High Ca lo Ph

[attiland]

Hi all,

I have started this tank About 4 months ago.
this is a 130l nano
I use read sea salt and aiming sanitary of 35ppt
As per the salt description for this level I should read Ca of 430mg/l and Kh of 8 and in the beginning the Ph was 8 for months.
I have just a few fish in there at the moment together with some hermitsThe fis looks happy the water look clear as should be.

what has changed is due to some diatoms I have started to use RODI about 3 weeks ago and started to dose Microbacter 7 a week ago now I have a some strange readings Which could be due to the changes.

Ca is out of the range of API tester means over 520ml/l and the Ph dropped to 7.5
Phosphate dropped to almost 0 which is good. Kh is 8-9
now the question is should I stop dosing and should I be worried about the Ca and Ph readings

 

[dwest]

I wouldn’t trust api tests to be honest. They might be ok, but I think they are the starter kits. I would get a salifert calcium kit. If your calcium is really 520, that’s not a problem, but might indicate your salinity is a little high.

Also, pH test kits are noriously off as well. Either get a pH monitor that you calibrate, or just don’t worry about it.

Good move with RODI. I don’t know about the bacteria product, but I wouldn’t dose it. You will get diatoms and likely some cyano and green algae. That’s normal.

 

[attiland]

Thanks for the advice. To be honest the diatoms wasn’t too bad Yet and in but last 3 weeks it has significantly reduced already.

 

[dvgyfresh]

Microbacter 7, if I’m not mistaken, is different dormant bacteria strains, meaning they take a lot longer to fully activate compared to live bacteria strains. So it will take a bit longer to see stable results but the good thing is that microbacter 7 includes many different strains.

 

[attiland]

I am just surprised that the ph dropped and the Ca went out of the roof and the only thing I can recall is the microbacter 7 and the RODI.
Today I have introduced come Copepods and Rotifers to the rock work and in long term I am expecting this also have positive impact on the water quality.

 

[dwest]

I am just surprised that the ph dropped and the Ca went out of the roof and the only thing I can recall is the microbacter 7 and the RODI.
Today I have introduced come Copepods and Rotifers to the rock work and in long term I am expecting this also have positive impact on the water quality.

Looks good!

 

[attiland]

Finally sorted the mysteries. So Ca is my mistake. The API test’s End colour is never anything like they show on the instructions and that resorted me not to realise I already reached it. I will use up what I have I will Never buy the same test again.

the Ph is sorted with an air stone in the filtering area. I have an all in one aquarium and have no skimmer running yet also have a cover on the top of aquarium so the lack of air exchange made the Ph to drop. Back to 8-8.5