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Tumbleweed

Reef Chemistry

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Tumbleweed
, 03-21-2010 at 02:24 AM (1043 Views)
So lately I have been adding a lot of new corals to my tank, which is technically only 4 months old after a major tank crash, and with testing my water chemistry I have found my calcium is really high at around 500-560ppm in the last week, with an Alkalinity reading of 6-7dkh. I have been dosing the tank with Randy's 2 part Alkalinity recipe. I have been adding around 200-240ml of my Alkalinity solution a day for the last 5 days and have seen almost no increase in my Alkalinity. I expected to see a increase in my alkalinity and a decrease in my calcium but I have seen neither. All of the corals in the tank seem to be doing ok, so now I must decide if I should just leave it be and keep an eye the corals and water conditions, keep dosing the same amount and be patient and watch the Calcium and Alkalinity levels, up the dosage amount, or try something else.

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  1. johnbanks's Avatar
    i'm not that experiences with chemistry but you might want to test you magnesium levels and raise them to about 1350. this should help balance/keep your alkalinity in line.

    hope this helps and let us know what happens

    John
  2. melev's Avatar
    And I would stop dosing calcium for the next three days and test to see if it drops down to more normal standards. It'll probably take about a week to bring it back down to 425-450ppm.

    Also, double check that the water is truly 1.026sg as that will affect alkalinity numbers.

    Be sure to pour in the alkalinity very slowly in an area of higher flow. You don't want it to turn to flakes as soon as it hits the water.
  3. Tumbleweed's Avatar
    I have not been dosing Calcium for 2 weeks now, and my salinity is 1.025sg I will to check my Mag to see were it is at.
  4. melev's Avatar
    When you say you've added a lot of corals, that is always relative to size/mass of the corals. If you have some really big pieces that suck up the calcium, the demand will be more than with smaller pieces. Also, your water changes may provide quite a bit of Ca if the saltmix comes that way.

    As always, double check your values with a second kit or a second opinion (like having a hobbyist or LFS test your water with their kits for comparison).
  5. Tumbleweed's Avatar
    All of the corals were frags, some larger then others, but no full colonies. New test kits arrive tuesday and I plan to retest the water then. All inhabitants appear to be doing ok at the moment so I am not too worried.
  6. melev's Avatar
    That's a good point - if the livestock seems to be doing well, don't over-react to numbers you don't like. Always try to take a step back and look at the big picture so think it through. Let us know what happens with your new kits.
  7. Tumbleweed's Avatar
    Well my Alk test kit did not come in, but my Calcium kit did. So I tested my Calcium, Alk, and Mag. Twice for the Cal once with the old kit and once with the new kit. Here are the results.
    Calcium
    520ppm (old API kit)
    430ppm (new Salifert Kit)
    Alk.
    8 dkh (old API kit)
    Mag
    1200 (Salifert)
    Now I am worried about what my Alk is really at. If my Calcium was that far off I wonder how far off my Alk is?
  8. melev's Avatar
    The newer Calcium number is good, better than 520.
    Bring up that Magnesium though, to 1300-1350ppm. It'll take a lot to bring it up - don't be surprised.
    Alkalinity at 8 dKH is a good number.
  9. Alaska_Phil's Avatar
    Do you have any leather corals in there? My finger leathers and toadstool retract their polyps when my Alk gets down to 7 or below. It's a great indicator to back up the tests kits.
  10. Tumbleweed's Avatar
    Yeah I have 2 leather corals in there. Both are doing ok. Like I said I think my test kit is bad. Basing it off of the difference in readings for my calcium. I am driving to a different fish store tomorrow to buy a new Alk test kit so I can check my readings.