Calcium is low and Alkalinity is High

Jason B

Jason B

New member
Hey guys, I finally got some good test kits (thanks to Nick) and put them to use.

Nitrates - 30ppm
Nitrites - 0ppm
PH - 7.8
CA - 330ppm
Alk - 16dkh
PO4 - .1ppm

I have been dosing the 2 part C-Balance for about 2 weeks. I take it i need to stop dosing the part B because my alkalinity is waaaay to high. I Can keep dosing part A without B right? Is there a better way to bring down Alk other than water changes?

Also my nitrates are a little high. My guess is the heavy feeding to help out the blue tang is the culprit. Once i get the new skimmer hopefully that will help.

Are there any test that would be worth the money to buy so that i can have a suitable tank for corals? Magnesium, Iron, Iodine?
 
Stop dosing Alk for sure. If you have corals in the tank id do a water change every week or so until that number is under 10 (water changes also will take care of your nitrates). Bring your Cal up to 420. You can do this over a few days. Once everything is where you want it, you should be able to dose equal parts daily and be fine. After your done with the Bionic, you can switch to the Bulk Reef Supply 2 part since its alot cheaper.... And YES you can dose just one part without the other to bring up the Cal
 
Also once you have your Cal/Alk where you want them, you can set up that doser you have to dose both parts every day
 
Thanks Al. Do i set it up on a timer? There is no display on it just a toggle switch. Their website has almost no info on it.
 
Are you sure Part A is calcium and Part B is alk? Not familiar with that brand, but my 2 part is Part A/alk, Part B/Cal. Al is right, dose calcium only, very slowly, until you get the parameters right.
 
Yea on a timer. I have mine setup with an Aqua Controller Jr but I suppose any timer should work. To figured out how much it doses I had a cup that measures out in ml, so I just left the pump on for like an hour and than measured how much was in the cup
 
illal said:
Stop dosing Alk for sure. If you have corals in the tank id do a water change every week or so until that number is under 10 (water changes also will take care of your nitrates). Bring your Cal up to 420. You can do this over a few days. Once everything is where you want it, you should be able to dose equal parts daily and be fine. After your done with the Bionic, you can switch to the Bulk Reef Supply 2 part since its alot cheaper.... And YES you can dose just one part without the other to bring up the Cal
Click to expand...

I 100% agree follow what Al said Jason
 
Illal gave you the fix.
J...I feel your Alk is high from you dosing the 2 part. I could be wrong as I'm still learning this chemistry stuff as well. I've found in my 180, that we don't have enough demand yet to be dosing 2 part...thus making our Alk shoot up. We have a large tank and probably a lower ratio of coral to water compared to others who are dosing 2 part. For newer tanks our size, depending on corals, I think Kalk in the top off would have probably worked. I'm topping off with plain RO till my Alk comes down.

Seems like most start with Kalk, then switch to 2-part, then to a calcium reactor...due to the amount of 2 part eventually need for larger tanks.

I'm not sure why your calcium is lower since you were dosing for 2 weeks....probably has to do with ALK, Mag, PH...not letting it go up? Anyone????

Let me know how things turn out...I am in the same boat with the high ALK
 
If you can, check you magnesium level as well.
I'm not an expert yet in the hobby, but I believe your magnesium level must be correct for your calcium and alk to be at the correct amount.
 
Al, For now i will hook it up on a timer and as soon as i get some funds saved up i get the Aqua Controller. Thanks.

Will, Ill look into the Kalk but for now i'm going to dose the calcium at the regular rate until i get that to the right level. Where are you getting all of the info on the chemistry side of reefkeeping. I have a book that the guy gave me when i bought the tank but its not very well written.

Thanks for all the help guys. Looks like im doing a water change today.

By the way, i have been using seachem marine buffer to keep my PH up around 8.0 - 8.2. I saw in another thread that the buffer can also cause your Alk to rise. I dont see anything on the container about that. Should i be more worried about a lower PH than high Alk?
 
Everyone new to this hobby should read the archives in the water chemistry forum of RC. Spend as much time a you can in that forum but even more time reading the archives. You will understand all the relationships in no time.
 
gasman059 said:
OK your homework is here.

Again sloooow down and understand what you arte trying to acomplish prior to buying this that and everything else.

Some imp reading for you: enjoy

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2002/2/chemistry
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2003/2/chemistry
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php
Click to expand...

+1 got to love it Many,......wasnt this the same tank that you moved in 5 weeks ago and has had a half dozen threads about sick fish with the same message in each thread....... Jason I dont think you really want to hear this because the over all messages dont seem to be registering here .....I think Many said this same thing in the sick naso, sick blue hippo, ....no wait sick clown thread .......SLOW DOWN patience patience AND THEN MORE patience.......your jumping to running a fully blown stocked out reef here in the first two months ......please dont take it the wrong way but after reading thread after thread after thread about sick fish from HLLE to ICK to you changing out sand and not waiting for any cycles before adding livestock to now dosing two part all in the first few months of its existence in your hands Im getting confused what the ....is going on......JUST STOP WITH ALL THE THIS AND THAT, LET THE DT MAINTAIN WITH JUST GOOD WATER CHANGES AND GOOD FEEDING FOR YOUR FISH FOR TWO MONTHS THEN IF YOU ARE STILL HAVING ALL THESE ISSUES I WILL PERSONALLY PUT TOGETHER A FEW OF THE WELL KNOWN REEF GUYS ON HERE DRIVE THEM OVER AND COME VISIT AND HELP YOU OUT.....please just slow down
 
I have had the tank for 5 months and i finished slowly replacing the sand around the begaining of august or end of Sep. i think. When i heard to slow down i thaught you guys ment with stocking the tank. I have not added anything since except a rainbow bta yesterday for my clowns. I have been told from the stores that i need to dose the two part to maintain the water quality. I had to dose the buffer because my PH was extremely low (7.0). If that"s the case i will stop dosing anything at all. I will wait till December before i check to see if anything needs to be dosed. Just water changes and food. Is it safer to let the PH Drop than add the buffer?

Should i not change the skimmer to a larger skimmer and stop equipment changes to better equipment? I figured that if anything better equipment will only help.
 
J,

Has your tank had particles floating around your tank lately looking like a tiny sugar sized sand particles? I've read if it's doing that...the calcium is precipitating and that process will work on lowering your ALK. I've also read that you may need to dose just calcium as that process, as it's lowering you ALK will start to deplinish your calcium.
 
Are you adding a buffer in addition to your alkalinity supplement? If so, that may explain the high alk reading.
 
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