kalk caused high ca and low alk

[tlc]

I have an approximately 80 gallon water volume reef. I use a 30 gallon reservoir for top off that I had been filling about 1/4 full with fresh rodi that was saturated with 1/4 tsp per gallon of kalk. for about a month I was using a small amount of seachem liquid 2 part. I added it to the tank to keep alk at 8.0 and ca at 400. I decided to stop dosing 2 part since I felt everything was balanced. I was under the assumption that kalk was good for keeping things stable. well after 5 days of not using liquid 2 part my ca shot up to 510 and my alk fell to 6. my tank is very low stocked. why would only using kalk throw my numbers off so much ?

 

[Martin Kuhn]

Your tank is consuming more alk than Ca. A lot of tanks do so.

I don't know a way how to handle this with Kalkwasser.

Why don't you switch back to dosing 2 part with a higher amount of alk than Ca ?


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[downbeach]

Have you done any WC's during that period? The amount of Kalk you're using is a very small amount vs fully saturated (2tsp/gal). Although its perfectly normal to see a faster decline in your alk vs Ca, I think that I would get a second opinion on the Ca reading.

 

[tlc]

no water changes during this period. I tested the ca 4 times just to confirm my reading. I even mixed a small batch of saltwater and got a reading of 405. I do believe my tank is consuming more alk then ca. I just went back to dosing the alk portion of the 2 part to help get things back in line. thanks for the responses

 

[bertoni]

There are some processes that consume alkalinity but not calcium:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-12/rhf/index.htm

They tend to be small, though. Those numbers seem to imply that something else is getting into the tank, or that there are testing issues. I don't think it's likely that Kalk by itself can raise the numbers like that. It is a very dilute supplement. The per-day change is fairly small, though.