I messed up, please help

stanleo

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So I have not been doing the regular maintenance on the tank that I should be doing. I haven't done water changes for a couple months and I haven't tested in 6 or so months. I also haven't checked my dosing pump in a while and I think it stopped dosing but I don't know for how long. I tested it and it works but the levels in the reservoir haven't gone down I don't think. I know this is all bad but we have had some major stuff happen and I haven' t been at all focused on this. The tank looks fine. Corals seem happy and growing, fish are happy the sand bed is clean and there are no algae issues. Salinity is 35 ppt and pH is 8. A little low but the house is closed up for the winter.

But I just tested ALK and CAL with my Red Sea test kits and the results are alarming. Alk was at 5.6 and Cal was so low the chart doesn't go that low. I am wondering if I should get new kits before I do anything. But I checked the dosing calculator on BRS and it said to raise Cal by 100 ppm, I need 1400 ml!! Is that right? Should I do half of that for the next few days to raise it? I does with Soda Ash and Calcium carbonate both from BRS.
 

JNalley

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So I have not been doing the regular maintenance on the tank that I should be doing. I haven't done water changes for a couple months and I haven't tested in 6 or so months. I also haven't checked my dosing pump in a while and I think it stopped dosing but I don't know for how long. I tested it and it works but the levels in the reservoir haven't gone down I don't think. I know this is all bad but we have had some major stuff happen and I haven' t been at all focused on this. The tank looks fine. Corals seem happy and growing, fish are happy the sand bed is clean and there are no algae issues. Salinity is 35 ppt and pH is 8. A little low but the house is closed up for the winter.

But I just tested ALK and CAL with my Red Sea test kits and the results are alarming. Alk was at 5.6 and Cal was so low the chart doesn't go that low. I am wondering if I should get new kits before I do anything. But I checked the dosing calculator on BRS and it said to raise Cal by 100 ppm, I need 1400 ml!! Is that right? Should I do half of that for the next few days to raise it? I does with Soda Ash and Calcium carbonate both from BRS.
The good news is Calc and Alk are 2 of the big things found in your salt. You can mix up some salt, do a water change, and slowly raise the two over the course of the next few weeks. Just do some 25% water changes to walk it up, every week, test right before and a couple of hours after you do the change just to make sure you're trending in the right direction.
 

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