Did I screw up! Help please

Emma1234

Emma1234

New member
Hi

I have a 50 gallon tank that I set up a couple of months ago. I have a fairy basslet and one green star polyp.

My calcium was 600ppm and ALk was 130. I read online that adding washing soda would bring up the ALK and bring down the Calcium.

I added about 1/2 cup of washing soda and now I cant see anything in the tank.

Did I mess up completely?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

thanks
 
Washing soda is sodium carbonate. I would have to purify the water but I could do a water change after that.
 
Washing soda is sodium carbonate. How did you add it? Did you dissolve it in rodi first? Did you drip it in or dump it in?

It sounds like you precipitated calcium carbonate. I guess that is one way to bring calcium down. I would have just waited for the corals to use it up and save myself the snow storm.
 
First off, with one fish and a green star polyp you shouldn't even worried about calcium levels.... 1/2 cup is a ton of washing soda to dose at once for a 50g. Like disc said your alkalinity probably precipitated calcium carbonate in the water column.

The bigger issue here is why was your calcium that high? Possible reasons: You were dosing and didn't need to be, your specific gravity/ salinity is too high, or it's a bad test kit.
 
I added 1/2 cup of washing soda to about 1 gallon of RO/DI water in a separate tub and I ran a small pump for a few hours to mix the washing soda into the water and then added (dumped it) into the tank.

I'm very new to the hobby. This is my first tank. So I don't know much about it. And unfortunately don't know much about chemistry.

I don't know why the calcium was so high to begin with. The SG is 1.26. I have been using a hand held Hanna calcium tester. I hadn't been adding anything to the water to supplement calcium. I did add some Kent Mg supplements.

What does precipitated calcium carbonate mean? Any recommendations about what to do now in terms of the precipitated calcium? Should I just let it alone. Will the precipitated calcium go away on its own. And will the high calcium come down as I add more corals down the road (couple of weeks)?

Thanks for the help!
 
What does precipitated calcium carbonate mean?
Click to expand...
In layman's terms it means that calcium ions are joining with alkalinity (carbonate ions) in the water column as a result of one (or both) of the levels being too high (above concentration level.) This is something I have a general, not scientific, understanding of... RHF please chime in!

Any recommendations about what to do now in terms of the precipitated calcium?
Click to expand...
Nothing, calcium carbonate in the water column poses no threat, aside from why it is forming. It will eventually settle.

The SG is 1.26.
Click to expand...
What is your source of SG testing? There are no salt blends that will mix (at a true 1.026) with 600ppm calcium as it is way off from natural sea water levels. So either you are mixing too strong, dosing (which you already said you are not), or your calcium test is incorrect.... just because your hygrometer/refractometer says 1.026 doesn't mean it's the accurate level. Initial and regular calibration is very important. 1.026 Calibration fluid is perhaps the cheapest purchase possible in the hobby, no joke!
 
I use the following for testing SG (I am always amazed that it always seems to read 1.026)!

Salinity Refractometer, Aquarium & Seawater - Dual Scale (1.0 to 1.070 S.G.) by Agriculture Solutions
Sold by: magnum_media

I haven't calibrated it. I'll look at the instructions but I don't recall anything about calibration.

Can you recommend a good SG test?

Also, we have "hard water" where we live and we use a water softener. I use an RO/DI water system with that water for the tank. Could that cause the high calcium.

Thanks much!
 
There's a file in the stickies above ^ called SETTING UP. In it is a subfile named Dirt-simple Chemistry. That will help you understand the relationship between calcium and magnesium.

With everyone else, I'm asking myself how a tank in which you are not supplementing calcium could get to 600, just from the salt mix, and I am suspecting test instruments out of adjustment and not reading accurately.

If you have high calcium and have put a lot of buffer and mg in, one thing that may prove a problem is your pipes, pump, and hoses getting a lot of calcium deposit. If this happens, soaking your pump in white vinegar can help.

But I'd advise doing an immediate 30% water change, followed in two days with a 20 % water change. And getting an accurate calibration on your instruments. They may have come with instructions for doing that, or your lfs may be able to help you. If you can''t get an accurate reading don't dose. Salt mix comes with calcium and magnesium and all those things: you dose as the corals eat the calcium up, but you don't need to add it until your tests show that they are using it up.

After that point, the safest way to add calcium is via your topoff water, by using kalk. The file I named above will explain how that works and where to get it.

If you don't have test kits, Salifert makes good ones for alkalinity, calcium, and magnesium.
 
I use the hand held Hanna Instruments to check both Calcium and Alkalinity.

I use the following for salinity
Salinity Refractometer, Aquarium & Seawater - Dual Scale (1.0 to 1.070 S.G.) by Agriculture Solutions
Sold by: magnum_media

I'll see if I can find a way to verify my readings. Either through the LFS or buy some other tests kits.

I only have one fairy basslet and one green star polyp right now but I'd like to add more in a couple of weeks. There is a frag swap in NJ.

One thing I'm wondering is I live in an area that is known for having "hard water". We use a water softener. I have an RO/DI system. Could the calcium be high because we have hard water or is that not likely the cause. Is it more likely the tests are incorrect?

Appreciate all your help and the reference materials
 
The RODI should be pulling out all the calcium and hardness from the water. Do you know your TDS reading after the RODI unit? If it is zero then there's no calcium left in that water.

And you definitely have to calibrate that refractometer. There's no such thing as a refractometer that doesn't need to be calibrated. If you've been using it without calibration or if you've tried to "zero" it with RODI water then that could easily explain how the salinity could get way too high and make it look like calcium is way high.
 
I'm learning a lot cause I knew very little. If I may.....

How can I test for TDS from the RO/DI?

Also I Googled how to calibrate the Refractor meter and found out how to do it with with RO/DI water but I see that isn't reliable from Disc's post. Anyone have a link or info on the solution or process that I need to calibrate.

If I can ask who is in the picture Disc? He looks familiar.

Thanks!
 
A TDS meter is what you use for your rodi. They are pretty inexpensive, I think I got mine for 5$ on ebay. Your local fish store should have calibration fluid for you refractometer but amazon is always good to. When you calibrate you just place some fluid on the viewing plate and use the little screw driver to adjust the line up or down until you are at the same spot the calibration fluid tells you it should read.

http://www.amazon.com/Sybon-Standar...=8-3&keywords=refractometer+calibration+fluid

And disc1's picture Nikola Tesla I believe.
 
Ok. I can get a TDS meter and check to see if my RoDI water is free of Ca. It should be zero. Got it!

And I can see if the refractor is working by correctly calibrating it. Got that too.

I will let you know what I find out.

Thanks!
 
Here is an update....

The TDS reading on my RODI water was 0.

The refractor is calibrated.

After adding salt to the RODI water the reading on my Hanna hand held checker was still reading 600, which is the max on the checker.

So I figured there was a problem with the Hanna instrument. I read some reviews of the Hanna checker online and saw that many people were having trouble with it.

I bought the Salifert test kit so now I have two checkers.

Thanks for all the help.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

jasonfrey
Premium Aquatics Up To 30% OFF Anniversary Sale
Replies
0
Views
39
jasonfrey
jasonfrey
T
Tank Crashing
Replies
19
Views
643
brandon429
brandon429
S
Overskimming on New Protein Skimmer
Replies
2
Views
151
wvned
wvned
skipper03
first saltwater aquarium, weird 15g setup, many questions
3 4 5
Replies
80
Views
940
griss
griss
R
some random questions
Replies
1
Views
230
SantaMonica
S
Back
Top