Sharkey Posted December 20, 2005 Report Share Posted December 20, 2005 Hi Guys and girls Well I have a little story. I havnt been testing my tank at all. Right from the first day I set it up.This is my secound marine and ive had discus etc for years.And Ive had good success with all coarls ive put in . I have been getting more into the hard corals but have a mixture of soft and hards etc a bit of every thing. So i got reading and thought i would add a calcium supplement. I picked Red sea reef success Calk with a free alkalinity test kit. Well it worked very well but was getting exspensive when it finished i thought i would try some other products. So i bought A seachem product reef complete which is a calcium supplement with out testing Calcium. Then my coraline algae started to go white!!! So i did a water change which has helped a heap. It all starting to look alot better.Then I did a test yesterday on the alkalinity it was low 2.0 so I added Reef builder which Raises carbonate alkalinity. So today I bought a Ca test kit. Want to Guess what my alk and ca are reading ? Before adding anything tonight. PS all products I have spoken about are very good. Its just the goose adding them thats the problem Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkey Posted December 20, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2005 No one? Alk 3.6 Ca 260 Have dosed Reef Complete and will monitor very closely :oops: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted December 20, 2005 Report Share Posted December 20, 2005 That low your best bet is probably big water changes instead of dosing heaps of expensive additives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef Posted December 20, 2005 Report Share Posted December 20, 2005 that is a good idea, as it will help to balance the water. by adding all these additives you are putting the ionic balance out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pies Posted December 20, 2005 Report Share Posted December 20, 2005 No one? You posted at 9:48 and then 'no one' at 10:12. 24 minutes. Give people a chance. If your alk is 3.6 the first thing I would look at would be a new test kit. Then, why bother testing your CA? What is your PH? Its the PH thats going to do the damage and with 3.6 I suspect your in problems. Adding addititives is probably OK, even if they do turn the coraline white. Although I am not sure why you would continue to add something that does this to your tank. How about a 20% water change every day or two for the next 2-4 weeks. That will sort out your problem. Pie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkey Posted December 20, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2005 If your alk is 3.6 the first thing I would look at would be a new test kit. Then, why bother testing your CA Because alk and Ca go hand in hand right? 3.6 meq/L is a good reading right? But the low reading of Calcium had me puzzeld :-? PH is a different story. And a alkalinity reading is not an indication of PH.At least thats my understanding. Am I on the right track?.But I will test tomorrow ( I take a sample to work) Adding addititives is probably OK, even if they do turn the coraline white. Although I am not sure why you would continue to add something that does this to your tank. I didnt I stopped and did a water change.It freaked me out Ive never seen that happen . Looking back I think when I added the reef complete I drove the alk down ? But Im not sure what happened to be honest . But Ive learnt to test. Layton & Wasp any thoughts? To be honest im still getting my head around the chemistry side of things. The more I read I just realize how complex it can get. But I can see the sense in a larger water change. Thanks for the advice guys Then I guess I should test the water to work out a dosage based on what the coral uptake is of calcium :-? As well as watching for changes in alk You posted at 9:48 and then 'no one' at 10:12. 24 minutes. Give people a chance. your right. Just had to type look at the time Im writting this I cant sleep to hot/ And thinking of work xmas time brings out the crazy :roll: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted December 20, 2005 Report Share Posted December 20, 2005 nah, the reef complete wouldn't have lowered the alkalinity. Well, hypothetically used in HUGE amounts it may have. But that's only by causing the calcium to start precipitating out of solution. Your tank would look like a blizzard and you'd have calcium snowdrifts everywhere, I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feelers Posted December 20, 2005 Report Share Posted December 20, 2005 Maybe thats why all the coraline went white perhaps? :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted December 20, 2005 Report Share Posted December 20, 2005 When overdosing both alkalinity and calcium, a situation can happen when a "precipitation event" happens, commonly known as a snowstorm. This will reduce alk & ca to very low levels. The snowstorm is not always seen though but something like that may have happened to you. Because of side effects this causes such as ionic imbalance and other things that can be precipitated out as well, it's best to first do a really big waterchange ( as reef said ), and then start dosing to bring quantities up. If using 2 part, it's best to dose some calcium in the morning, and some alkalinity in the evening. However until you get it exactly right, dosing 2 part can be fraught with exactly the difficulties you have had. IMO kalkawasser is easier, it doses both calcium and alkalinity in the right balance to each other. But keep some calcium, and seperate alkalinity product, such as the Seachem ones you have, to adjust levels independently if they get a bit out of balance. Buying kalkawasser from lfs IS expensive, there are cheaper ways to get it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef Posted December 20, 2005 Report Share Posted December 20, 2005 a alk of 3,6 is quite high and would have precipitated the calcium. as waso mentioned add kaltwasser wold make more senze as i dont thing you have a high demand for calcium with the corals you have. kaltwasser should keep up with your calcium demand and it will balance the kh and calcium. watch out for your xenia as you might find that it will crash as it wont like the sudden changes in water quality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkey Posted December 21, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2005 Excellent advice thank you :bounce: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkey Posted December 22, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2005 Well I did a large water change 70L my tanks only 360l .But the Test haven't been stacking up. It said my alk had dropped ?So I got a second test done. And found my alk test was giving me false results :evil: So I had been dosing to increase the alk thinking it was low when it wasn't. So I bought a new test kit today and got some more readings. After another 30L NSW change. I have a reading of 3.43Meg/L (9.6 DKH) and Ca 310 So calcium is still low so I've dosed calk and will retest in morning all test done with new salifert test kits. Looks like I got of lucky as there hasn't been any damage to corals. Boy I feel stupid Ive been looking at my tank thinking how well its all going when really Ive been on the edge of a disaster :oops: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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