Alkalinity and calcium dropping

[aerialdronemaster]

Hello all
I Google it, and I still can't find a solution
I will give some background to put some light on it .
New tank, reefer 350, cycled (took 4 weeks )

Live sand , 2 live rocks (from established tank) and plenty of dry rock.

Ammonia 0 or almost 0
Nitirite 0
Nitrate maybe 20 or 10

Salt used red sea pro mix, with alkalinity 11.5 .

Parameters
Salt 35.
Temp 78
Ph 8.08

Issue.
I see alkalinity and calcium dropping
Even when I dose a lot, it will increase then dro

Possible mistake ( before adding live stock I dosed a lotttt magnesium alkalinity and calcium to bring up level ) because the water u bought was bad,

So u dosed aaa lot
It caused precipitation (it is less. The sad was getting hard something white was on glass, wave makers ) it is much less now
Still have some snow in the sump from alkalinity.

Installed small powerehead in ato to mix water when dosing .


Need help with

What to do now ?
How to prevent the precipitation.
How to prevent the drop in alk ana calcium , I can't keep dosing like 100 ml a day

Tank has 8 zoaz frags
3 gsp
Xenia

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

It is normal for alkalinity and calcium to drop in a reef tank.

To assess if it is abnormally high, we need to know what you are dosing. Saying "I can't keep dosing like 100 ml a day" is not helpful since we do not know what you are dosing.

Can you please determine, in dKH per day (not mL) what you think the daily alkalinity consumption/decline is?

 

[aerialdronemaster]

It is normal for alkalinity and calcium to drop in a reef tank.

To assess if it is abnormally high, we need to know what you are dosing. Saying "I can't keep dosing like 100 ml a day" is not helpful since we do not know what you are dosing.

Can you please determine, in dKH per day (not mL) what you think the daily alkalinity consumption/decline is?

I will, let me check with hanna checker now, and will do the tomorrow at the same time .

Is it ok ,

It is normal for alkalinity and calcium to drop in a reef tank.

To assess if it is abnormally high, we need to know what you are dosing. Saying "I can't keep dosing like 100 ml a day" is not helpful since we do not know what you are dosing.

Can you please determine, in dKH per day (not mL) what you think the daily alkalinity consumption/decline is?

Let me do a test with hanna checker now and tomorrow at the same time and i will let u know ,
Trident shows alkalinity 7.34
If it goes below 6, is it safe? I am scared to wait for an another test whe it is dropping

 

[aerialdronemaster]

I will, let me check with hanna checker now, and will do the tomorrow at the same time .

Is it ok ,

Let me do a test with hanna checker now and tomorrow at the same time and i will let u know ,
Trident shows alkalinity 7.34
If it goes below 6, is it safe? I am scared to wait for an another test whe it is dropping

7.4 right now , at 9am pst

 

[TannerManno]

It is normal for alkalinity and calcium to drop in a reef tank.

To assess if it is abnormally high, we need to know what you are dosing. Saying "I can't keep dosing like 100 ml a day" is not helpful since we do not know what you are dosing.

Can you please determine, in dKH per day (not mL) what you think the daily alkalinity consumption/decline is?

Both magnesium and calcium are high in my tank. Should I do a water change of just give it a few days for my coral to drain the mag and calcium out of the water to make it lower? Or is that not how it works.

 

[nereefpat]

7.4 right now , at 9am pst

Let us know how much Alk dropped. Based on your short graph for Alk, looks like maybe about 0.5 dKH per day, which would be pretty normal.

Both magnesium and calcium are high in my tank. Should I do a water change of just give it a few days for my coral to drain the mag and calcium out of the water to make it lower? Or is that not how it works.

What are the values? Mg and Ca have to be pretty darn high to be a problem.

FYI, a water change would only lower them if your mixed up salt is low.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Both magnesium and calcium are high in my tank. Should I do a water change of just give it a few days for my coral to drain the mag and calcium out of the water to make it lower? Or is that not how it works.

How high?

Is that higher than the same test kit shows on new salt water?

 

[Dburr1014]

Both magnesium and calcium are high in my tank. Should I do a water change of just give it a few days for my coral to drain the mag and calcium out of the water to make it lower? Or is that not how it works.

If it's not bothering anything I would leave it and let it go down on its own.
You can start your own thread and address everything there.

 

[TannerManno]

If it's not bothering anything I would leave it and let it go down on its own.
You can start your own thread and address everything there.

I just had that one question so I didn’t want to make a thread just over that. Sorry.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I just had that one question so I didn’t want to make a thread just over that. Sorry.

Not a problem. Do you have the values?

 

[TannerManno]

Not a problem. Do you have the values?

I just made a post about it so we don’t flood this post.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Since it may be hard for folks wanting to follow it into the other forum (main Reef Discussion, not this chemistry forum) where you posted it, here's a link:

Water change or not.

My alk is at 12.0 Calcium and 540 Magnesium so high it dosnt register on my Red Sea test kit. So maybe 1700 ish. Should I do a water change to bring my calcium and mag down or should I let it come down on it’s own? All fish and coral are acting fine. Everything is opened up.

www.reef2reef.com

 

[aerialdronemaster]

Let us know how much Alk dropped. Based on your short graph for Alk, looks like maybe about 0.5 dKH per day, which would be pretty normal.


What are the values? Mg and Ca have to be pretty darn high to be a problem.

FYI, a water change would only lower them if your mixed up salt is low.

Hi , so the next day it was 7, it dropped by 0.4
Today it was weirdddd 8.2 !! in the tank 7.9 in the ATO ( sump) where the return pomp is.
CA is 402 according to Trident
MG 1395 according to trident

I am not sure if I an trust trident, because it is showing 6.88 ALK , when Hanna checker is showing 7.9 in the same place

 

[nereefpat]

A 0.4 dKH drop per day is normal. I would try to maintain alk and Ca somewhere close to that by dosing of some kind.