SPS Keeping - On going issue with ALK and Calc

[zemuss]

Some might know that I have a really hard time keeping any SPS corals alive in my reef tank. ZOAs, Acans and other corals like chalices and bubble corals are not an issue. However, the monti caps and acro are my nemesis.

So I recently tested my tank and found that my calcium is 390 and alk was 7.0 which is not in the ranges I would like or have had some success with keeping a monti cap from regressing. So this past weekend I did a 5 gallon water change and another 5 gallons will be going into the tank today.

Recently since a LFS store, which i go to often, doesn't carry H2Ocean anymore sold me Salinity AquaVitro. The packaging says they guarantee a min deg/l of 3.2 and a max of 3.8 meg/L, however, when checking the water with my test I find a 2.7 meg/L.

I am currently dosing the BRS two part which is the recipe that Randy gave them. I dose Calcium 3 times a day and ALK twice a day and it appears the dosing is not able to keep up with the supply and demand?

I know I have a nutrient issue and am addressing that slowly not to "shock" anything by taking it all out at the same time. I don't know what the nitrate or po4 levels are because the readings are "undetectable", but since there is algae in the tank there is an apparent abundance of nutrients in my opinion.


So my issues are two fold:
1. Dosing is not keeping up. Should I increase the timings of the dosing? For Calc it is 4 / 4/ 5 (min) and ALK its 3 minutes twice a day
2. How to increase the ALK of the 5 gallon water change bucket from 2.7 meg/L

i am thinking I want the water change water to be a 8 dkh that way when I change weekly it will adjust the over all ALK of the tank. So once I reach 8 dkh I will then be more constant and not have to change my dosing timings. Does that make sense?

"Z"

 

[msderganc]

Your calcium and alkalinity levels listed above are fine (390 and 7dKH), just on the low side.

I don't think your macro element levels are your issue. What kind of lighting do you have? What kind of flow? Are there any parasites?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I agree that I doubt those parameters are a big problem, but yes, if you want alk higher, dose more each day of both parts.

I wouldn't mess with the new water, but adding some of the alkalinity supplement to it is an easy thing to do if you want.

 

[zemuss]

I have a Reef Radiance Pro180 and 2 Jeboa RW8's set at half flow. I don't think I have any parasites either.

LED light is set at about 50% of full power. This light is pretty bright.

I am going to rule out a volt issue again this weekend but other than that I don't know what else to check.

 

[Lazys Coral House]

I am currently dosing the BRS two part which is the recipe that Randy gave them. I dose Calcium 3 times a day and ALK twice a day and it appears the dosing is not able to keep up with the supply and demand?

Dosing can keep up with any demand. That is they beauty of it. It has no cap. Dose more.

 

[zemuss]

However, Randy and msder don't think it is related to Calcium or ALK.

I am thinking it is Nutrient levels in my tank. I have a bad cyano, film algae and green algae problem right now which is using the nitrates and po3 up.

 

[Lazys Coral House]

Excessive nutrients and Cynao is not good for your corals. I was just commenting that if you want to raise your alk and calcium you need to dose more 2 part.

 

[zemuss]

I totally agree i can dose more and did give my Alk a bump yesterday. I will test it again today. However this issue goes back to when i had the solana 34. I really want to keep SPS but doesn't seem i can right now. I am hoping it is a nutrient issue.

Thanks for your input.

 

[Reefersutherland_]

Yea if u have excess nutrients and bad stuff in the water the corals will not have full polyp extension and they won't be absorbing what you dose anyways

 

[zemuss]

Ok thanks for the input. I will be working on that and clean up this tank..

 

[AdamNC]

Check your Mag if your losing Ca and Alk at a too fast rate. It may be too low. I too use Salinity and run my Mag at about 1400 and never have issues with Ca and Alk as long as I regularly dose the proper amounts. I have a 29 gallon standard and twice a week I dose 1/4 tsp of Reef Builder(Alk) and maybe every 2 weeks dose 20-30 ml of RedSea Reef Foundation Part A.