I have a 75g FOWLR tank that I have had almost a year. The 90# of live rock was cured in the tank without substrate and was from
Drs F & S. Curing was complete in about a month with 3x weekly 50% water changes and to zero ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. I then added the substrate. Substrate started getting large black areas and the water smelled like sulfur, so I added 2 additional powerheads to help increase flow and oxygenation, and added an additional inch of substrate and it has since resolved. I still, however, have nothing on my live rock except slime algae, bubble algae and some hair algae. Since the tank cycled last year, it has been an uphill battle trying to keep the pH, alkalinity and calcium correctly balanced. I initially used C-Balance, but stopped because the alkalinity got too high and began using just the A part. I have since then learned you cannot have high alkalinity and high calcium, oops. I then switched over to TurboCalc and am still having problems. I seem to run into trouble when the pH drops a little (alkalinity is still high though), and I try to add buffer to help with the pH and then the alkalinity skyrockets. I haven't added any buffer for over 2 months, but the alkalinity has only dropped from 7.8 to 6.6 meq/L while the pH dropped from 8.0 to 7.6. I was kind of hoping I could help lower the alkalinity by doing more frequent water changes, but that hasn't seemed to help. I am currently trying to get my reserve water to the have the proper pH, alkalinity and calcium as a little experiment to see if it is even possible and do water changes with that. Before I was only adjusting the pH and the salinity to match that of the main tank. Reserve tank's pH was 7.6, the alkalinity 3.9 and the calcium 200, so I added 3 Tbsp TurboCalc and 2 scoops of Proper pH and tested the next day. pH up to 7.9, alkalinity up to 5.7 and calcium up to 360. Parameters for main tank were temp 74.7, 1.023, pH 7.9 (I prefer it around 8.1-8.2 but alkalinity will get too high), alkalinity 6.4, calcium 240, ammonia <0.30 mg/L, nitrite <0.30 mg/L, and nitrates 25 mg/L. I dosed the tank with 9 tsp of turbocalc today and will test and dose the rest tomorrow. I am hoping the alkalinity will drop as the calcium goes up. I did have trouble with the calcium precipitating on my impellers and everywhere else when both the calcium and alkalinity were high, so I would really like to decrease the alkalinity. I don't know what more to do, I am assuming either I have a problem with our tap water having a high alkalinity, the alkalinity test isn't accurate, or the pH meter is busted (it is pretty new and calibrated regularly). I also tried using a kalkwasser drip to increase the pH, but now know that it also affects the alkalinity. Is having the alkalinity that high a concern? What would be a good way to lower it? I don't have the money now to get an RO unit, but will start using bottled water to see if that helps. The test kits I use for calcium and alkalinity are salifert, the meter a milwaukee. As far as the high nitrates, I am considering adding more substrate as I now understand that the black areas in the substrate were anaerobic areas, but the substrate was too shallow to cover them and was releasing nitrogen gas into the system. Our tap water has a pH of 6.8, alkalinity 4.3 and calcium of 60 ppm.
Drs F & S. Curing was complete in about a month with 3x weekly 50% water changes and to zero ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. I then added the substrate. Substrate started getting large black areas and the water smelled like sulfur, so I added 2 additional powerheads to help increase flow and oxygenation, and added an additional inch of substrate and it has since resolved. I still, however, have nothing on my live rock except slime algae, bubble algae and some hair algae. Since the tank cycled last year, it has been an uphill battle trying to keep the pH, alkalinity and calcium correctly balanced. I initially used C-Balance, but stopped because the alkalinity got too high and began using just the A part. I have since then learned you cannot have high alkalinity and high calcium, oops. I then switched over to TurboCalc and am still having problems. I seem to run into trouble when the pH drops a little (alkalinity is still high though), and I try to add buffer to help with the pH and then the alkalinity skyrockets. I haven't added any buffer for over 2 months, but the alkalinity has only dropped from 7.8 to 6.6 meq/L while the pH dropped from 8.0 to 7.6. I was kind of hoping I could help lower the alkalinity by doing more frequent water changes, but that hasn't seemed to help. I am currently trying to get my reserve water to the have the proper pH, alkalinity and calcium as a little experiment to see if it is even possible and do water changes with that. Before I was only adjusting the pH and the salinity to match that of the main tank. Reserve tank's pH was 7.6, the alkalinity 3.9 and the calcium 200, so I added 3 Tbsp TurboCalc and 2 scoops of Proper pH and tested the next day. pH up to 7.9, alkalinity up to 5.7 and calcium up to 360. Parameters for main tank were temp 74.7, 1.023, pH 7.9 (I prefer it around 8.1-8.2 but alkalinity will get too high), alkalinity 6.4, calcium 240, ammonia <0.30 mg/L, nitrite <0.30 mg/L, and nitrates 25 mg/L. I dosed the tank with 9 tsp of turbocalc today and will test and dose the rest tomorrow. I am hoping the alkalinity will drop as the calcium goes up. I did have trouble with the calcium precipitating on my impellers and everywhere else when both the calcium and alkalinity were high, so I would really like to decrease the alkalinity. I don't know what more to do, I am assuming either I have a problem with our tap water having a high alkalinity, the alkalinity test isn't accurate, or the pH meter is busted (it is pretty new and calibrated regularly). I also tried using a kalkwasser drip to increase the pH, but now know that it also affects the alkalinity. Is having the alkalinity that high a concern? What would be a good way to lower it? I don't have the money now to get an RO unit, but will start using bottled water to see if that helps. The test kits I use for calcium and alkalinity are salifert, the meter a milwaukee. As far as the high nitrates, I am considering adding more substrate as I now understand that the black areas in the substrate were anaerobic areas, but the substrate was too shallow to cover them and was releasing nitrogen gas into the system. Our tap water has a pH of 6.8, alkalinity 4.3 and calcium of 60 ppm.
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