gmastr85
Active Member
For 2 years my I have dosed my tank using kalk in my ATO, using two teaspoons per gallon. It worked pretty well and I generally had good luck with almost all my corals. I used all Salifert test kits but rarely tested because I wasn't good at it and got inconsistent results. I hated testing and I never seemed to have the time to do it every night. I even bought a doser and never used it because of the inconsistent test results.
Fast forward to about 6 weeks ago. I had a couple chalices recede on me, and I figured it was time to start getting serious about tank chemistry. My coral bioload was getting much larger and I was afraid the kalk wasn't getting the job done. Because of the poor testing results I had in the past, I purchased a Hanna Calcium and Alk tester. Which by the way are awesome. After using a couple times, I can now test both in under 5 minutes.
A month ago my Calc was high at 550, my Mag was a little low at 1150, and my Alk was extremely low at 2.25dkh. I couldn't believe it. I mixed up BRS mag and raised it to 1250. That was easy. I slowly raised Alk to 9.0 over the course of 2 weeks. I let Calcium go thinking it would come down slowly. I use Instant Ocean Reef Crystals, and I stopped dosing Kalk altogether.
So I'm wondering a couple things. For two years has my calcium been sky high, and my alk been dreadfully low? My corals were always okay, and some of my SPS grew like weeds, but not all.. some were slow growers. I religiously do a 10% water change weekly... without missing a week ever. My PH has always been completely stable between 8 and 8.2 and my tank is on a controller and the temp stays within 1 degree. So my tank has always had stability. I just think the weekly water changes were keeping it going.
Now that I've corrected Alk my tank has taken off. In the last month everything looks awesome. Its incredible the difference between using kalk and never checking levels and using 2 part and checking. I've since hooked the alk up to my doser and its stable at 9dkh. I dose 40ml of Alk daily to keep it there. But my Calcium is still high. Not that its going to hurt anything, but it comes down to about 485. Once I do a water change it is up near 550 again.
Should I skip a water change to let it come down all the way? I haven't added any calcium or kalkwasser for 6 weeks, with the exception of the weekly water change, and its still high. When I was using Kalk, I can't imagine how high I was running all this time!
Does anyone have any advice as to why my calcium is running high? Should I just let it there? My tank is doing awesome but I do want to bring the chemistry to the proper levels. I just don't like skipping water changes. Thanks for any advice!
Fast forward to about 6 weeks ago. I had a couple chalices recede on me, and I figured it was time to start getting serious about tank chemistry. My coral bioload was getting much larger and I was afraid the kalk wasn't getting the job done. Because of the poor testing results I had in the past, I purchased a Hanna Calcium and Alk tester. Which by the way are awesome. After using a couple times, I can now test both in under 5 minutes.
A month ago my Calc was high at 550, my Mag was a little low at 1150, and my Alk was extremely low at 2.25dkh. I couldn't believe it. I mixed up BRS mag and raised it to 1250. That was easy. I slowly raised Alk to 9.0 over the course of 2 weeks. I let Calcium go thinking it would come down slowly. I use Instant Ocean Reef Crystals, and I stopped dosing Kalk altogether.
So I'm wondering a couple things. For two years has my calcium been sky high, and my alk been dreadfully low? My corals were always okay, and some of my SPS grew like weeds, but not all.. some were slow growers. I religiously do a 10% water change weekly... without missing a week ever. My PH has always been completely stable between 8 and 8.2 and my tank is on a controller and the temp stays within 1 degree. So my tank has always had stability. I just think the weekly water changes were keeping it going.
Now that I've corrected Alk my tank has taken off. In the last month everything looks awesome. Its incredible the difference between using kalk and never checking levels and using 2 part and checking. I've since hooked the alk up to my doser and its stable at 9dkh. I dose 40ml of Alk daily to keep it there. But my Calcium is still high. Not that its going to hurt anything, but it comes down to about 485. Once I do a water change it is up near 550 again.
Should I skip a water change to let it come down all the way? I haven't added any calcium or kalkwasser for 6 weeks, with the exception of the weekly water change, and its still high. When I was using Kalk, I can't imagine how high I was running all this time!
Does anyone have any advice as to why my calcium is running high? Should I just let it there? My tank is doing awesome but I do want to bring the chemistry to the proper levels. I just don't like skipping water changes. Thanks for any advice!
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