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Finally some more progress... I spent hours looking at rocks on the Internet and over by the lake. Frustrating! But then it finally occurred to me to try a local landscaping supplier where I found this really nicely contoured sandstone outcrop slab... I think this is prefect. Here's one of...

Starting to see signs of life... I've had the samples from the lake in this same small 6G tank with the latest updated salt mix. Aside from a few 5ml capfuls of BG-11 medium I haven't given it much attention. But there is activity with organisms starting to grow on the substrates... I need...

This other project is intended to grow tufa, though it will represent a different kind of ecosystem. It needs a lot more work. I have to get the calcium reactor running and resolve the water circulation too...

I'm going to be very happy if I can get rock to grow. I already have several variations on setup ideas in mind.

Duplicate post. Please ignore. See above.

Blend #2: CaSO4 - 1300 mg/L KHCO3 - 8 mg/L MgCO3 - 250 mg/L CaCO3 - 95 mg/L Reef Crystals - 60 mg/L This puts bicarbonate about 40 mg/L over the target value, but I think that's OK. I portioned the CaSO4 separately this time and added it first to the mixing pail, where it dissolved readily...

I need to work on the salt blend some more, but I also want to get some of these live samples out of the refrigerator and into a tank. After a couple more days I saw no more change with water clarity, so last night I turned off the water pump to let the particles settle. Today I siphoned the...

Revisiting the silica question and bookmarking this...just seven or ten dollars...

Thanks very much! I'll let this run for a few days with the water pump and an air stone, then hook up CO2 if there is no change. If this composition is pretty close, then ions so close to or at saturation should advance the goal of biologically-mediated precipitation in the aquarium model...

This is going to require some more problem-solving. There is a serious solubility issue with much of the salt mix remaining and/or reprecipitating as fine sediment. I ran a DC pump in the solution all night with no change. Here is the mix composition. KHCO3 - 4.8 mg/L MgSO4 - 730 mg/L CaSO4 -...

OK I'll order some MgCO3 as well. While I wait for that to get here and while I clean up my spreadsheet I'm going to mix a small 4-liter batch of water tonight with a ballpark approximation. The samples came in the mail and I should get them out of the refrigerator and into water. Here are some...

I worked on the spreadsheet some more and I paste a jpeg below. Column C (in red) is filled mostly with the values that @Heelllooo suggested above, except that I omitted KNO3 and instead roughly doubled KHCO3 for the K content. MgCO3 is also omitted and I'm not worrying about silicates for now...

Yes I have a calculator like that on the first sheet of this file, although I had not linked the cells yet. Did you configure your own calculator and do you have it somewhere? I know the answer is plain and obvious, but I'm having such a time organizing these rows and columns in a coherent way...

I'm working on a spreadsheet for these dosage values. I'd like to get it to where I just have to use these four salts I have on hand—CaSO4, MgSO4, CaCo3, KHCO3—with other fertilizer added less precisely for N, P and traces. Column C are the numbers in mg/L that @Heelllooo had calculated, with a...

Would love to see pics if you ever visit the spot!

Thanks very much. So it would basically be the same guidance as for using kalkwasser with a reef tank. I just thought I'd ask though why it hadn't come up. I suppose a kalkwasser setup replacing evaporated water could be integrated for replenishment of calcium, but for for this small setup it...

:):):)

I have a quick question. How come Ca(OH)2 hasn't been mentioned yet? Is this something else I could consider adding? Kalkwasser (Calcium Hydroxide).

Yep especially for Cyanobacteria. I'm starting with RO/DI and probably not putting fish in this tank, so I'll also include a phosphate source.

Thanks very much for these explanations!

Thanks very much for performing these calculations! Apologies I should understand this better, but how are the mg/L calculations performed from the ion concentration data? These are easy to acquire or I have on-hand already: MgSO4 CaCO3 CaSO4 KHCO3 This covers most of the ions, but omits...

Yes I'm going to look for the most economical options I can. I want to be able to mix up ingredients and have portions on-hand for 1-gallon or 5-gallon water changes. If I can get the microbes to grow, they will deplete calcium and alkalinity. So I will need some quantity. I just made this list...

Thanks! Do you think I might be able to figure out a recipe for a rough approximation? I can get economy titrant tests for some of these, but comprehensive laboratory analysis will be way out of budget. Bookmarking sources for some chemical salts... MgSO₄...

Approximating and Maintaining Water Chemistry of a Meromictic Lake I'm starting a new project as a continuation of my Stromatolite Reef setup maintained with hypersaline (85ppt) water and 2-part calcium + alkalinity dosing for biologically-mediated precipitation of CaCO3 and...