Water Quality Issues;

L

Lifwilend

New member
I'm having trouble with a few things, one is my KH, it is always high 13 and over and sometimes above the test's max reading of 16. Two is the PH, that seems to be steady at about 8 which is ok but it used to be 8.4. Three is the calcium level. It is only 200 and I have a calcium reactor. Ok now to explain what I'am doing. I add make up water with a dab of buffer on my wet finger tip to about a quart of water a day to top off. I was told by a local aqurium store to add the buffer to the make up water to balance the PH because the make up water has very low PH. I use RO only. I have had a very bad problem with hair algae and this brown slimy stuff that appears to have air bubbles under it. Oh, let me add that the P04, Ammonia, N02, N03 and silicates are ZERO. My Mag was low so I added B-Ionic Magnesium and have brought it up to 1455 as of today. Also, I am trying to understand the Co2 adjustment to waterflow from the calcium reactor to get the right calcium balance of 400.

This has been quite a struggle for me to fix. I have been keeping an aquarium for some time and have done alot of research and I'm still having trouble.

Can anybody HELP?
 
Bad advice from your LFS -- there are so few ions in RO water that its pH is essentially meaningless. There's no reason to add any buffer to RO water, and it may be contributing to your high Alk.

-R
 
Should I just forget about the buffer. The buffer seemed to straighten out the algae problem (the slimy brown stuff) to some extent.
 
One other thing I'm doing in the last week is adding turbo calcium to bring up the calcium level. The calcium reactor alone is not doing it. What do you think?
 
now that you have your mag levels up where they shuold be id leave it alone for a while and see if your calcium level goes up. as for the buffer, yeah, id stop using it untill you know exactally whats going on.
 
Should I be adding anything to the make up water at all? What do you think about the turbo calcium addition shoul I keep adding that?
 
If its been 3 or 4 months since your last water change I would definitely try a couple or more of those and see if that helps. If you mix RO water with good salt that should provide you a relatively balanced mix. It should push your water quality parameters in the right direction. I don't know about Turbo Calcium, I have always used 2-part solution with good results. I would think the calcium reactor would be doing a good job, but I have no experience with those.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11695637#post11695637 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by reeformadness
If its been 3 or 4 months since your last water change I would definitely try a couple or more of those and see if that helps. If you mix RO water with good salt that should provide you a relatively balanced mix. It should push your water quality parameters in the right direction. I don't know about Turbo Calcium, I have always used 2-part solution with good results. I would think the calcium reactor would be doing a good job, but I have no experience with those.
Click to expand...

that sounds like sane advice.
 
Dont add anything to your topoff water at this point. The buffer in the topoff is likely how you got this imbalance. By adding buffer in your topoff you are adding alk and not Ca, both need to be supplemented or you end up with your problem.

Do some water changes to get things back closer to normal (lower alk, higher Ca). Then use Ca suplements or buffer to get the two readings exactly where you want them. For instance, if you are using instant ocean salt, it can't raise Ca any higher than about 360 because that is the Ca value of the freshly mixed salt, so you will want to add Ca to raise it to about 420. After you get things back in balance and the values where you want them, the Ca reactor should hold both Ca and Alk steady. You will need to fine tune it at first though, to make sure it is supplementing the same amount your tank is using.
 
Do you know exactly how to fine tune a calcium reactor? You see I seem to be having a problem understanding the Co2 intake to the water flow. I'am having trouble understanding the breakdown process. In order to add more calcium, do you turn up the Co2 and slow the flow or vise-versa? Or, do you increase the flow and Co2 intake or decrease the flow and Co2?
 
Adjust the CO2 in order to achieve a optimal CO2 in the chamber (Different medias require different pH). Then adjust the flow to dose more or less.

Basically, pump in as much CO2 as it takes to keep your reactor at the desired pH, and adjust the flow rate to dose the tank with the appropriate amount of effluent.
 
What salt are you using? Some have high alkalinity and low calcium, some have the opposite, and some are pretty well balanced (to a degree). I would try 10% weekly water changes if you can. At the very least you should do it monthly, but then it should be about 30-40% (or even 50%). You'd be amazed what water changes will take care of (especially nasty looking algae).
 
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