jerry's Posted July 16, 2008 Posted July 16, 2008 I have a few questions about Calcium & Alk. O.K. I just set up a 24g Aquapod 3 weeks ago my cycle is complete all parameters are within range, I did my first water change after cycle was complete. I don't have any fish yet, Waiting for my local fish store to get some Pearly Jawfish. I do have some Green star polps & Red Candy Cane w/3 heads. I fraged these from my 65g. Everything is doing great Clean up crew doing their jobs well.... Now to my questions. First let my give my tank parameters. Temp between 79 & 80 Salinity 1.026 P.H. 8.2 Alk dkh 13 Calcium 440ppm What i don't undersatnd is why my Calcium is above 400 and my kh is so high ? I have tested several times and get the same readings. I have not dosed my tank with anything. I use just the regular Instant Ocean Salt. Is my kh ok at 13 ? I Know the tank is still very young. Just curious on what some of your opinions are.
filefish949 Posted July 16, 2008 Posted July 16, 2008 lots of times salt mixes come high in those departments, it helps because you are trying to replenish ca and alk with a 20% WC and the math just does nto work right, if you are going to run that high, you had better keep mindflull of your MG and keep it over 1300, or you'r going to have trouble
jerry's Posted July 16, 2008 Author Posted July 16, 2008 I have not checked my mag level yet would it be wise since i am not dosing anything ?
filefish949 Posted July 16, 2008 Posted July 16, 2008 yea, you need to regularly check calcium, alk, mg if you are going to keep stonys and nitrate, and a pH monitor if possible no matter what you keep, with a bigger tank you can cut it down to every 2 weeks, I test every month or so, but my tank has been running a while and it is a 180 so I have a very good idea what I will see before I test
bdare Posted July 16, 2008 Posted July 16, 2008 If you are just using IO those leves are VERY high. Are you dosing? If not I suspect you are measuring your SG with a hydrometer and it's off. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthre...hreadid=1287118 Since you don't have a lot of creatures which are using up the Alk you might switch salts to something that is a lil more balanced with your consuption rates.
jerry's Posted July 16, 2008 Author Posted July 16, 2008 Yea you are problably right about the hydrometer. I have a deep six and it's like 3 years old but i rinse it with fresh water after each use, maybe i will try a different one and see what kind of reading i get. It's mind boggling to have such high parameters in a tank that i have never dosed and is only 3 weeks old. Thanks for the info if anyone else has any other suggestions they are welcomed!
smoknta Posted July 20, 2008 Posted July 20, 2008 My deep six is off by .005, I keep it a 1.020 to actually be at 1.025
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