Reducing Calcium

[NJTaxMan]

Stupid question for everyone. My calcium is a bit on the high side (505'ish). I dose Kalkwasser via a pertalistalic constant doser at a very low range. If my Alk gets above 9 I turn off the dosing.

I have been trying to dose two park alkalinity to keep the alk at just enough that the dosing pump stays off...but after a few weeks of this approach, my calcium has remained consistent. I have tried a couple of water changes with IO Reef Crystals and that calcium just sits there.

Any ideas?

thanks

 

[horseplay]

There is an abundance of calcium in the salt water. If you keep dosing alk alone calcium level will eventually come down. Also doing water changes with a salt like IO will eventually bring the calcium level down to that of the salt mix, which is around 360.

 

[mnat]

Yeah, alk and calc work kind of like a seasaw. Bringing up alk will bring down calc.

 

[NJTaxMan]

Yeah, alk and calc work kind of like a seasaw. Bringing up alk will bring down calc.

ok. Just worried that dosing alk alone would be causing problems. Thanks

 

[NJTaxMan]

Out of curiosity..I have been really struggling with low PH. Im talking 7.7 at night with outside air into my skimmer and reverse photo period for my chaeto. Is it possible that my 500+ calcium is causing my PH to be low and bringing it down to the 450 range (or lower) would actually increase the PH?

 

[Bot587]

In response to the calcium question, water change with instant ocean normal salt (8-9 dkh, 400-450 calcium, 1350 - 1400 mg).

which Alk are you dosing?

what is your mg at?

in response to pH, you say it’s low at night (7.7 is low) what is the daytime pH? How much turnover in your aquarium? What is the turnover of your sump?

 

[NJTaxMan]

In response to the calcium question, water change with instant ocean normal salt (8-9 dkh, 400-450 calcium, 1350 - 1400 mg).

which Alk are you dosing?

what is your mg at?

in response to pH, you say it’s low at night (7.7 is low) what is the daytime pH? How much turnover in your aquarium? What is the turnover of your sump?

I am using Kalkwasser for dosing

MG is at 1400 as per trident..but generally dont trust that TOO much. Getting an hanna MG checker for christmas

Daytime PH hits a little over 8. When I can open my windows or not be in my office, I can get it up to 8.1.

Turn over is about 10x per hour. I have plenty of surface agitation. Issue is that my office is about 10 by 10 and I just have heavy carbon dioxide in the air. Cant open windows in the winter.

 

[Bot587]

I meant what two part are you dosing on top of kalk. Kalk i calcium hydroxide (CaOH). Many 2 parts are bicarbonate (HCO).
from 8 to 7.7 is not horrible 7.8 would be more ideal. Are your corals fine?

 

[NJTaxMan]

I meant what two part are you dosing on top of kalk. Kalk i calcium hydroxide (CaOH). Many 2 parts are bicarbonate (HCO).
from 8 to 7.7 is not horrible 7.8 would be more ideal. Are your corals fine?

Red Sea Par B, Sodium Hydro

My corals have last a couple of weeks and continually die on me. I have managed to keep BTAs, but everything else has gone bye bye.

My Zoas last for a few months but seem to shrink and disappear.
My SPS lose their coralites, then go RTN/STN
My euphyllia, what I love, get REALLY fluffy at first...but then start receding and shrinking until they just die.

I did ICP test and generally nothing. I am at a complete loss. The only things I think it could be is the high Ca or the Low Ph.

 

[Bot587]

can you post icp ms?

video on usage of different 2 parts and comparisons

Top 14 Alkalinity Additives Tested - Which Boosts pH The Most?

Find out just how much of a pH boost you get with your alkalinity additive of choice.

www.bulkreefsupply.com

Red Sea B is carbonate based (sodium carbonate). I would not use this unless you wanted to commit to 2 part.

your using reef grade kalk right?

My advice would be to take your pH and Alk readings in duplicate (avg the two tests) 2 x a day one during lights on and one after lights out (pH should change, Alk should not if you have a doser). If you don’t have a that would be my first step (I know a lot of people drip kalk).

what are your nutrients at (nitrate and phosphate).

can you give me extra info about build (size, lights, wave makers etc)

youre mg is a bit low to have 500 calcium without significant precipitate in lull zones (ie sump).

 

[NJTaxMan]

I am using BRS Kalk..so I am assuming yes.

Nitrates fluctuate between 8.0-12
Phosphates between 0.07 and 0.11
4x2x2 tank
Running Aquatic life hybrid with 4x54 T5s, 2 NP V3 140s. Measured par at about 350 at the highest rock point..so definitely not blasting things out.
2 MP40s, 1 MP10, 1 reefwave 45

As far as the MG...the trident said it dropped from 1441 on Monday to 1389 an hour ago. (Note...my trident Alk reads about .65 above actual reading. Something going on with the latest batch of tridents)

I use a kamoer constant duty doser drip dosing Kalk through an avast marine kalk reactor.. You can see the that my Ca has been rising even though my Kalk has not been on in two days.

Using a Curve5 protein skimmer with outside airline.

 

[Bot587]

Trident idle charts, can you blow them up with scale… I want to see the swing range and times.

Watch your mg, your Alk and calcium are going wonky cuz it’s falling.

your icp ms is perfect (iodine could be dosed, but that’s not killing corals)

 

[NJTaxMan]

 

[NJTaxMan]

This is why i dont trust trident. Alk went up .2, Ca went down 50 and MG went up with no dosing. I get that it is probably within the margin of error but imagine if I put some dosing automations around this.

 

[NJTaxMan]

I stopped dosing Kalk since this conversation and only dosed minor amounts of Red Sea Part B and suddenly everything is rediculously stable

 

[Jamie S]

I dosed kalk through a Kalk stirrer and found it widely inconsistent as well. Not until I started dosing saturated kalk did I start getting extremely stable test results.