[APD] RE: Calcium

["Steve Pushak" <teban at powersonic_bc.ca>]

> If you buy it by the ounce, that works out to $20 per
> pound. But by the pound it's only $3.05, and a pound will
> last most gardeners a few years.

I have 200 gallons of planted tanks and if I changed all that every week
and added 5 grams for every ten gallons, I'd use about 5 kg of CaCO3 a
year! Of course, I use a lot less than that but probably use a couple of
pounds a year just for my own aquariums. I also supply friends and sell
all the PMDD minerals and supplies at club meetings and auctions so I
find it best to buy in bulk. You can get a 20 pound sack at a pottery
supply outlet for about the same price you'd pay for 1 pound at an
hydroponics supply outlet or from a pharmacy. That's industrial grade
which is much cheaper too. Some people even use CaCO3 from supplement
tablets; now that's expensive!

A nice alternative that some might wish to consider is using CaNO3. It
dissolves readily in concentrate but you can't mix it with any sulphated
minerals such as Epsom salt or K2SO4 in a concentrated solution because
the Ca will precipitate as chalk. It works well if you're dry dosing
nitrates weekly or daily into your tanks because it also provides
Calcium, which is the second nutrient that is difficult to keep in
solution aside from nitrate.

Steve

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