Dosing Calcium & Alkalinity for SPS in Your Reef Tank: Getting Started

This video will get you started if you are thinking about getting into some SPS for your reeftank. More in-depth videos on calcium and alkalinity dosing to come!
Randy Holmes-Farley's DIY 2-Part Recipe:
reefkeeping.com...
My website:
ttps://www.coraleuphoria.com
120g System Overview:
• 120g SPS Reef Tank - S...
IG:
/ coral.euphoria
Please subscribe, comment, like, and share! Thank you for the support!
#reeftanks #fishtanks #allmymoneygoestocoral

[@kamranasif2004]

No nonsense content. Right to the point and a mighty gorgeous tank to prove that. Absolutely Brilliant !

[@deejammer]

Clear, concise, and to the point. I wish all tutorial videos were this informative. Bravo

[@tonycloseukreef3799]

this hobby gents more and more complicated as you progress thanks to people like yourself it makes the journey easier thanks for sharing

[@borb2656]

Video is great! I didn't get confused. I know where to start now.

[@d4nn13s]

Dude come back! Lol your videos are the best! Appreciate all the info

[@FriendM2010]

Great video... Nice ocean clips too 👍. Back in 90’s, GF and I were on snorkeling boat ride on backside of Kauai, no beach access just cliffs. I jumped off boat in about 20 ft of water to snorkel and by chance landed next to a turtle about 1.5 times as large as you show in video.... My eyes got big, big smile on my face and I swam along side the big turtle for awhile... We were not afraid of each other... Just lucky to be in that spot 👍👍

[@MS-lv1pw]

Love your tank and reefing style and appreciate what you’ve been sharing.

[@braveheartreefer525]

Great advice you packed so much information in a short video. Your 120 is a beautiful tank outstanding coral

[@CoralEuphoria]

Thanks so much and for always commenting. Usually the first one :)

[@sandureef]

It is the best video on this subject; with this video you have removed the doubts I had about the calcium reactor. Like and sub

[@moneysmoneywoney]

Just found this channel and I’m love it

[@cdc4355]

Beautiful tank!!! Great information from a veteran. Keep it up!

[@Reject06]

another great video man, love your style

[@stevenhall1385]

Somewhere around 12 to 15 years ago I installed a calcium reactor to my reef, dialing it in was pretty tricky. One thing I remember is the top quarter inch layer of my sand bed literally turned into cement. I took it out in small slabs and had to throw it away, dialed back the reactor a little and everything was fine.

[@justinjohnson3973]

As always, great content! I look forward to the next one

[@CoralEuphoria]

Thank you!

[@brianshleifer6602]

love all the corals. excellent work! way to go :)

[@MuchLove.12]

Awesome video! Thanks for the help.

[@bluethumbaquaculture6370]

subbbbbscribed! just found your channel today and u for sure are spreading awesome advice! awesome content too thanks for sharing! Tank looks superb!

[@bobbyrlg]

Love your videos. Keep them coming!

[@thepassionreef]

Once again another great video and advice. The take from this video is continue to dose kalkwasser and i certainly will be implementing this using a drip method via gravity. It just makes sense if there is any up and down using 2 part your kalkwasser will fix it and certainly provide more stable parameters. It acts like a back up for your 2 part dosing error.

[@CoralEuphoria]

Doing the gravity method is easy but just a pain to do it regularly. Better if you figured a way to automate it.

[@kelvinmckenzie1227]

I wish your videos where a bit longer upwards of 10min so you can make some money off of this great advice.. I know your not In it for the money but ehh 1 of the best aquarium channels on the platform. Keep the videos coming

[@CoralEuphoria]

Thank you that's very nice. I'll consider making them a bit longer.

[@manathnuth79]

Can you make a video on float valve in your sump?I am a new reefing .think love you reef Tank.

[@_ReefLife]

Great video, nice channel you have here..... How come you don't have more regular videos?

[@steevareno2002]

Beautiful reef 👍

[@CoralEuphoria]

Thank you sir

[@reggie8566]

Where you been miss your videos!!

[@fasting4lyfe]

Thanks for this knowledge.

[@andibandi1190]

what about dosing CaOH powder to the sump?

[@sambow7005]

Well done!

[@Cavegeckosol]

I still run Kalk. Even if it doesn't actively keep up, it keeps things from depleting as quickly. It is also my buffer against crazy alk swings.

[@CoralEuphoria]

Perfect

[@hugomagana32]

Coral Euphoria hey Abe My sps tank is currently doing well .i have some but slow growth, and my PH hovers around 8.0-8.15 . I see a lot of people saying they have a lot more growth at around 8.3 ph. Would you recommend I start dosing kalkwasser to try to reach 8.3 ph or just keep the tank as is since coral are doing well ? Also how do you dose your kalkwasser?

[@MS-lv1pw]

Well done with this video! In fact, I like all of your videos and have watched a few of them several times. I really like what you have done with your tank and dig your reefing style. A bit off topic, but do you have any experience with vermetid snails?

[@frankpohl8746]

Another great vid. I have a question sir. Is there a order to best way to add and adjust your parameters. Have low alk but could only raise it a little so I check other parameters and everything was low. Searched web for reasons. I came across vid that said Mag needs to be up. Then alk will go up. Hope you can make sense of this. Thanks

[@CoralEuphoria]

Is your mag is really low

[@matyas4878]

Awesome video. Perfect timing!

[@victorulman1064]

Thanks for the great video, just one request, I don't understand English very well, so could you do the subtitles? KZbin does not generate them very well.

[@hanthi9463]

How to prepare Kalk? I mean I know you mix Kalk with RO/DI water. Do you avoid adding the bottom layer of your mix? What are the safety concerns with Kalk? Can you use a dosing container for Kalk? Will Kalk water clogs on a dosing container?

[@benjaminmorin8865]

@Coral Euphoria : do you plan to do an episode dedicated to kalkwasser and how to implemente it… please 🙏 ?

[@amazingpickles]

Sweet thanks for that video you have been a great help on my tank,,, should i figure out mag first before i start adjusting cal and alk??? Cool

[@CoralEuphoria]

Yes. But if your tank has a light load and/or you are just starting with SPS, water changes with a good salt might be able to keep Mg within range. But yeah all three should monitored. Also, if you have a light load, you can get away with just adding magnesium weekly manually. Although ideally it would be good to eventually have it automated.

[@jollyodin]

Great info! Very knowledgeable. How long you been in the hobby?

[@ThaBiznessReefTank]

Great vid!

[@CoralEuphoria]

Appreciate it

[@kokobean7476]

Can you please make another video?

[@MereReef]

We need a follow up video on this

[@Alen_D]

Awesome video thank you for producing such great content! What’s the name of the fuzzy red and green acro on 1:16

[@CoralEuphoria]

Thank you! ASD Rainbow Mille

[@TomSounds]

Do you dose any trace elements besides kalk, magnesium and calcium? Or are those always replaced by waterchanges?

[@CoralEuphoria]

iodine and iron

[@deanfielding4411]

What Mg, Ca, KH, Nitrate and Phosophate levels do you aim for with a sps dominated tank? Thanks 😊

[@plaidjoker1321]

Hey, How much kalkwasser should I add in my 60g tank? Thanks!

[@CoralEuphoria]

Really hard to say. You'll have to experiment. But it's not strong, so you will be fine

[@KlemmetsmoReefing]

Outstanding video as always. What is the name of the coral at 5:53?

[@CoralEuphoria]

Thank you. That's an RR Firecracker. Always an eye catcher when reefers come over.

[@MereReef]

We need nore vids from you

[@amazingpickles]

Thanks for your advice,,,All my para meters are at a good level but now I’m having trouble with my nitrates I have Cami pier and I also run Rowafhos’s I do ten percent water changes every week but my nitrates are still high do you have any advice what I could do to lower my nitrates I have the red sea test kit it’s at the highest level right now i also run a skimmer

[@CoralEuphoria]

Have you tried cutting down on feeding? Nitrates could be coming from detritus build up in your system. Is there a lot of detritus in your sand bed or sump?

[@retroreefs7986]

More great content right on time!! I’ve been dosing bionic 2 part in my 100 gallon system and have been wanting to add kalk to the ato but am unsure if I need to lower my 2 part dose or how much or just wait until my next 2part demand adjustment any advice?

[@retroreefs7986]

All sps started from Frags some mini colonies the tank is almost a year old

[@CoralEuphoria]

I say just add it and test. You might have to lower 2-part dosing but I bet it won't be by much. It's not that potent.

[@rrrreefer9721]

I run 2 part and evaporate a ton of water. My ato reservoir is 20g and I have to fill it once a week. That said, I dont let it go below 50% before I top off my ATO reservoir. So if I use kalk in my ato what should my routine be for adding back the used up kalkwasser? Thanks and subbed

[@CoralEuphoria]

I would just add about 1 heaping teaspoon of kalk per gallon at first (20). When 10 gallons is used up and you want to top it off, I would add about 10 teaspoons more although will probably need much less. But you can just top off the reservoir with water and eventually if there is not enough kalk left in there, you will see very little kalk precipitated out on bottom. That will be your indicator to add more kalk to the reservoir. As long as you have a little layer of kalk in the bottom the mixture is probably saturated. It is good to periodically clean everything out because you can imagine there will be some old kalk build-up in there as time goes by. I do this about every 4-6 months when I feel like it. Its really not an exact science. I just keep adding kalk because there is some talk, theory or science that the kalk goes sort of bad when exposed to air but I feel that if there is always a layer of kalk at the bottom it will stay pretty high potency. Hope this helps and thanks for the support

[@rrrreefer9721]

@@CoralEuphoria thank you for such a fast and detailed response. Glad I found your channel. Now I need to make sure my apex tells my ato pump to kick off if my ph goes too high since my ato can run for a few minutes at a time. Also, I'm guessing I'll need to dial back my dosing pumps?

[@CoralEuphoria]

@@rrrreefer9721 yes most likely but will depend on your alk ca consumption. In my 120g i have found that the kalk does very little to ca and alk levels while in my 20g quarantine tank, kalk is all i need to maintain levels.

[@SCReefer]

What kind of camera do you have? Thanks,

[@parasiticthoughts3558]

Sorry forgot to write the par lol ,,, it's 477.

[@SCReefer]

What a great video, what lighting are you using.

[@CoralEuphoria]

Thanks! 8 bulb T5 and LED strip light.

[@SCReefer]

@@CoralEuphoria I have 4 T5 running and looking for a good LED strip light. what is the name brand you are using.

[@CoralEuphoria]

@@SCReefer nice yeah it's a good combo. mine is diy. I wanted to make my own blend of colors.

[@SCReefer]

@@CoralEuphoria.Thank you! I also have channel, please stop by kzbin.info

[@gbj6581]

Thanks for the info!

[@CoralEuphoria]

You're welcome. Happy reefing!

[@twofish7939]

im using 2-part already. paramaters are stable, should I move in a direction where I implement kalk to existing 2-part schedule? or don;'t fix it if it aint broke?

[@CoralEuphoria]

If your pH runs low, yeah I think you should give it a shot. It's not too major of a change. If it's been that long and nothing's moving, then it's time to experiment one at a time with minor things. I think that would be a good thing to try out. But if you can, stepping up your fish feeding a little bit might help too.

[@marcelrodriguez2067]

Man ive been getting my parameters super stable and been growing good coralline algae but cant even keep LPS or even easy SPS like pocillipora or birdsnest. My nitrates are at 10 and PO4 at 0.05.

[@CoralEuphoria]

🤔you should be good with those parameters 🤷‍♂️

[@CoralEuphoria]

How old is the tank?

[@marcelrodriguez2067]

@@CoralEuphoria tank i currently 8 months old, started growing coralline at the 4 month mark. I recently got an icp test and the only thing that came red is a very high level of antimony and aluminum. For the aluminum my guess is the marinepure blocks leaching. But from the antimony i have no idea what it is. I just left my tank fowlr for now since i was just losing too much money for no reason sadly.

[@michalen6694]

When I dose kalkwasser do i need add microelements?

[@CoralEuphoria]

You don’t

[@benjaminmorin8865]

Why?

[@frcarvajal]

Do you use sodium bicarbonate or sodium carbonate?

[@CoralEuphoria]

Technically sodium carbonate but I make it by baking baking soda (sodium bicarbonate). Google search Randy's 2-part recipe

[@fadetoblack.-]

Good stuff got to ask you a qestion.ill text you in a few my man.

[@andycx2]

How do you store the saturated kalkwasser? I add it to my ATO but it goes bad and loses potency. Do you add any vinegar to the mixture? I tried that and it made the liquid more stable and potent but seemed to cause GHA outbreak.

[@CoralEuphoria]

Your tank must not evaporate enough. I do not add vinegar. My tank consumes a lot of alk and calcium so I can dump loads of this stuff in. I dose the max my doser allows which is 2L per day. That's the big disadvantage of kalk, it's not very strong. Perhaps time to move on to 2-part if the kalk can't keep up with your demands?

[@andycx2]

@@CoralEuphoria My tank does evaporate enough its the saturated kalkwasser goes bad within a day and seems to precipitate out of solution in my ATO.

[@CoralEuphoria]

There is always a precipitate. Unless you have a pump in there mixing it and you are dosing a supersaturated or kalk slurry, it will always settle out what can no longer be dissolved. How do you know it goes bad? If the pH of it is still high, then there is kalk in there. It's just not strong. But either way it sounds like your tank needs more than the kalk, so maybe time to dose 2 part

[@andycx2]

@@CoralEuphoria What i do is I mix the kalk in a container let it settle overnight and then decant the clear liquid off and use that as my ato water. Its this that seems to go bad. The air must get to it. I know it goes bad because i test the alkalinity of it. This is only a 20gallong system that drops 0.5dkh a day so kalk should be enough. Thanks for your help bud.

[@jluusaltwateraquarium8320]

Hello sir I have 170 Redsea 34gallons how many times do I need to dosing...I change waters every 2 weeks..

[@CoralEuphoria]

Sounds like kalkwasser is a good choice for you. Just start slow and test. Hard to say how much you will need.

[@jluusaltwateraquarium8320]

I used kalwakwass for my top water.. How you getting so looks for coral..

[@CoralEuphoria]

@@jluusaltwateraquarium8320 Keeping up with maintenance. Good husbandry

[@tritontr21]

What camera are you using?

[@parasiticthoughts3558]

I have ATI 8x 80w and my par is 7 inches below the surface of the water How much par you thing you have with your 8x 54w?

[@CoralEuphoria]

I'm not sure probably similar or a little more maybe since mine is about 5 inches off the water

[@parasiticthoughts3558]

the fixture itself is 9 inches over the water and the par reads 477 7 inches below the surface.

[@parasiticthoughts3558]

you convinced me to go back to dosing Kalk I stopped 2 years ago when I got my calcium reactor. colors and growth hasn't been good .

[@parasiticthoughts3558]

your corals are unreal . I'm also gonna look into the RHF 2 part method. Calcium reactor + 2 part +Kalk should kick start the process .

[@CoralEuphoria]

@@parasiticthoughts3558 i recently switched back to 2 part. Will talk about it when i release my new video sometime later today!

[@andycx2]

Do you run your calcium reactor 24hrs a day? Do you find your alk consumption fluctuates between day and night?

[@MrV8eater]

I live ft Lauderdale Florida are u from Florida if so would like meet up one day and pick your brain

[@thepassionreef]

Hey buds check out my recent video..you got a shout out and i shared link to your channel bro...thanks a ton.

[@gocedimoski728]

To fast Talking, same like this annoying guy from brs....