Alk and Ca problems

[kayne_21]

For some reason, I can't seem to keep my alk and calcium up. Test readings are:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0 (Have a GHA and cyano outbreak, so this is present)
Phosphates: 0 (see above)
Alk: 8
Ca: 340
Mg: 1470
Temp: 80.1
Sg: 1.026

Only inhabitants to the tank are 2 Ocellaris clowns, 5 turbo snails, 5 nass. snails, 5 cerith snails, 15 blue leg hermit crabs, a small xenia frag, 3 small zoa frags, a small clove polyp frag and a small GSP frag.
I don't have what I would consider to be a lot of coraline growth either. Just a couple small patches on one rock.

Tank has been up for coming up on 3 months

I have tried dosing kent superbuffer dKH upwards of 15ml which raises alk for that day usually, but it drops back down by the next morning. I have also dosed kent liquid calcium.

Any advice or ideas are much appreciated.

 

[kayne_21]

Forgot to put this on the first post.

pH: 7.8 just my actinics are on right now

Using reef crystals for my salt mix.

 

[sjames]

sounds like you just need to dose more. at 3 months your corraline algea is just starting to really take off.

I dont know much about the kent superbuffer but 15ml does not seem like alot.

You may want to do a 1 time calcium correction to get yourself up in the 400-450 range. That would take about 500ml of kent liquid calcium.

 

[kayne_21]

Would there be any adverse affects to dosing that much calcium at once? Would I need to worry about precipitation or anything?

The directions on the Kent SuperBuffer say to dose 5ml/50g and I figured ~90g of total water column. When it had no effect the first few dosings I increased it.

 

[sjames]

at your pH and alk levels precipitation should not be an issue.

My suggestion would be to break that up into a couple doses over a couple days, although it would likly be fine to add it all at once.

 

[kayne_21]

Great, thanks for your help!

 

[Billybeau1]

Your calcium is extremely low. You probably got one of the bad buckets of Reef Crystals with low calcium.

I would pick up a more concentrated calcium chloride like Turbo Calcium, ESV or Reef Complete.

And for alk just get yourself some Arm & Hammer baking soda.

This calculator tells how much to dose.

Reef Chemicals Calculator
http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chem_calc3.html

 

[snorvich]

+1 I would also test for Magnesium. If it is low, it makes maintaining ALK and Ca more difficult. Check out Randy's excellent articles.

 

[kayne_21]

I actually tested my calcium in a batch of SW last week and it was 440. Did this as soon as I read about the bad batches on my reef clubs forums.
My Mg test results are in the first post - 1470.

As an update, I added half a 16oz bottle of Kent liquid calcium and some super buffer dKH today.

Ca: 420
Alk: 10

I let the tank run for about 30 mins before I tested to try and get good distribution of the additives. I'll run another batch of tests tomorrow morning before the lights come on to see where I'm at.

Thanks again for the help

 

[kayne_21]

Measured again shortly after lights on.

Ca: 380
Alk: 8

Could this be a sign my tank is out of balance? I can't imagine all of this Ca and Alk is being used this quickly in my lightly stocked tank.

 

[sjames]

its probably just the resolution of your test kit, or inconsistencies in your testing methods.

your indicating a loss of 40mg/l of calcium, the balaced loss of Alk for that would be 5.6 dKH

your showing a loss of 2dKH which would only get you down to 400mg/l of calcium.

but if your test kit is in 20mg/l increments it would probably explain alot of the difference.

 

[kayne_21]

Yes, my Ca kit measures in 20ppm increments. I just have a hard time believing my tank is even using 20ppm/day with as little calcifying "stuff" is in it.

 

[sjames]

understand. Are you getting any significant buildup on heaters and in pumps?

 

[kayne_21]

No. I just ran upstairs and took a good look just to be sure. Buildup you're talking about would be white and crusty, correct?

 

[sjames]

yep, or brownish.

You have not added any fresh rocks or substrate to the system right?

 

[kayne_21]

Correct. Have not added anything aside from livestock since the tank was started. I did forget to mention I have a running fuge with Chaeto in it, but I doubt that consumes that much Ca and carbonate if any at all.

 

[bertoni]

The drop in alkalinity is reasonable for many systems. Maybe there is more coralline growth than you think, but I'd still check the water column for signs of precipitation here and there. One person ended up with a rock in a filter sock, for example. Baking soda might be a better additive, since it won't raise pH. A higher pH encourages precipitation.

 

[kayne_21]

Ok, thanks for the tips bertoni. When you say baking soda, you mean non-baked, correct? As baked would raise my pH while non-baked should lower it slightly then raise it?

 

[kayne_21]

In reading this article: http://web.archive.org/web/20021127040526/http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2002/chem.htm

I states that I am still in acceptable ranges for both alk and Ca. Though on the low end of Ca. If I wanted to get both higher I could just add a 2 part such as b-ionic or Tech-CB and that should correct what I am seeing as an issue? Or is this even really an issue?

 

[bertoni]

Yes, unbaked baking soda might be a better choice. Your numbers seem okay to me, but B-Ionic or Tech-CB could be used to raise one or both parameters. They tend to be expensive, though, and a calcium chloride product like Turbo Calcium might be cheaper. Same for baking soda.