Calcium vampires...

[dollarPit]

...eventually snail shells start dissolving...

Thanks for this re-post @Sk8r. I'm seven months in to a launch and searching for some confirmation on my theory that calcium had. I *thought* with a small load of one candy cane lps with two polyps and 1/2 dozen snails I was covering calcium with water changes.

About three weeks ago I noticed my larger turbos staying still and they were not making full contact with the glass...kind of shriveling up. Everything else looked good, but calcium had dropped to 370. Moving up about 5ppm a day by day three they were back in business and look healthy. That's the only change other than my weekly WC, so I'm confident. On may way back up to 420 (automated with a doser!).

 

[Sk8r]

It's sneaky, the calcium-falling thing. Glad you caught it.

 

[shesacharmer]

Sk8r I really appreciate your posts and the way in which they are delivered in layman's terms without taxing my brain for translation.

That being said, my tank seems to use an exorbitant amount of Mag. Seriously, my Alk and Calc stay constant with my kalk in the ATO but I'm dosing about 100 ppm of Mag a week which seems like a lot to me.

Is it a lot or not? I feel like I have to test the Mag at least twice a week to keep it closer to the optimum range.

 

[Sk8r]

That is a LOT. First thing to do is check out your magnesium test. They expire. WHat brand, and how old? Are you seeing a lot of coralline on the glass? High mg can do that. I don't have to supplement mg but about once every few months.

 

[shesacharmer]

Test is Salifert, brand new, I opened the plastic, expires Jan. 2018. I am growing coralline at a good clip on the glass, overflow, pumps, and dry rock in pink, purple, red, and green.

 

[droog]

Sk8r I really appreciate your posts and the way in which they are delivered in layman's terms without taxing my brain for translation.

That being said, my tank seems to use an exorbitant amount of Mag. Seriously, my Alk and Calc stay constant with my kalk in the ATO but I'm dosing about 100 ppm of Mag a week which seems like a lot to me.

Is it a lot or not? I feel like I have to test the Mag at least twice a week to keep it closer to the optimum range.

Just an idea... how often do you do water changes and how large are they? It might be worth testing the Mg level in your salt mix.

-d

 

[edinphilly]

Test is Salifert, brand new, I opened the plastic, expires Jan. 2018. I am growing coralline at a good clip on the glass, overflow, pumps, and dry rock in pink, purple, red, and green.

I just had a new Salifert test that was bad. I tried multiple times and made sure I was doing it right but it was coming back WAY low when I should have been high. LFS confirmed and I switched to Red Sea Pro.