Huge Alkalinity Drop

[Exodus]

After a couple large colonies of Zoas have closed up as of recent, I went ahead and tested my water parameters and found out following

 

Magnesium 1300

Calcium 630

Alkalinity 7

(Red Sea Test Kit)

 

I have always had 500+ Calcium with the Kent Marine Salt. I use and used to have serious amounts of calcium deposits and while not adding new corals but rather performing weekly maintenance I eventually added a clam to curb that issue.

 

My Levels have all stayed pretty consistent with Alk around 10, Calcium always 500+ (4 years) & The few times I have checked magnesium its been 1200 -1300. So I was a bit concerned as this just has seemed to have happened in the last couple weeks. I went ahead and checked the Source (My bucket of pre mixed Salt) And after performing the Cal/Alk tests with both Red Sea & API Test kits confirmed the same results (well to be honest I didn't bother to figure out what 24 drops on the API Cal 2nd bottle meant lol.) It seems I have a bad batch of water.

 

I intend to dump the bucket and fill and mix again tomorrow, just didn't have the time to watch the RO/DI filter tonight. I will see if I can get some better results with higher alk and see about getting the water changed, in the Meantime I had some Seachem liquid Alkalinity and added 3/4 of a cap to the tank to help bring it up a bit but to be honest it's reall only temporary.

 

Given the fact of Calcium always being so ridiculously high, and this batch being a real headache I think I'm going to venture trying a new type of Salt, Always heard great things about Reef Crystals I just hope I can find some as here in Oregon all the LFS's are pretty serious when it comes to Kent.

 

Anyone have any other input on this? I think I'm pretty much taking care of the issue in a logical manor but am open to suggestions in case I might be missing something

[sangheili]

I eventually added a clam to curb that issue.

 

When did you add the clam? Large clams can use a surprising amount of alk/calc.

[Exodus]

The Clam was added more than a year ago and a couple months ago after moving the Tank unfortunately the clam lasted about a week afterwards and has since been gone.