really confused

[68ss396]

I have been fighting a problem in my tank now for over a year. a lot of my coraline alge died off and lost a couple of corals apparently due to a phos. spike. I have had that under control now for almost a year but continue to fight algea and have a very hard time keeping ph, calcium and magnesium up. I am dosing super dkh 3tsp e/o night and 3 caps calcuim every night(kent) along with tech m for mag 2 caqp/week. I am doing 15 gal bi weekly water changes. temp 78', trite 0, trate 10, amon 0, salin 1.022, phos 0, alk struggles 7-8, ph struggles for 8.0 and calcium 350. what can be causing the tank to eat up calcium and ph??? I have read everything I can find and know they are related but it does not appear to be a balance problem, like something just eating it up??? any ideas please??? looks like I am about to lose my zoanthids. The funny thing is that my frogspawn and torch seem completely unaffected.

 

[DrBegalke]

Try reading Randy's articles, especially solving ca and alk problems, the ones on pH:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=102605


I would imagine you aren't adding the ca and alk in balance, so switching to a two part solution might help tremendously. as far as what's using up the ca, what kind of livestock/corals do you have?

 

[68ss396]

I have two osc. clowns, 1 fire shrimp, a coral beauty and 5 damsels. as far as corals, the only things left are two large frogspawn and 1 torch coral. I cant figure out the balance of the dkh and ca. Before the phos spike, I added dkh 1 time a week and calc 2 caps a day with perfect results.

 

[papagimp]

fwiw, I have high levels of CO2 in my house, wich causes my ph to run about 7.8 most the time, also have a low ALK reading (7-8dkh) most of the time as well. Adding all the ALK supplements I want does nothing to resolve this issue.

despite the low ph and alk, my calcium stays about 420-450ppm all the time and the rest of my parameters run optimally as well. None of my corals seem to be affected by this either. I get awesome growth on the sps and my LPS look simply astounding. Also have several leathers/softies/zoo's/shrooms ect. ect. and the only corals I have any trouble with are the ones that most people have trouble with regardless of water quality. Like nonphotosynthetic corals and whatnot.

You can usually tell if CO2 is an underlining problem by putting a bucket or whatever of your water outside with an airpump going so it's getting "outside" air and let that run overnight, recheck PH, in the morning. If it's back to 8.3, may need more ventilation/fresh air for the tank. Just a thought though.

 

[UnderCoverDork]

are you remembering to add more alk adn cal after your water changes? a 15% water change will effect the levels and should be compensated for

 

[drummereef]

I would get to know the articles in the Chemistry Forum. Sounds like a water quality/chemistry issue to me. Your alkalinity and calcium need daily supplimentation to keep up with the demand in your tank.

Please read -
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=102605

 

[68ss396]

I do supplement every time I do water change. I am also writing in the chemestry forum. I know mag is low and trying to get back up, just odd that all else checks good but zoanthids and toadstool still closed after a couple of months.