Lowering Calcium, Raising Alk with 2 part?

Bradlas

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I am in need of advice on how to manage my BRS 2 part dose; to get my parameters in check. I have been dosing BRS 2 part for a year now with very stable outcomes. My alkalinity has stayed within .1dkh everyday and Calcium always hung within 10 ppm everytime I tested with hanna checkers. My magnesium is still consistantly testing between 1350 and 1400. Recently, I went on vacation (naturally murphy's law takes over) and my doser started slipping (cheap pump). This has caused my calcium to raise from the normal 450 to 540 and my alkalinity has dropped from the normal 9.0 to 7.8. The corals look a little less than happy but not worriesome. I can tell that the growth has seemingly halted a bit, which is why I would prefer to correct the parameters. In the last two weeks I have done 2 water changes but that hasn't seemed to help. My question is how do I go about getting everything back within range? Can I stop dosing the calcium 2 part and maintain my normal alkalinity dose and wait for calcium to drop? What are some possible options to return parameters to normal over time?
 

arking_mark

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You probably want to use a combo of water changes and only dosing the Alk part.

Water changes have the least impact on water parameter balance but will require quite a lot of them to get your parameters back where you want them. You can use this calculator to help you figure out how much/many water changes will be required.


However, a combination of water changes and only dosing Alk until your back where you want to be should be fine. The Alk part will just be adding Na to your tank in addition to carbonate which is no big deal at the levels we are talking about.
 

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