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[WhereIsNemo?]

Hello! We are new to saltwater, and are having some troubles with our levels right now. For context, we bought a 60 gallon cube tank with a 40 gallon “refugium.” The refugium houses a bulkhead and protein skimmer, as well as a sponge filter and some carbon where the siphon tube feeds the refugium. We have quite a few corals, 7 small fish, a starfish, and many snails and hermit crabs.

Last week, our calcium was at 400 ppm, and our KH was at 89.5 ppm (or 5 dKH). We did a five gallon water change the day after testing, using Instant Ocean salt. Today I tested the water and calcium is at 480 ppm and KH was still at 89.5 ppm. Our pH has also gone down slightly as well, from 8.1 to 8. What’s the best way to bring up the KH without also bringing up the calcium? Or bringing down the pH too much. I’ve read we can mix baking soda with some deionized water, but that it will also bring down the pH if we do that. Unfortunately all of the stores are closed so we can’t go get something specifically made for fish tanks until the morning. Everything in the tank is acting normal, a shrimp just molted last night and survived, and my emerald crabs are active, so I don’t think it’s effecting anyone yet, but is there anything I should be looking for to tell me if the levels are negatively impacting the tank?

 

[mcarroll]

i'm curious what test kit you are using that is giving you results in PPM?

I would consider double checking the test result

first, I would at least retest one more time just to make sure it wasn't testing error. But even better. test with another test kit, perhaps the local fish store contest for you. This would rule out a problem of any sort with the current test or its operation.

I would also consider testing a freshly mixed batch of seawater, and that will tell you if the levels are correct there.

 

[Marine Betta]

Hello! We are new to saltwater, and are having some troubles with our levels right now. For context, we bought a 60 gallon cube tank with a 40 gallon “refugium.” The refugium houses a bulkhead and protein skimmer, as well as a sponge filter and some carbon where the siphon tube feeds the refugium. We have quite a few corals, 7 small fish, a starfish, and many snails and hermit crabs.

Last week, our calcium was at 400 ppm, and our KH was at 89.5 ppm (or 5 dKH). We did a five gallon water change the day after testing, using Instant Ocean salt. Today I tested the water and calcium is at 480 ppm and KH was still at 89.5 ppm. Our pH has also gone down slightly as well, from 8.1 to 8. What’s the best way to bring up the KH without also bringing up the calcium? Or bringing down the pH too much. I’ve read we can mix baking soda with some deionized water, but that it will also bring down the pH if we do that. Unfortunately all of the stores are closed so we can’t go get something specifically made for fish tanks until the morning. Everything in the tank is acting normal, a shrimp just molted last night and survived, and my emerald crabs are active, so I don’t think it’s effecting anyone yet, but is there anything I should be looking for to tell me if the levels are negatively impacting the tank?

If those results are accurate, the fact that your calcium and alkalinity, in particular, are low is telling me that your magnesium is low. Have you gotten that checked? Calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium work together to build the calcium carbonate skeletons of corals. Magnesium is kind of like an intermediary between calcium and alkalinity. If your alkalinity is low and you have low magnesium, no amount of dosing will raise your alkalinity. Tidal gardens has a great video on this topic if you’re interested. Check magnesium, and slowly raise it to at least 1250 ppm. I prefer to run mine at 1400+ ppm. After you get the magnesium up, slowly raise your alkalinity back up to 7.5-8.1 ppm. You can run alk a little higher, but that really isn’t necessary for most coral. Is your coral looking normal now?