Beach Magnolia
New member
Yes, I am. Sorry - I should've been more specific about that.
How's it going for you? Have you made any progress with it?
EVERYTHING in tank calified
- Thread starter Shouse94
- Start date
Yes, I am. Sorry - I should've been more specific about that.
How's it going for you? Have you made any progress with it?
geesh, some of you people are something else. You two know who you are. 
as said, even with a tank loaded with mature sps you are dosing quite a bit. sounds as though you are mostly softies with only a few montiporas and are dosing many, many times as much as you should be. My 90 gallon polyp dominated tank with just a few montis takes about 40 ml a day of each part to give you a little bit of an idea of how much you are possibly overdosing.
Order some elos or salifert kits for the big three, and then even a couple of cheap API kits for alk and calcium to confirm results for you.
Until you get a valid reading of where your params are really at you are just shooting blindly.
good luck
as said, even with a tank loaded with mature sps you are dosing quite a bit. sounds as though you are mostly softies with only a few montiporas and are dosing many, many times as much as you should be. My 90 gallon polyp dominated tank with just a few montis takes about 40 ml a day of each part to give you a little bit of an idea of how much you are possibly overdosing.
Order some elos or salifert kits for the big three, and then even a couple of cheap API kits for alk and calcium to confirm results for you.
Until you get a valid reading of where your params are really at you are just shooting blindly.
good luck
IPT
Active member
I'm gonna throw a wrench in here. I dose 400ml a day (LM3) into a 50 gal. Granted it has a 12" deresa with SPS (not tons, nor big ones). If I cut back on the dosing the number fell quickly. Mg was 1300.
I also got deposits on my sump walls. Never really figured out how to change anything without level bottoming out. I don;t have ans for you, just relating.
I also got deposits on my sump walls. Never really figured out how to change anything without level bottoming out. I don;t have ans for you, just relating.
ReefEnabler
Premium Member
Shouse94, sounds like we really need the see the Mg results before anybody can make a judgement.
On a hunch, I wonder if all this precipitation could be about HOW the additives are... added to the tank? Maybe not in enough of a high-flow area, or spread out over enough time? The reason I ask is because the only time I had REALLY bad precipitation was in my 50G waterchange mix tang.
I had just filled it with RODI water, and added the salt. I think I added it way too fast (5 cups at a time), because the water didn't clear for TWO days, and when it did, there was so much calcium on the walls/pumps that I had to scrape it all off and emptied the tank to just get rid of it all (didn't want all that precipitated calcium making its way to my equipment in the main tank).
Anyways, I have added the salt more slowly from then on and never had that problem again. I know it doesn't directly compare, but maybe you need to add the calcium slower every day?
On a hunch, I wonder if all this precipitation could be about HOW the additives are... added to the tank? Maybe not in enough of a high-flow area, or spread out over enough time? The reason I ask is because the only time I had REALLY bad precipitation was in my 50G waterchange mix tang.
I had just filled it with RODI water, and added the salt. I think I added it way too fast (5 cups at a time), because the water didn't clear for TWO days, and when it did, there was so much calcium on the walls/pumps that I had to scrape it all off and emptied the tank to just get rid of it all (didn't want all that precipitated calcium making its way to my equipment in the main tank).
Anyways, I have added the salt more slowly from then on and never had that problem again. I know it doesn't directly compare, but maybe you need to add the calcium slower every day?
Shouse94
New member
ReefEnabler- I add the additives to the sump but I will try adding it slowly over time, maybe do a drip or something. Thanks for the suggestion.
Just to provide some updates. I do use Salifert test kits for the big 3, even though the Salifert PH test kinda sucks. I do have a lot of montipora actually. I have a fairly big cap, some cap frags, and a LOT of digita in assorted colors. It's enough to pretty well cover the whole top-side of my rock.
I went and got a magnesium test done. Aprox 1450mg.
Is it possible that my dowflake has gone bad????There's a good chance I'm using the dowflake from the newer bad batches. Prob should go ahead and get some off Bulkreefsupply.
I did a big water change a couple days ago, going to do another one soon, I'll keep you informed on any updates.
To all those that have posted with their suggestions, I sincerely thank you. I feel like I'm finally on the right path to solving this issue that's plaguing my tank.
Just to provide some updates. I do use Salifert test kits for the big 3, even though the Salifert PH test kinda sucks. I do have a lot of montipora actually. I have a fairly big cap, some cap frags, and a LOT of digita in assorted colors. It's enough to pretty well cover the whole top-side of my rock.
I went and got a magnesium test done. Aprox 1450mg.
Is it possible that my dowflake has gone bad????There's a good chance I'm using the dowflake from the newer bad batches. Prob should go ahead and get some off Bulkreefsupply.
I did a big water change a couple days ago, going to do another one soon, I'll keep you informed on any updates.
To all those that have posted with their suggestions, I sincerely thank you. I feel like I'm finally on the right path to solving this issue that's plaguing my tank.
IPT
Active member
I also agree with the high flow area to dose. I was dosing ALK in my sump in an area that had what I thought was decent flow. I now dose it in the tank over my Vortech and it's disipated in a sec. There is just so much more flow in the tank.
I was afraid to dose in the tank thinking it might spike a parameter or two. In retrospect I think dosing in super high flow like I am now it gets dispersed real quick. Additionally with the LM3 the amount dosed is relatively small. Not sure how you're doing it. Well see if this helps my situation.
I was afraid to dose in the tank thinking it might spike a parameter or two. In retrospect I think dosing in super high flow like I am now it gets dispersed real quick. Additionally with the LM3 the amount dosed is relatively small. Not sure how you're doing it. Well see if this helps my situation.
Shouse94; Can you expand on this statement "My problem is that I originally started dosing this high because it was the only way to get my parameters to what I stated above. " Which parameters were out of whack in your reasoning for increasing the dosing and by how much? Was your increase in dosing gradual or huge?
reverendmaynard
New member
Wasn't there a recent problem with Salifert alk tests? Perhaps your alk is way higher than you think it is? Have you had it tested with any other kits?
I always dilute my 2-part with at least 3 parts fresh ro/di water before adding it. Then I drip it or pour in slowly in at least 3 installments. I think it's quite possible that pouring in those huge quantities of straight 2 part too quickly could cause most of the stuff you're trying to add to precipitate out.
FWIW I only used about 1/4 cup of each daily in my 125. Now I use kalk in the top off water instead.
I always dilute my 2-part with at least 3 parts fresh ro/di water before adding it. Then I drip it or pour in slowly in at least 3 installments. I think it's quite possible that pouring in those huge quantities of straight 2 part too quickly could cause most of the stuff you're trying to add to precipitate out.
FWIW I only used about 1/4 cup of each daily in my 125. Now I use kalk in the top off water instead.
Shouse94
New member
I have a Tunze so I'll start dosing directly in front of that from now on.
Do you think going back to kalk dripping to be a better option than Randy's 2 part? I added teh 2 part last time b/c the kalk wasnt keepin my alk/cal up.
With my pumps failing at least once a month due to build-up and just not having enough time to immediately clean the pumps the tank was not receiving the flow it needed on a consistant basis. This lead to the skimmer not having a chance to pull out the detritus and thus creating a dirty tank and high phosphates. I'm finally getting real serious about cleaning up teh tank again but it's an un-ending cycle if I don't solve the calc buildup issue first.
reverendmaynard- I really doubt i have a faulty alk test kit. I've had my LFS test my water b4 and they've came up with similar numbers.
Do you think going back to kalk dripping to be a better option than Randy's 2 part? I added teh 2 part last time b/c the kalk wasnt keepin my alk/cal up.
PH never really seemed to falter, or at least that's how it was read by the test kit. Both Cal/Alk would drop if I did not add so much additives. Cal would fall into the low 300's and Alk would fall into the 6's DKH. I originally was using just ESV kalkawasser dripping. We started having to add what I believed to be too much kalk so we added the 2-part to the equation. Calc build-up began so it was reccomended we stop kalk dripping and just use 2-part. It seemed anyways to help for a while but now we seem to be right back in the same problem with just the 2-part.
With my pumps failing at least once a month due to build-up and just not having enough time to immediately clean the pumps the tank was not receiving the flow it needed on a consistant basis. This lead to the skimmer not having a chance to pull out the detritus and thus creating a dirty tank and high phosphates. I'm finally getting real serious about cleaning up teh tank again but it's an un-ending cycle if I don't solve the calc buildup issue first.
reverendmaynard- I really doubt i have a faulty alk test kit. I've had my LFS test my water b4 and they've came up with similar numbers.
katpurdy
Premium Member
i have a fully stocked sps 56g tank and dose randy's 2 part 70ml per day, for the total water volume with my sump included...my calc. is 433 and my alk is 3.53 meq/l and I dose mag. monthly. I use natural salt water. I suggest doing several water changes, and prior to adding the new water to your tank, test the calc. and alk. levels, and dose you mix up water appropriately to the level you desire. Then add it to your tank and wait 24 hours...test your tank water...how much did it drop? add what is needed and go from there...I hope your levels equal out for you....it is hard to loose corals with the price we pay for them
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