High calcium, low Alk and low PH... help

[scootrmcgavn]

Hi,

 

I'm having a problem with my cal, alk, and ph. I use oceanic salt mix and after testing freshly mixed water the params on that are the same as my tank, which are:

Ca-520

Alk-7-8

PH-7.8

It's only been 3 months since I started this tank and taking it slow so I don't have much in the tank. About 30lbs. of live rock, 4 headed frogspawn, some polyps, 3 snails, 10 hermits, 2 pepp shrimp, and a sand sifting star fish that has yet to sift the sand. Tank is a 34 gal. solana and nitrite, ammonia, nitrate, and phosphates are all 0.

Is there a way to naturally get the calc, alk, and ph to 440, 10, and 8.3? Or should I just use a different salt mix? Or a buffer?

Also, I understand that as I get more things in the tank these things will need to be at those levels when water is changed. Then I could just go back to the normal routine.

 

Thanks Ahead

[skydive]

No one responded to this BUMP

 

I used to use Oceanic and had the same results as you're getting....high calcium and low alkalinity. I didn't want to waste the bucket so I mixed it with Instant Ocean Reef Crystals (half and half) till it was gone and now I'm using Reef Crystals only and getting calcium 480 and alkalinity 8.

[lajz9]

B-Ionic 2 Part

[jerzsky]

brightwells alkalin8.3 will fix ya right up! i would also change up your salt. go with either reef crystals, tropic marin pro reef, or brightwells neomarine reef salt....do small water changes weekly, and that will slowly ready your corals to the new saly....good luck

[FiRsT-aNd-LaSt]

When I first started I used Instant Ocean, then went to oceanic for a while and oceanic while good has always been known to have high calcium, as many will tell you. I now use Red Sea Coral Pro and love it, been using it for over a year and love it, not saying thats what you should use, but I'd suggest using another type of salt or using a 2-part additive to help with your problem.

[Mr. Thingdoer]

I would also suggest switching to a different salt. I used to use Oceanic, but what a pain to adjust it to reef parameters. I now use Seachem Reef Salt. I'd definitely recommend Seachem, DD H20, or Tropic Marin Pro if you can afford to use it.

 

The Brightwell salt is nice, but doesn't come close to as advertised. PH is 8.3, but Dkh is at 11-12

[jerzsky]

When I first started I used Instant Ocean, then went to oceanic for a while and oceanic while good has always been known to have high calcium, as many will tell you. I now use Red Sea Coral Pro and love it, been using it for over a year and love it, not saying thats what you should use, but I'd suggest using another type of salt or using a 2-part additive to help with your problem.

 

you better watch, red sea coral pro is loooooooooaded with silicates! i fout a 6month battle wit algae cause of that salt. i changed to reef crystals just thinking, hey i tried everything else, nd BAM, algae started dyin off in a couple days!

[teammember8]

Forget Red Sea. I know everyone likes the MAX, but I am yet to see one of their products not break down. I work in an aquarium, and at an industry function we asked a Red Sea representative about their salt. When told that we had tested Coral Pro salt and found the calcium and KH bounced and varied like crazy he said "We know, but the packaging sells it."

 

Obviously his arrogance shouldn't be seen as the view expressed by the company, but I will say again, name a product, and we have found recurring and fundamental flaws with it. Plus its so much more expensive than better products! In Australia Tropic Marin normally works out cheaper! Tropic Marin seems to be the current benchmark.

[Weetabix7]

I agree that you will need to either switch to another salt or start dosing with a 2 part like B-Ionic.

 

I don't agree that Tropic Marin Pro Reef is a good idea. It's made to be used with a Calcium Reactor and if you use without also using a Ca Reactor, you will have problems with Alk swings.

This is not just my opinion either, I actually emailed the company and got this info from a Rep.

Says it on the Tropic Marin site too, if you look.

If you don't want to use a Calcium Reactor, just regular Tropic Marin is a better option.

 

I use D-D H2O salt and like it, and have also heard good things about Seachem although I've never tried it.

[crewchef]

Not expert opinon, just what seems to be working for me.

 

I've been dealing w/ same issue in a BC14 that's been up and running for about the same amount of time. Can't comment on your particular salt but I'm using SeaChem Reef and my parameters are similar. Have a couple more LPS (Galxia, Candy Cane) and also have 4 fairly large bi-valve hitch hikers.

 

Calcium 520/540

DKH 8 (now, was 7)

PH 8.2 (was 7.8, always test in afternoon after lights on for 4+ hours)

Mag 1360

 

I was using Brightwells alkalin 8.3 but didn't seem to be getting anywhere. I may not have been using enough but new method is working and it's cheaper so sticking with it. I made up my own solution with baked baking soda and DI water (do a search on home made solutions). I've been adjusting on the dosing amount for about 10 days now and I'm starting to get things going in right direction. I started w/ what I thought should be my daily dose + 1ml (5ml total), trying to raise dkh slowly. I'm now dosing 7.75ml (past 3 days) and dkh is slowly coming up, less than .5 per day. I split it up into two dosings, one late at night and the other in the morning before lights on. It does push up your PH so be careful and drip slowly.

 

You'll have to figure out your dosing requirement using one of the reef calculators. I used one but guess I didn't estimate the daily dose requirements correctly so it took me a little bit to get dialed in.

[scootrmcgavn]

WOW, I post this and don't hear anything actually for the second time on this forum and now we've got a bunch of posts. Anyways what I did was use seachem reefbuilder until my oceanic salt ran out and switched to instant ocean salt and I no longer have problems. These salt companies need to stop trying to add crap and just give us natural saltwater.