MTC Procal Calcium Reactor and low calcium KH 14

[marktheexplorer]

I have 180 gallon heavily populated SPS
tank. I used to dose. Two months ago I purchased
a MTC Procal Calcium Reactor with the hope
of seeing my calcium levels read 400 and above. My KH is
14, PH 8,2 avg. and my calcium I cannot get above 300. I have spoke to Leo at MTC many times in the past 2 months and he keeps telling me that this is perfect. He says it's all about the KH.
Everywhere I read says calcium should be greater than 400 and
a calcium reactor is the perfect tool.

Please help,

Mark

 

[Goodwood]

Check your Magnesium, if its below around 1300 you will have a hard time getting the calcium up

 

[marktheexplorer]

I have read about Magnesium but have never tested
for it. I can pick up a test kit tomorrow. What is the best way
of keeping Magnesium at levels above 1300?

 

[Goodwood]

Check your salt and see what it mixes up at. I let my tank slip to 900 and had lots of trouble maintaining/balancing CA & Alk.

 

[marktheexplorer]

I can check the salt as well as the display tank.

Salt: IO

I post back the results tomorrow.

Thank you

 

[marktheexplorer]

I purchased the Salifert Magnesium Test Kit. The readings
are good Mag 1200. I purchased liquid mag by
Nature reef. This was the only mag product they had.
Can you recommend one? I also am thinking of getting the
Calcium up with Turbo Calcium from Kent Marine. Once it
is up maybe the reactor will stabilize it.

Note the mag at 1200 could mean I am due for a water
change. It’s been 3 weeks.

 

[marktheexplorer]

Anybody else have any ideas.

 

[SDguy]

I keep my Magnesium around 1400ppm. I've just found it easier to not be on the edge of the low "safe zone" for Mg. I use magflake from twopartsolution.com. Your alk at 14 (dKH?) is high IMO. I like mine around 9 (8-10) dKH.

I would do your water change first. Then raise you Mg over time. Then very slowly raise your Ca with turbo calcium (this will also lower your alk somewhat).

Use the reef chem calculator for all your dosing calculations.
http://reef.diesyst.com/

Go slow with dosing.

hth

 

[marktheexplorer]

There were two type

1. One Gallon (7 pounds) High Purity Aquarium Magnesium Chloride.
2. One Gallon (8 pounds) of High Purity Magnesium Sulfate

I have heard of the magflake but it was not listed on TwoParts website.

Thank you,

Mark

 

[SDguy]

Magflake is Mg chloride.

I think Randy's two part recipe uses a combo of magnesium chloride and magnesium sulfate. I wouldn't worry about it though, and just go with the magnesium chloride for now.

 

[marktheexplorer]

Thank you

 

[marktheexplorer]

I tested the salt today and it mixes up a little bit greater than my tank.

Mag 1250
Ca 330

I am using Instant Ocean purchased from DRFosters

What does this mean?
Is this normal?

 

[SDguy]

Very normal. IO is high in alk (11+ dKH), and lower in Ca and Mg. What did the alk test at? It should still be lower than your tank, if in fact your tank reading is correct.

I usually add kent turbo calcium (Calcium chloride) and magflake (magnesium chloride) to my freshly made IO salt water to bring levels up to where I want. Again, I use the reef chem calculator to figure out exactly how much to add.

 

[250G]

Remember that a ca reactor is designed to maintain ca and alk, not increase these levels. Supplement ca and alk to the levels you want, to achieve and then run your can reactor. Monitor ca and alk, if the levels fall, supplement to get levels back up, speed up the reactor, and continue to test until the levels are maintained. Once you get your reactor dialed in you can sit back and enjoy.

 

[mgny]

Hello Mark, I run the same reactor and had a similar problem. I had both low calcium and low alk readings. The reactor kept my 180 running perfect for years . I figured the tank a 180 filled with stonies and others needed more calcium. To raise it i used turbo calcium. I tried to tweak the reactor but no luck. When i started using a new test kit my calcium reading was around 750 ! Holy Sh!!, it was 2 bad test kits! . Amazed me that i did'nt wipe out my whole tank. Slowly lowered the calcium and all the corals look great. One intresting side note. The many zoas that i have were most affected by the super high readings. The rest of the corals seemed fine. For a few weeks my zoas were declining and i couldn"t figure why. It was amazing to see colonies that had been closed for weeks begin to open when the calcium level returned to normal. Just figured i would share the story. Good luck, Mike.

 

[SDguy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10877901#post10877901 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by 250G
Remember that a ca reactor is designed to maintain ca and alk, not increase these levels. Supplement ca and alk to the levels you want, to achieve and then run your can reactor. Monitor ca and alk, if the levels fall, supplement to get levels back up, speed up the reactor, and continue to test until the levels are maintained. Once you get your reactor dialed in you can sit back and enjoy.

Well, technically you can raise your levels using a reactor. But you will be raising them proportionately. If their proportions are not correct to begin with, raising them with a reactor won't help this situation. It is also easier to raise levels with additives because you can be more exact using the reef chem claculator, and can raise each ca and alk separately.

Just wanted to clarify

 

[250G]

I supose you can raise levels with a ca reactor, however on the heavily stocked 180 Mark indicated he has you can not simply plug in this ca reactor and acheive the levels you want, even if your existing levels are proportionatly low, and even if you go through a 1/2 inch of media a day. This increase of levels would be more likely with this unit on a 180G mixed tank, or on a tank with just SPS frags IMO.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10878524#post10878524 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SDguy
Well, technically you can raise your levels using a reactor. But you will be raising them proportionately. If their proportions are not correct to begin with, raising them with a reactor won't help this situation. It is also easier to raise levels with additives because you can be more exact using the reef chem claculator, and can raise each ca and alk separately.

Just wanted to clarify

 

[SDguy]

I was simply commenting on this general statement, not Mark's particular tank/reactor.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10877901#post10877901 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by 250G
Remember that a ca reactor is designed to maintain ca and alk, not increase these levels.

 

[250G]

Understood. Just wanted to clarify for those not familar, that in an SPS reef the intent of a ca reactor is to maintain rather than to raise parameters.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10879088#post10879088 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SDguy
I was simply commenting on this general statement, not Mark's particular tank/reactor.

 

[jdieck]

The reason that your cal;cium got lower than your alkalinity is because every water change made with IO which is low in calcium and high in alkalinity will skew the levels.
I will suggest cutting back your reactor a little bit so your alkalinity comes down to a level of 10 to 12 dKh.
Make a one time calcium adjustment with Turbo Calcium and if you adjust the Calcium in your newly mixed water then the reactor will keep the calcium at the proper level.
A reactor adds 20 ppm of calcium for every 2.8 dKh of Alkalinity which is the same ratio at which is consummed by coral calcification, just take care of supplementing your new water mix and you will be OK.

BTW IO usually mixes at Mg of 1150 ppm so your test reading might be a bit high but the difference is not enough to ake a diference, try maintaining 1300 ppm to account for variations in the test kit.

Enjoy!