I have been traveling a lot recently and my friend who watches my dog knows nothing about reef tanks other than to check the temp and water level (and of course he loves feeding the fish). So I have recently been having major alk fluctuations (going from 11dhk down to 6dkh in 24 hours) and my calcium is down to 315 even though my top off is kalk. I decided to start working with Randy's two part as I was probably inaccurately dosing separately. My system is a 120 mixed reef.
My levels were:
Calc-315
Alk-5.6dkh
Mag-1140
According to the reef chemistry calculator I needed to add about 1500 ml to get the calcium up but that is a lot so I decided to split it up. The first day I added 600ml of parts A and B and 200ml of the mag additive. I thought it was a bit much but what the hell...
The next day my levels read:
calc-500
alk-9.6dkh
mag-1290
I was pleasantly surprised and dosed 150ml of parts A and B that day.
The next day my levels read:
calc-330
alk-7.7dkh
mag-1230
So I got annoyed and did something stupid. I decided that I hadn't added enough (compared to the day before). So I added another large chunk of 2 part. In went 500ml of parts A and B and 150ml of part C. Everything was fine for about an hour, until... It became a winter wonderland in my tank and calcium started precipitating out of the water. There is a fine dusting of white snow (calcium) all over and the tank looks a bit "foggy." Interestingly, the inhabitants look fine.
Here are the current levels of my "foggy winter wonderland":
calc-370
alk-8.2dkh
mag-1260
The pH shot up to 8.7 until the precipitate started and now it's back down to 8.15.
I have been keeping reef tanks for years and I usualy don't do anything quite this bone-headed. Other than the obvious "I'm an idiot" and I am about to do a water change, got any advice?
My levels were:
Calc-315
Alk-5.6dkh
Mag-1140
According to the reef chemistry calculator I needed to add about 1500 ml to get the calcium up but that is a lot so I decided to split it up. The first day I added 600ml of parts A and B and 200ml of the mag additive. I thought it was a bit much but what the hell...
The next day my levels read:
calc-500
alk-9.6dkh
mag-1290
I was pleasantly surprised and dosed 150ml of parts A and B that day.
The next day my levels read:
calc-330
alk-7.7dkh
mag-1230
So I got annoyed and did something stupid. I decided that I hadn't added enough (compared to the day before). So I added another large chunk of 2 part. In went 500ml of parts A and B and 150ml of part C. Everything was fine for about an hour, until... It became a winter wonderland in my tank and calcium started precipitating out of the water. There is a fine dusting of white snow (calcium) all over and the tank looks a bit "foggy." Interestingly, the inhabitants look fine.
Here are the current levels of my "foggy winter wonderland":
calc-370
alk-8.2dkh
mag-1260
The pH shot up to 8.7 until the precipitate started and now it's back down to 8.15.
I have been keeping reef tanks for years and I usualy don't do anything quite this bone-headed. Other than the obvious "I'm an idiot" and I am about to do a water change, got any advice?