current Tank Info: 80 gal mixed reef

09/21/2016, 02:05 PM	#14
enb141 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2015 Posts: 148	The tank is about 13 months old and yes I have coraline in the whole tank, all plastics pieces are covered by coraline algae and also live rock, the glass is not covered my coraline.

09/21/2016, 05:33 PM	#15
bertoni RC Mod Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mountain View, CA, USA Posts: 88,616	Those dots look more like some sort of organisms growing than precipitation, in my opinion. I wouldn't worry about them. __________________ Jonathan Bertoni

09/21/2016, 07:09 PM	#16
enb141 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2015 Posts: 148	They don't move and they look like coraline algae and only appear when I add calcium on my tank.

09/21/2016, 08:02 PM	#17
bertoni RC Mod Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mountain View, CA, USA Posts: 88,616	Do they disappear on their own? __________________ Jonathan Bertoni

09/21/2016, 08:25 PM	#18
enb141 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2015 Posts: 148	Nope, they never disappear unless I remove them with any magnet glass cleaner, by the way they are very easy to remove not as hard as algae or coraline.

09/21/2016, 10:17 PM	#19
cubbyman60 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2012 Posts: 73	I would not dose directly into the tank, even though it's probably okay most of the time. I recently dosed alkalinity (mixed in RO) directly into the tank and saw and immediate adverse reaction. Now, I always dose into a high flow area in the sump.

09/22/2016, 05:54 PM	#21
bertoni RC Mod Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mountain View, CA, USA Posts: 88,616	Well, I have to agree that dosing directly might be part of the cause of the dots. If you're worried, dissolving the supplements before dosing might help. They might be something other than calcium carbonate, but my first guess would be precipitation. __________________ Jonathan Bertoni

09/22/2016, 10:40 PM	#22
enb141 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2015 Posts: 148	This are the "dusts" I'm using http://www.seachem.com/reef-adv-calcium.php http://www.seachem.com/reef-builder.php I dose with a cup or RO/DI water mixing it if I were doing a tea cup (shaking it for about 3 minutes). The dots never disappear by their own, I have to manually remove them.

09/23/2016, 11:14 AM	#23
tmz ReefKeeping Mag staff Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: West Seneca NY Posts: 27,691	The ingredients for those look pretty standard. I assume you mix them separately. Perhaps a bit more dilution would help. The dots ,in form, look a lot like the dots of coraline I get on glass; but, coraline is a rhodophyta species which usually has some tint of red or pink. It's possible, I suppose that the lighting is washing out the color on newly forming coraline . When pink dots form in my aquarium they are much easier to remove when new and thin than more mature coraline patches . It could be some abiotic precipitation but abiotic precipitation of calcium carbonate would likely also show up in other areas , like pumps and heaters if it is occurring. __________________ Tom Current Tank Info: Tank of the Month , November 2011 : 600gal integrated system: 3 display tanks (120 g, 90g, 89g),several frag/grow out tanks, macroalgae refugia, cryptic zones. 40+ fish, seahorses, sps,lps,leathers, zoanthidae and non photosynthetic corals. Last edited by tmz; 09/23/2016 at 11:23 AM.

09/23/2016, 12:30 PM	#24
enb141 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2015 Posts: 148	Yes I mix them separately with about 6 hours of difference between each one. I'm gonna take another picture of coraline algae growing on the glass and those dot's doesn't look like coraline at all, they look more like planaria in size but totally rounded or in oval like form.

09/23/2016, 03:31 PM	#25
enb141 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2015 Posts: 148	Here is the image in high resolution comparing coraline with this dots Last edited by enb141; 09/23/2016 at 03:37 PM.