Low Calcium / High Alk

[rleetsc]

Below are my water parameters from yesterday. Everything looks good except for KH and Calcium. Any recommendations? I am performing weekly water changes but my calcium has been consistently low for several weeks. The only thing I am dosing is Purpleup.

 

2009-1-24

PH 8.4

KH 14dKh

Calcium 320

Phosphate 0

Nitrate 0

[beeker]

start a dosing regime for your tank or look into using a differen't salt brand or maybe just performing WC's a little more often but that depends on the calc level of the salt you use

 

i dose my tank and always have if it is 5gallons or more, but i've always kept sps as well

 

if your alk is high, just dose calc solution to bring it down, do not dose alk with it even if it's a 2-part cause that will keep the alk high

[rleetsc]

start a dosing regime for your tank or look into using a differen't salt brand or maybe just performing WC's a little more often but that depends on the calc level of the salt you use

 

i dose my tank and always have if it is 5gallons or more, but i've always kept sps as well

 

if your alk is high, just dose calc solution to bring it down, do not dose alk with it even if it's a 2-part cause that will keep the alk high

 

Any particular brand calcium or quantity? I have a BioCube 29.

[pprwngs]

you also will need to check what your magnesium is. if that is low you may never be able to get your parameters stable. you want about 1300ppm mag.

[lakshwadeep]

What test kit brand(s) are you using? How old is the tank?

 

First you should give your livestock list and tank setup information. There is no sense in dosing what your current livestock doesn't benefit from.

 

Luckily calcium is not so dangerous if you "overdose", especially with an apparently high alkalinity. You should stop using purpleup because it is an incomplete and crude dosing method (only useful for calcium).

[rleetsc]

I am using an API test kit and my tank is 4-5 months old.

 

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you also will need to check what your magnesium is. if that is low you may never be able to get your parameters stable. you want about 1300ppm mag.

I've never actually checked magnesium... I should probably get a test for it I suppose.

[lakshwadeep]

Umm, yeah trade names don't really help explain what type of corals they are, but I'm going to take a wild guess and assume most of those are zoanthids. In that case, you apparently have no stony corals and no clams. Therefore, you do not need to dose anything.

[dbrown69]

Umm, yeah trade names don't really help explain what type of corals they are, but I'm going to take a wild guess and assume most of those are zoanthids. In that case, you apparently have no stony corals and no clams. Therefore, you do not need to dose anything.

I disagree with this. It depends on the amount of coralline algae you have in the tank. I have a similar problem. I received a 29 gallon setup about a month and a half from someone who had been using kalkwasser for about 6 years. There must be at least 40 pounds of live rock. All I have in the tank a small stalk of Anthelia (from IPSF 9 for 90 offer), one small stalk of xenia, about 5 protopalyanthoas, a false percula, and goby/pistol combo. Still, the rocks had layers of purple corraline growing on it when I first set it up. I figured I wouldn't need calcium because there were no hard corals. Well, a couple of weeks ago I tested for calc with API and, as expected, calc was high at about 480 ppm, but my alk (API) was at 6 and falling and my PH (Tetra) was at 7.7. My xenia started to wilt, and portions of my coralline bleached (I thought the latter was because of new bulbs, but since changed my mind). Anyhow, I knew it was time to take action. I don't believe in supplements as a natural rule (I come from au natural planted tank method), but something had to be done. First, I put my hob refugium (CPR) with tons of chaeto on an alternate photo period. That worked a little for PH stability, but not on alk. Without alk stability, PH would crash eventually. Then I cleaned the protein skimmer (AquaC Remora) but that did nothing. Finally, I got the two-part from Brightwell Aquatics and changed to Neo-Marin salt. I added the buffer and now my alk is stable around 7.5 to 8. My calcium then went down over a couple of days to 380. I added the Calcium part to bring it to 420. That worked for a week, but last night I checked calc (I do it every night) and it was at 320. I also checked Mag (Salifert) and it was 1230, where it had been 1300 a couple of days before. I will note that I changed my Mag test from Tropic Marin to Salifert. I still don't have calc stability as I type. I did a little research and discovered that coralline algae uses more Mag than corals. The point is: no one knows for sure what drives the Calc-Alk-Mag relationship in any individual tank. You do what your tank demands after testing.

[beeker]

i use only b-ionic on my tank for alk/calc/mg

 

i use only Elo's for test kits because IMO the other kits i have used aren't near as accurate and that matters in this hobby

[lakshwadeep]

I disagree with this. It depends on the amount of coralline algae you have in the tank. I have a similar problem. I received a 29 gallon setup about a month and a half from someone who had been using kalkwasser for about 6 years. There must be at least 40 pounds of live rock. All I have in the tank a small stalk of Anthelia (from IPSF 9 for 90 offer), one small stalk of xenia, about 5 protopalyanthoas, a false percula, and goby/pistol combo. Still, the rocks had layers of purple corraline growing on it when I first set it up. I figured I wouldn't need calcium because there were no hard corals. Well, a couple of weeks ago I tested for calc with API and, as expected, calc was high at about 480 ppm, but my alk (API) was at 6 and falling and my PH (Tetra) was at 7.7. My xenia started to wilt, and portions of my coralline bleached (I thought the latter was because of new bulbs, but since changed my mind). Anyhow, I knew it was time to take action. I don't believe in supplements as a natural rule (I come from au natural planted tank method), but something had to be done. First, I put my hob refugium (CPR) with tons of chaeto on an alternate photo period. That worked a little for PH stability, but not on alk. Without alk stability, PH would crash eventually. Then I cleaned the protein skimmer (AquaC Remora) but that did nothing. Finally, I got the two-part from Brightwell Aquatics and changed to Neo-Marin salt. I added the buffer and now my alk is stable around 7.5 to 8. My calcium then went down over a couple of days to 380. I added the Calcium part to bring it to 420. That worked for a week, but last night I checked calc (I do it every night) and it was at 320. I also checked Mag (Salifert) and it was 1230, where it had been 1300 a couple of days before. I will note that I changed my Mag test from Tropic Marin to Salifert. I still don't have calc stability as I type. I did a little research and discovered that coralline algae uses more Mag than corals. The point is: no one knows for sure what drives the Calc-Alk-Mag relationship in any individual tank. You do what your tank demands after testing.

 

Tetra test kits are not reliable. Coralline growth is often limited by nutrient or other issues. Choosing a good reef salt mix should be enough for any coralline algae and the soft corals. In all cases, multiple testing over time is the most accurate form of learning the true usage of calcium (and other things) rather than trying to determine the amount of calcium-using organisms.

 

rleetsc: What are the test values for your newly mixed saltwater? Did you use any pH (alkalinity) buffer? It's odd that alkalinity should be so high. Try to test your water with someone else's test kits to see if your tests are correct.