Dosed Alkalinity And It Raised My Other Parameters

[MenciTooLoko]

So I’ve been trying to start dosing my reef tank and was completely doing it wrong. Now I’m starting over and I’ve been testing, dosing, testing everyday for the past couple of days. I did do a water change on the first day due to my calcium being 600+ (again I was doing it wrong before) now today my before dosing my Alkalinity was at 8.6, magnesium 1465, and calcium 463. I know magnesium and calcium are a little high and I’ve been waiting for them to come down slowly to avoid another “extra” water change which it’s weekly water change will be done again in 2 days. So I dosed just alkalinity aiming for 9.0 dkH but it ended up going up to 9.6 dkH. I just switched from the Red Sea reef foundation premade bottles to mixing my own Red Sea reef foundation and made the alkalinity mixture a little stronger than I intended. But now I am very confused because this jump in alkalinity somehow also raised my magnesium to 1570 and calcium to 474.

Just looking for some clarity. I understand I effed up fairly bad before and also still ****** up now but do want to get better at this!!

 

[smitten with ocean life]

@Randy Holmes-Farley ?

 

[Miami Reef]

I’m not sure how you experienced this, probably test error, but it is chemically impossible for a pure alkalinity supplement to increase calcium or magnesium.

What test kits are you using for calcium and magnesium?

 

[gbroadbridge]

So I’ve been trying to start dosing my reef tank and was completely doing it wrong. Now I’m starting over and I’ve been testing, dosing, testing everyday for the past couple of days. I did do a water change on the first day due to my calcium being 600+ (again I was doing it wrong before) now today my before dosing my Alkalinity was at 8.6, magnesium 1465, and calcium 463. I know magnesium and calcium are a little high and I’ve been waiting for them to come down slowly to avoid another “extra” water change which it’s weekly water change will be done again in 2 days. So I dosed just alkalinity aiming for 9.0 dkH but it ended up going up to 9.6 dkH. I just switched from the Red Sea reef foundation premade bottles to mixing my own Red Sea reef foundation and made the alkalinity mixture a little stronger than I intended. But now I am very confused because this jump in alkalinity somehow also raised my magnesium to 1570 and calcium to 474.

Just looking for some clarity. I understand I effed up fairly bad before and also still ****** up now but do want to get better at this!!

The variation you are seeing is within test kit error margins.

I would not bother testing Magnesium, the kits are very inaccurate and it moves too slowly to worry about.
Having said that if all params are rising at the same time that is most likely to be an increase in salinity.

I would concentrate on keeping Alk stable.

 

[MenciTooLoko]

I’m not sure how you experienced this, probably test error, but it is chemically impossible for a pure alkalinity supplement to increase calcium or magnesium.

What test kits are you using for calcium and magnesium?

Hanna colorimeters for all tests.

 

[Garf]

But now I am very confused because this jump in alkalinity somehow also raised my magnesium to 1570 and calcium to 474.

The test result for calcium is within the expected margin of error, so is probably unchanged. The tests for magnesium are usually very wobbly and can jump around considerably. If you haven't added magnesium, it won't have actually increased.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I’d stop testing magnesium entirely. Not worth the effort. If your calcium product does not include magnesium, then just dose it based on calcium dosed.

I recommend 400-550 ppm for calcium, so yours is fine, IMO. There’s no evidence that any single value in that range is better than any other.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/just-say-no-to-magnesium-testing-rmm-is-born.1017528/

 

[Dread Pirate Dave]

So I’ve been trying to start dosing my reef tank and was completely doing it wrong. Now I’m starting over and I’ve been testing, dosing, testing everyday for the past couple of days. I did do a water change on the first day due to my calcium being 600+ (again I was doing it wrong before) now today my before dosing my Alkalinity was at 8.6, magnesium 1465, and calcium 463. I know magnesium and calcium are a little high and I’ve been waiting for them to come down slowly to avoid another “extra” water change which it’s weekly water change will be done again in 2 days. So I dosed just alkalinity aiming for 9.0 dkH but it ended up going up to 9.6 dkH. I just switched from the Red Sea reef foundation premade bottles to mixing my own Red Sea reef foundation and made the alkalinity mixture a little stronger than I intended. But now I am very confused because this jump in alkalinity somehow also raised my magnesium to 1570 and calcium to 474.

Just looking for some clarity. I understand I effed up fairly bad before and also still ****** up now but do want to get better at this!!

Is there a reason for dosing or is this more of a numbers thing?

 

[MenciTooLoko]

Is there a reason for dosing or is this more of a numbers thing?

Yes my alkalinity usually drops to the 7’s by the time I do my weekly water change so I’m trying to maintain. Also when I first checked my calcium and magnesium they were really low.

 

[Dread Pirate Dave]

Yes my alkalinity usually drops to the 7’s by the time I do my weekly water change so I’m trying to maintain. Also when I first checked my calcium and magnesium they were really low.

Do you have a lot of stony corals that are using it? Natural seawater is in the 7's for alk. I seen in your other thread that you only mentioned soft corals so I was wondering what was using the alkalinity. Coralline algae will deplete it as well. What salt mix do you use? If you are using one with lower dkh it may be worth while to switch to one that is closer to your targeted level.

 

[MenciTooLoko]

Do you have a lot of stony corals that are using it? Natural seawater is in the 7's for alk. I seen in your other thread that you only mentioned soft corals so I was wondering what was using the alkalinity. Coralline algae will deplete it as well. What salt mix do you use? If you are using one with lower dkh it may be worth while to switch to one that is closer to your targeted level.

I use reef crystals. I only have 3 zoas, 1 acan, 4 sps, 2 mushrooms, 2 leptoseris, and 1 Duncan. Also I started getting coraline algae a couple of weeks ago.

 

[RobertK]

I recommend 400-550 ppm for calcium, so yours is fine, IMO. There’s no evidence that any single value in that range is better than any other.

Hi Randy,
In your article Optimal Parameters for a Coral Reef Aquarium you recommend Ca 380-450. Has your recommendation changed?

 

[Dread Pirate Dave]

I use reef crystals. I only have 3 zoas, 1 acan, 4 sps, 2 mushrooms, 2 leptoseris, and 1 Duncan. Also I started getting coraline algae a couple of weeks ago.

Unless those are mature colonies, I would think regular water changes is all you need in the beginning. Also, reef crystals has an alkalinity of 12 or so. That's a bit higher than what you are targeting.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Hi Randy,
In your article Optimal Parameters for a Coral Reef Aquarium you recommend Ca 380-450. Has your recommendation changed?

Yes, I’ve seen no evidence of problems with higher calcium.

 

[RobertK]

Yes, I’ve seen no evidence of problems with higher calcium.

Good to know, thanks. Maybe when you have time you could update the table in that article. I use it as a reference and I'm sure a lot of other folks do too.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Good to know, thanks. Maybe when you have time you could update the table in that article. I use it as a reference and I'm sure a lot of other folks do too.

Updated now, thanks. :)