Has Anyone tried Tropic Marin Bio-Calcium or Carbo-Calcium

[Weevo]

Well that's ******

 

[Bramzor]

Well that's ******

@Weevo , I cannot confirm or deny yet as I havent used CarboCalcium myself. Just want to make sure that it is not a specific tank issue instead of a known issue.

 

[Weevo]

Well the pictures do tell. Every 3 days I have the break off the build up and just the stuff floating around is not cool either.

 

[Lou Ekus]

@Lou Ekus ,

Is it a known issue with the powder version that it clogs dosing lines and causes that white stuff in the dosing container?

No. This is not something that we normally see. Once you mix the powder into a solution, it should stay in solution without any issue. Is it fully dissolving for you when you first mix it?

 

[Weevo]

No. This is not something that we normally see. Once you mix the powder into a solution, it should stay in solution without any issue. Is it fully dissolving for you when you first mix it?

When I mixed the whole container with rodi it took awhile to mix some what fully but the stuff that just sits and the bottom of the dosing container is not powder, kinda looks like mucus alittle and that never mixes up

 

[Bramzor]

When I mixed the whole container with rodi it took awhile to mix some what fully but the stuff that just sits and the bottom of the dosing container is not powder, kinda looks like mucus alittle and that never mixes up

@Weevo ,Maybe the mixture reacts with something that was in the dosing container before? What was in it before? Or in the dosing lines?

 

[Weevo]

@Weevo ,Maybe the mixture reacts with something that was in the dosing container before? What was in it before? Or in the dosing lines?

It was a new dosing container that I wash well in rodi water and alittle vinegar, same with the lines

 

[Bramzor]

It was a new dosing container that I wash well in rodi water and alittle vinegar, same with the lines

Vinegar is a carbon but that surprises me because CarboCalcium also has carbon in it so I would not expect it to react. Can you test it out? Take a glass and put vinegar in it and add some of the mixture. If vinegar was the issue (and there was some left in the container), you should be able to see a similar reaction?

 

[Lou Ekus]

When I mixed the whole container with rodi it took awhile to mix some what fully but the stuff that just sits and the bottom of the dosing container is not powder, kinda looks like mucus alittle and that never mixes up

How much water did you "mix the whole container" into? And what size container did you mix from? If you were using the 700g size of powder, you would have needed to mix that full amount into about 3.25-3.5 gallons of RO/DI water. If you were mixing the 1,400g container of powder, you would have needed to mix that into about 6.50-7 gallons of RO/DI water.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

@Lou Ekus ,

Is it a known issue with the powder version that it clogs dosing lines and causes that white stuff in the dosing container?

Im not Lou, but I can’t see a reason for that to happen unless bacteria are growing in it.

 

[Weevo]

How much water did you "mix the whole container" into? And what size container did you mix from? If you were using the 700g size of powder, you would have needed to mix that full amount into about 3.25-3.5 gallons of RO/DI water. If you were mixing the 1,400g container of powder, you would have needed to mix that into about 6.50-7 gallons of RO/DI water.

700 grams makes 1.3 gallons and 1400 makes 2.6. I made 1.3 gallons with rodi

 

[amoore311]

I've been using Carbo-Calcium since BRS released that 2 Part Cost Video, so a couple months at least. I do not have any solidification at all at the end of my dosing lines.

I have a tiny bit of what looks like bacterial mulm in the bottom of the dosing container, but I assumed that is because my fuge light hits the clear dosing container. Not worried about it.

 

[Lou Ekus]

700 grams makes 1.3 gallons and 1400 makes 2.6. I made 1.3 gallons with rodi

Sorry...brain cramp. Your numbers are right on correct! I don't know what you are seeing in the bottom. We have not seen that issue before. Can you post a picture?

 

[Bramzor]

Sorry...brain cramp. Your numbers are right on correct! I don't know what you are seeing in the bottom. We have not seen that issue before. Can you post a picture?

He posted pictures here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/h...-calcium-or-carbo-calcium.410153/post-6566283

 

[Lou Ekus]

He posted pictures here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/h...-calcium-or-carbo-calcium.410153/post-6566283

I don't know exactly what to say about this. We just have not seen this issue before.

 

[Bramzor]

I don't know exactly what to say about this. We just have not seen this issue before.

Haven’t tried the powdered version like the topic starter did because it’s hard to get in the Netherlands for some strange reason. Product code is not available for them. Don’t have the issue with the premixed solution, although there is some saltcreep at the end of the tube which I previously used for carbon dosing (vinegar). Did not cause any issues so far though but might build up in time and cause issues.
Once the powder is available in the Netherlands, I’ll switch and try it out.

 

[Lou Ekus]

Just got some carbocalcium to give it a try. I'll be attempting to bump up alk from 7 .5dkh to 8. 5 dkh with it. 200 gallon system maintained currently with a kalk reactor and 40ml daily dose of vinegar injected into reactor. The current maintenance kept the system at 8.5 to 9 dkh until recently given a large increase in coraline algae and a stoney coral growth spurt. I'll update in a few days as to how it is working. I'm going to dose 20ml today and test in 1 hour,12 hours then again in 24 hours before second dose. Starting at a dkh of 7 5

Just to be clear, Dan, in many systems Carbocalcium is much more effective in maintaining alklainity values rather then raising it. For a good test of the product, I would use some sodium bicarbonate, to get your alkalinity where you would like to keep it, and then use the Carbocalcium to maintin that value there.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Just to be clear, Dan, in many systems Carbocalcium is much more effective in maintaining alklainity values rather then raising it.

Why would that be? What happens if you add some beyond the daily demand?

 

[Lou Ekus]

@Randy Holmes-Farley, The question you are asking is a great one. It turns out that the answer is not as simple as we would like it to be… The conversion of the formate into alkalinity, happens largely within the coral polyps themselves. That means that the Carbocalcium essentially “bypasses” the process of formation of carbonates in the water column. So instead of boosting the alkalinity in the water column, which then gets taken out by the corals (as with traditional methods of supplementation). The formate conversion to carbonates supplies the needed carbonates to the coral without showing up as a rise in carbonates in the water column. This means that the rise in alkalinity, that we see with more traditional methods, doesn’t always happen as expected. If more Carbocalcium than the needed amount is added, much of the formate “hangs out” until the conversion is needed in the polyps. But we don’t measure formate with traditional alkalinity tests. This concept of this conversion happening within the polyp and not in the water column, is important in understanding the proper usage of the product.

For all of these reasons, it makes most sense to bring the alkalinity parameter into your desired range before starting the Carbocalcium. There is no down side to that, and it avoids confusion when the corals are still getting what they need, but the increase in alkalinity is not showing up in the water testing.

I hope this explanation made some sense.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thanks, Lou. That does make sense.

It presumes that formate present in the water column isn't metabolized by bacteria. That seems odd to me.