water params

[jjaroska]

i just checked my water parameters the other day and found that my alk was 2.74 and calc was 600! how did it get this way and what do it do to correct it?

 

[Jeff Trout]

are you running a calcium reactor?Or are you dosing anything.tell us more about the tank!

 

[jjaroska]

mostly zooanthids and softies and just a couple of sps. dosing 2ml of part 1 alk of bionic per day. i used to dose 20ml of each part once per week until the calcium just started climbing and alk declining. so i stopped dosing the part 2 calc and it is still climbing.

 

[Jeff Trout]

your calc. is not getting used up,so you shouldnt need to dose for it ,but you should still dose alk.(slowly)have you been watching your ph?

 

[jjaroska]

i have not been watching the ph too closely. however, i have not been dosing calc for at least 6 weeks and it continues to be high. how do i force it lower?

 

[Jeff Trout]

A water change might lower it,I dont think it harmful to anything(just slow growth)I would just try to get your alk. up

 

[Tazbader]

jjaroska raise your alk slowly over about a month or so... Watch your zoos and other softies as they will be the ones to close up and melt on you if you do it too fast and if they don't like the alk climb..... hence the reason you need to do it slowly. With your calcium being that high it could take a while. I'd use a good quality powdered buffer additive like Kent superbuffer and add a teaspoon a day. Slowly is the key.... After you get it all straight I'd use kalkwasser and ro for your topoffs and you should be OK. Kalkwasser will add your calcium and alk in balanced amounts and you should only need to add a little of one or the other rarely with a mainly softie and LPS tank. BTW, A water change probably will lower you calcium a bit but it won't help you alk problem much assuming your using IO. It is typically really low on buffers. Hope it helps. The teaspoon a day is assuming your talking about you 90gal tank BTW....