petkingdom619 Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 What do I do to lower calcium? It is over 500.I have a 24g ap.with a skimmer that just started running today. and cheato. My alk is at 125.3 ppm I have the bionic 2 part. Should I add the alk and not the calcium? Link to comment
oceanahollic Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 why is your calcium so high? i have the same tank with no skimmer. have you been dosing with calcium. do a water change. how old is your tank? more info! Link to comment
senoroms Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 What do I do to lower calcium?It is over 500.I have a 24g ap.with a skimmer that just started running today. and cheato. My alk is at 125.3 ppm I have the bionic 2 part. Should I add the alk and not the calcium? Im pretty new but wouldn't the easiest thing be to do a big water change and see if that helps rather than messing with your water chemistry even more? Link to comment
aaron1987 Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 (1) Get clams, lots and lots of clams! (2) Watch calcium levels plummet (3) ?????? (4) PROFIT! On a serious note, stop dosing, your calcium is high but not to the point of major concern -- I know several people who keep calcium concentrations around 450-475ppm, they have a ton of SPS though. Bring it down 75ppm (This isn't has hard as it might sound, regular water changes and coralline will take care of it) and then begin reduced levels of dosing, you want to try to find the sweet spot where you're replacing what's being leeched and maintaining a constant level. Out of curiousity, what are you keeping in the tank? Link to comment
petkingdom619 Posted September 4, 2008 Author Share Posted September 4, 2008 the thing is I havent been dosing at all. I havent even opened the bottles yet. And I just did a water change the day before. I was thinking though that I did just put in about 15 frag plugs a week ago. Could that be something? i keep rics, mushrooms, zoas, acans, frogspawn, xenia, favia, maze, blasto, duncan, 1 dying frag of birdsnest,and some others Link to comment
aaron1987 Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 Try a new test kit imo in that case. It's far more likely that the test was fouled for one reason or another, or just isn't very good to begin with. It's easy to mess up a titration and not even notice. Frag plugs won't cause a Ca spike. Sounds like you have a tank that would appreciate elevated Ca levels, unless you're having adverse effects I wouldn't necessarily worry about it. If you have the lighting for it, although I said it in jest, a clam really would suck the Ca out. Link to comment
petkingdom619 Posted September 4, 2008 Author Share Posted September 4, 2008 here is an few months ago. have added alot more since then Link to comment
davidr2340 Posted September 5, 2008 Share Posted September 5, 2008 What brand of salt are you using? Link to comment
bdare Posted September 5, 2008 Share Posted September 5, 2008 That's why your Ca is so high. Unless you switch salts your Ca will remain that high. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthre...hreadid=1287118 Link to comment
petkingdom619 Posted September 5, 2008 Author Share Posted September 5, 2008 Anyone have suggestions on what salt to change to? I cant come up with a certain one from that. Link to comment
davidr2340 Posted September 5, 2008 Share Posted September 5, 2008 That's why your Ca is so high. Unless you switch salts your Ca will remain that high. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthre...hreadid=1287118 Agreed. That's what I was using, and my CA was always that high. I switched to D-D H2O... Link to comment
bdare Posted September 5, 2008 Share Posted September 5, 2008 I'm a big fan of Reef Crystals. For my liking everything is PERFECT but I do bump up the Mg a little bit. Link to comment
The Propagator Posted September 5, 2008 Share Posted September 5, 2008 Negative. I would bet a dollar its not the salt brand its the B-ionic. You've been dosing as per the bottle and not testing haven't you Just stop dosing calcium for a couple weeks or all together because there is nothing in your tank that needs calcium supplement that I can see based on that photo at all other then the candy cane frag and small frag of favites. They will all receive what they need from simple water changes ( even the candy cane and favites). I use Oceanic salt and will never switch. You will notice that the calcium content fluctuates from 350 - 460 but they all do that. having a mix with over 500 is rare. I personally have never had it happen but I buy the 200 gallon mix. Link to comment
biocube8 Posted September 5, 2008 Share Posted September 5, 2008 Instant ocean reef crystals........here here! Link to comment
The Propagator Posted September 5, 2008 Share Posted September 5, 2008 That's where I've gotten massive calcium spikes from in the past actually. Reef Crystals FTL for me. Link to comment
bdare Posted September 5, 2008 Share Posted September 5, 2008 Duane is normally a pretty smart guy, but on this one he's dropped the ball. Oceanic is NOTORIOUS for having excessive Ca levels. Prop, what SG do you mix your Oceanic to? Are you using a calibrated refractometer? At 1.026 or 35ppt Ca does in fact come out to over 500ppm. I myself have double checked these numbers. True... Reef Crystals just finished a bout with some production mis-haps, but that's more the exception than the norm. Link to comment
The Propagator Posted September 5, 2008 Share Posted September 5, 2008 I use a refractometer ( calibrated ) and I mix to 1.024-5 every batch on the money. I have never had calcium higher then 480 using Oceanic. I have tested it freshly mixed from several different buckets. ( I have a stack to prove it ) In my personal experience I have never had a problem with it. Low alk ? Yes way high calcium or way low.. nope. Maybe I am just getting it from a consistently good supply in a warehouse some where? ( DFS ) I guess I am forgetting that these are nanos. Those smaller volumes with less capacity for calcium loving coral will hold excess calcium for a while. Either way though stop dosing calcium. You dont need to. Especially using the batch of salt your using if it is indeed high in calcium. ( Just test it and find out ) Link to comment
petkingdom619 Posted September 5, 2008 Author Share Posted September 5, 2008 no, like i said earlier.. I have not dosed a single time. I just bought the bi-ionic and the tests together, thinking I might need to does. But after the test was to high no Link to comment
petkingdom619 Posted September 6, 2008 Author Share Posted September 6, 2008 could this be effecting my war coral frag? it seems to be fading... Link to comment
The Propagator Posted September 6, 2008 Share Posted September 6, 2008 no, like i said earlier.. I have not dosed a single time. I just bought the bi-ionic and the tests together, thinking I might need to does. But after the test was to high no Probably is a bad batch of salt then. Have you tested a fresh batch of SW yet ? could this be effecting my war coral frag? it seems to be fading... Nope. Now if your PH, alkalinity, temperature, lighting is to low or to high it can fade your coral. So will high trates, trites, or ammonia. Link to comment
petkingdom619 Posted September 6, 2008 Author Share Posted September 6, 2008 i dont have a test for ph, my alk is alittle low but didnt want to dose because i dont know if it needs to have calcium dosed at the same time since its 2 part. trates trites and ammonia are ok. I have a 250w mh on a 24gallon but my war coral is at the bottom of the tank. although the light was bleaching out some coraline so I moved it up a few inches. i need to figure out this coral thing cuz I have a few other frags like the war that could start going bad too. also I hooked up a remora c skimmer a few days ago and ive only collected alittle dirty water. Should it be foaming by now? Link to comment
biocube8 Posted September 6, 2008 Share Posted September 6, 2008 I know that bright light is essential,but is there such a thing as too much? I've been thinking about doing a 70w mh retro... As far as the calcium....I agree perhaps the fastest way to improve is water changes. Link to comment
The Propagator Posted September 6, 2008 Share Posted September 6, 2008 That monster 250 watt'er over your cube is whats fading your coral brother. Raise it up. And yes you can dose one with out the other. 2 part just means your buying both the calcium and the alkalinity together. They don't activate each other. Your skimmer will need a few days to break in. Probably a full week ( 7 days ). biocube8: There is definitely such a thing as to much light over your tank. Link to comment
petkingdom619 Posted September 7, 2008 Author Share Posted September 7, 2008 alright its about a foot off of the top of the tank now. hopefully It gets better. my skimmer is foaming up to the top of the box but not into the container yet. ill wait and see. a few side questions: I had a cleaner shrimp and a pistol shrimp die this summer, while everything else was fine, temps and params were normal.What could have been the issue? what would a good t5 setup be on a 20 gallon prop tank? lastly what lights are used on 5 gallon for softies? it has a hood with a compact flourescent but like the household kind. Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.