OK, a quickie refresher course in the 3 part DIY calcium, alkalinity and magnesium supplement system. Well nobody explains how to make our own additives better than Randy Farley’s articles. He has been the resident chemist on Reef Central for a very long time. Smart person. pay attention.
So here is his old explantion of how to find, mix and use the home made solutions. They can be made from simple baking soda, calcium chloride and magnesium chloride ice melt salts, and epsom salt. These will take care of the PH, Alk, and Calcium and magnesium levels in our tanks. But as i’ve found out, we cant forget the other elements and need to buy some good vitamin and trace element stuff.
First the recipe:
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php
and then when you’ve made your solutions and have tested your tanks DKH, PH and Calcium and Magnesium levels, you use this handy dandy calculator to estimate how much of each to dose to bring your tank up to desired parameters.
http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chem_calc3.html
I like the Traditional version. It works for other common store bought brands too. The trick is finding good quality supplies. so we stick to a few trusted brands. This system works pretty good for people with big tanks or a lot of tanks to feed. So we can buy in bulk. Its not perfect, but pretty close.
pretty neat! Huh?