Sad looking tank

[lduncan]

Layton what Cookie said is correct, and the advise you gave to Chimera is wrong.

You say the advise I gave was wrong. Your an idiot. Read what it was, and what he's doing.

[cookie extreme]

i thought the idea was to test pH coming out and get it around 6.7 or so?

kind of right, but if the effluent has a PH of 6.7 but contains very little KH and Calcium whats the point of having a calcium reactor. the flow could be to fast and not enough media desolves or not enough CO2 is being added. even if the the PH is lower then 6.7 thats ok you can always run the drip over more coral rock to release more CO2 or aireate (spe.?) it before it goes into your systems to remove excess CO2.

and i am not against the idea to add bicarbonate at all, its just the amount that worries me.

[chimera]

and i am not against the idea to add bicarbonate at all, its just the amount that worries me.

hence why im adding with Mg so I dont have to keep adding the same volumes to stop kH from depleting. i do drip Calcium reactor outlet onto a very well aerated area (pipes from fuge/skimmer/chiller into sump)

[lduncan]

Magnesium does not directly affect kH.

It affects how much calcium can stay in solution. If your calcium is staying level now, then magnesium is not going to stop kH depleting.

Magnesium of 3 times you calcium is balanced. That's were you seem to be at the moment.

Layton

[chimera]

I thought Mg helps maintaining kH and Ca at correct levels?

[lduncan]

Well calcium is super saturated in saltwater. The only reason why it stays in solution is because there is enough magnesium to poison calcium carbonate crystals as they form which stops it precipitating out.

So magnesium stops calcium falling out of solution.

If magnesium is low, the calcium can fall out of solution, and that's where kH comes into it. It precipitates out as calcium carbonate.

But if calcium isn't falling, and kH is falling, magnesium is not going to help, as it only directly affects calcium. The extra kH is going somewhere else.

Layton

[wasp]

Your an idiot.

Temper Temper Layton, and oh, you can't spell either :lol: :lol:

But if calcium isn't falling

Layton

Sometimes I really think you don't listen. As we've already told you, calcium dropped 100 in only 5 days.

If magnesium is low, the calcium can fall out of solution, and that's where kH comes into it. It precipitates out as calcium carbonate.

Layton

That's it! The magnesium is low, and the falling calcium is taking out the alkalinity.

And to think you're calling ME an idiot :roll:

[lduncan]

:roll: So again, what was wrong with my advice?

( I can spell, i did notice it, it just wasn't worth editing after I checked it. )

You've neglected the initial situation which was calcium was 480 and alkalinity was 4. I said

Alk can easily drop that much in a day. It's very unlikely that the Alk kit is off. Unlike other test kits, they are not particularly sensitive to light or temperature.

What's calcium doing? If it is at normal levels then adding kalk isn't really going to help. Keep adding baking soda to keep up with demand.

If calcium is low as well then crank the reactor up.

After that, we found that calcium was 380 and magnesium was 1050, I said:

Low mag may be dragging the calcium down faster than normal.

Seen as calcium is a little lower than what most people run it at (not exactly a bad level though), you can add kalk to try and bump it up along with alk.

Then you said:

Here we go again - another Layton versus somebody thread.

Layton what Cookie said is correct, and the advise you gave to Chimera is wrong. Just let Chimera fix his tank as per advise everybody else has given, which will work.

No need to doggedly defend your position, that's not really what this whole thing is about.

I repeat. You're an idiot.

Layton

[wasp]

Your judgement is obviously impaired.

My guess is you are tired and stressed out by the way you are driven to doggedly defend untenable positions.

But hey, don't worry.

Have a cup of warm milk and go to bed. You'll feel better tommorrow! ( hopefully )

Anyhow, back to the thread, Chimera is taking the correct steps, and will resolve his tank imbalance. So - no need to worry

[chimera]

Outside of the 'idiot' comments and pointless arguing (which is much to my own amusement than anyone elses) Im still trying to work out what I should be doing next. I feel like Im on the right track though...

Is it easy enough to just list out what one should be doing under different levels of Mg, Ca and Alk? If one is high and one is low or visa versa? Or is there too many other variables involved that its just not that easy?

[wasp]

No. It's all been made to sound way more complicated than it has to be.

Start by raising Mg to between 1250 and 1400.

Then add baking soda until KH is where you want it. Allow Ca to drift down to where you want it.

Then adjust your reactor to maintain these levels. They may slowly get out of balance again over time, there can be several reasons for this, especially with a reactor. If that happens to me, I simply balance back up again by adding either calcium chloride, or baking soda, as required.

Just always maintain Mg in the correct range.

[Pegasus]

You guys are about to ruin yet another thread with your childish behaviour.

Expect a PM from the Admin.

Time to cool down.

Regrets to others that have contributed to this thread, but it will be locked till further notice.

Bill Mod.