Holy Calcium Depletion Batman!

[Walking_Target]

Holy crap on a cracker!

 

Went to run my Alk test tonite and noticed it had dropped a bit more than a full dKh.

 

 

this is over 2 days!

 

 

I had a serious WTF moment until i pulled out my Ca test kit and ran that, twice. it confirmed a full ~100ppm drop in Ca.

 

Combine that with an Mg level that's around 1450ppm and I have a recipie for a pH crash

 

Brought the Ca level up to 370ppm tonite, bringing it up to 420 tomorrow, probably dosing Alk additive at that point too, to maintain an Alk of aprox 3.5 meq/L.

 

Yes, these test kits are fairly new, and they have been tested against other kits that are indeed accurate.

 

Apparently my corals and coraline algae are going nuts for Ca at the moment, this is going to require a whole new dosing scheme.

[doctaq]

sounds weird, i thought that alk and ca consumption generally matched in terms of ppm, thats how ive been basing my whole dosing schedule.

1 dkh is like 18 ppm so only 18ppm of ca should have been used up?

i might have completeley made that up so dont take my word on it

[Walking_Target]

well, one mystery solved... someone dosed Alk without dosing Ca. I am severely irritated - fingers must now be broken.

[cptbjorn]

Close, when alkalinity is quoted in ppm they usually mean ppm of calcium carbonate it will form, not just the ppm of the carbonate ions themselves. A 1 dKH drop is equivalent to 18ppm of calcium carbonate forming, and calcium carbonate is 60% carbonate and 40% calcium by weight, which means that the calcium should drop 18 * .4 = ~7 ppm per dkh of alkalinity used.

 

You should try putting a bunch of sps+lps and a clam in a pico though, I'm currently up to 2 dKH per day of alkalinity and the requirement is still increasing

[Walking_Target]

well, i'm at a nominal balance now, 420ppm and 10.5dkh (roughly 3.7 meq/L)

 

Obviously still need to bring the Ca up a bit, but it could be worse.

 

If this is the way this thing continues, i'm going to have to either do a new dosing schedule with the ESV Bionic or find a new product...

[violinist]

Hey man, not trying to hijack, but could you explain how you work out how much to dose when you dose?

[cptbjorn]

http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chemcalc.html

 

The best ^

[davidr2340]

well, i'm at a nominal balance now, 420ppm and 10.5dkh (roughly 3.7 meq/L)

 

Obviously still need to bring the Ca up a bit, but it could be worse.

 

If this is the way this thing continues, i'm going to have to either do a new dosing schedule with the ESV Bionic or find a new product...

Try this!!!

 

You won't find a better "bang for your buck"!!!

[violinist]

http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chemcalc.html

 

The best ^

 

Thanks!