Scraping white off my tank daily!

[oneradtek202]

every morning when i wake up the tank glass has deposits of white precipitate all over it. this just recently started happening on a daily occurance. it happened once before but it went away. i am a heavy doser of BRS 2 part mixtures because my tank is ALOT of SPS. i dose 400ml of calc every day and 400 ml of alk every night. and my params are still whack! i also use kalk in my ATO

ca- 360
alk-8 dkh

i tested my mag today, but i dont think its right. i am using the red sea mag test, and its confusing for me to use. from what i gathered i have about 1500 mag, maybe even more. not sure. i had used .8 ml of reagent to get my solution blue.(for those that use it, but im not sure if u count that first .4 that they have u put in immediately)


im thinking that the white precip is magnesium carbonate. but i dont understand why its happening now? nothing has changed in my dosing regiment for a long time. but im sick and tired of scraping down my tank every day. (its alot of work!)....

maybe im adding this stuff too fast? i recently got some drews dosers and have yet to set them up, but will be doing that soon. I try to split up my alk dosing to 150ml during teh day sometime, and 250ml at night before bed.

i dump the chemical in the front of my DT infront of my koralia to mix it.


WHATS GOIN ON HERE! lol

 

[RyanEG]

I would dose it in the sump and maybe break it up into a morning/night dosing schedule.

 

[RyanEG]

might even be time to think about a calcium reactor...

 

[tmz]

I think its precipitating . Could be mag carbonate or just plain old calcium carbonate. This would leave you with lower than expected calcium and alk levels. A cycle: dose then precipitate ,then dose some more, precipitate some more. may be happening . I'd cut back on the alk dosing and/or spread it out What salt mix are you using btw? Have you tested it for alk and calcium? What is the sg? Ph?. Try to avoid bumping alk more than 1 dkh per day. Don't dose the alk and calcium at the same time. I don't know the red sea mag test kit. I use the salifert and it works well. Seachem is ok too but the process is a bit more tideous.

Personally, I used a calcium reactor for a couple of years. It's been on the shelf for the last 2 years .Many like them but I have very good/better results with just kalk 24/7 via peristaltic pump for top off and an occasional tad of baking soda along with a high calcium/ magnesium salt mix. The calcium reactor depressed ph and ocassionaly alk varied unacceptably. I'm also concerned about what may be in the reactor media. Corals and other calcareous organisms sink toxins like copper, stontium, other metals etc. in their calcium carbonate skeletons along with phosphate, etc.. When you melt the media with acidic water whatever is buried in the calcium carbonate crystals is freed into the water along with the calcium and carbonate.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

it's definitely some type of precip.

firstly, are the test kits good? I would double check all results against other tests- especially the suspect results with Mg

dosing into the sump is a good idea but you had problems with precip inside your main pump, didn't you?

if test results are valid I would reboot. Do a series of water changes while placing your current dosing schedule on hold. See if it has any result on the glass precip.

 

[BenJay]

I dose the 2 part in my sump and I have the precipitant form as well. Although it is in my sump so it does not really bother me.

 

[tmz]

Well, the precipitant indicates that you are exceeding the level of calcium and carbonate and ph than the water can hold in solution without precipitating( forming growing calcium carbonate crystals). So , you are dosing too much overall or too much at one time at one time and levels stay low( assuming no testing error) because it falls out of solution at least as fast as you dose it. Precipitant can flake off in the sump and wreak havoc on pumps,venturi intakes,etc. I'd worry about it. Stop dosing for a week or so;retest and then go slow.Magnesium can discourage crystals from growing thus enabling you to keep more carbonate and calcium in solution to a degree.

 

[oneradtek202]

ok id like to restart and start slow. problem being, what are the risks to my tank for not dosing for so long? im worried i might drop the alk and clac too far in a matter of a day with the load of SPS i have.

 

[pascal32]

Can you get the dosing pumps on line and spread the dosing out over time in the sump? I do recomend you do a test run for 24 hours to make sure you are dosing the expected amount and both pumps are dosing the same. Seems that at our price levels there is some variance in how exact dosing pumps are.

With your load no dosing seems risky. Considering the amount of dosing you are likely spiking levels, and possibly ph for a short burst.

I only dose 90ml /day, even that I have spread out of 8 doses

 

[tmz]

The calcium won't drop much . For each meq/l(2.8 dkh ) of alkalinity used in biotic and abiotic precipitation only 20ppm of calcium is used.It could be higher than your 360.

If you are concerned about consumption and bouncy alk levels then let it settle out for just a day or two, test alk and dose a little of the alk part( i don't know exactly what you are using) or baking soda slowly in a high flow area. Avoid going up more than 1 dkh per day. This calculator can help you figure how much to dose if you know what's in the solution you are using:

http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chem_calc3.html

Lot's of sps don't always mean you need to dose lots of alk or calcium. I have plenty and good growth and don't dose much at all, just kalk top off.and a spot of baking soda from time to time.

What is your ph? High ph encourages more carbonate(CO3) vs bicarbonate(HCO3) in the water and encourages precipitation.

If your ph is under 8.5 , preferably around 8.2 or 8.3 the water should hold reasonable amount of alk and calcium.If ph is on the high side dose the baking soda (bicarbonate ) rather than the baked baking soda/soda ash /carbonate.
You can raise your calcium. It won't affect ph or precipitation without high alkalinity.

Dose the alk at night if your ph is high during the day. Dose it slowly in a high flow area and not right along with any calcium or magnesium you may be dosing. It's better to dose them at different times to avoid localized concentrations which can lead to precipitation .