Parameter predicament!

[Bruce Burnett]

I'm confused. You are running a CaCO3/CO2 reactor and are concerned that alkalinity is high?

Presumably it needs to adjusted downward or just shut off for a while.

I guess I should have looked at the log. He had said it was rising before reactor but it is after.

 

[Gdk414]

It was rising before i added the reactor or perhaps there was some discrepancies with my testing?? I started off in may @ 8dkh and tested @ 9dkh in june and then 10dkh in july. And then 11 and 12dkh in aug and sept. I havent dosed, or done a water change until sept 28. I just let the tank run for 6 months. On sept 28 i did a 50 percent water change and hooked up the cal reactor. I thought the water change would have bumped me back down to around 9dkh or so, and then i could maintain stable parameters with the reactor. This is my first time using a cal reactor and all im going by is my testing and what ive learned online. Nobody is helping me im just winging it for the most part. and ive been progressivly turning the reactor down but i guess its not enough and maybe i should turn it off for a bit.?? What should my regulator guages read? And what should my effluent drip rate be, and co2 bubble count be generly? I just dont want to screw things up lol my coral and fish look pretty happy! Sorry if i sound like an idiot lol or a dummy but this is fun for me to learn and tinker with

 

[Gdk414]

what are you using for top off from evaporation. Are you using plain RO/DI or salt mix as all makeup should be plain water.

Yes its rodi water only

 

[Bruce Burnett]

It was rising before i added the reactor or perhaps there was some discrepancies with my testing?? I started off in may @ 8dkh and tested @ 9dkh in june and then 10dkh in july. And then 11 and 12dkh in aug and sept. I havent dosed, or done a water change until sept 28. I just let the tank run for 6 months. On sept 28 i did a 50 percent water change and hooked up the cal reactor. I thought the water change would have bumped me back down to around 9dkh or so, and then i could maintain stable parameters with the reactor. This is my first time using a cal reactor and all im going by is my testing and what ive learned online. Nobody is helping me im just winging it for the most part. and ive been progressivly turning the reactor down but i guess its not enough and maybe i should turn it off for a bit.?? I just dont want to screw things up lol my coral and fish look pretty happy! Sorry if i sound like an idiot lol or a dummy but this is fun for me to learn and tinker with

Well as long as your testing is good and you had not been dosing or doing water changes then your levels should go down over time. Depending on number of corals and the rate of growth this could take a while. What test kit are you using for each parameter. You may want to take the calcium reactor off for a while. Are you using a controller on your reactor. There is a lot of good information on setting one up. If nothing is being added and they go up it can only be testing error. Doing a water change will only bring down the numbers if you mix new water up with lower numbers and depending on salt mix you may end up too low in salinity. One of the reasons people do not get salts with boosted numbers as they can adjust themselves if needed.

 

[Gdk414]

Thanks bruce. No controller yet just my test log lol. But im going to get the apex soon if not the reefkeeper elite v2 . Doing reaserch on them right now.

The reactor is off. Today i tested 15dkh. Too scary lol but ive read some good posts about balancing alk and cal and mag. Hopefully it will paint a better picture and i can get these corals growing. I have a mixed reef w about 20 small corals. A few acro and other sps frags, monti caps, maze brain...a few others.
Oh yea im testing alk w red sea.

 

[Bruce Burnett]

Thanks bruce. No controller yet just my test log lol. But im going to get the apex soon if not the reefkeeper elite v2 . Doing reaserch on them right now.

The reactor is off. Today i tested 15dkh. Too scary lol but ive read some good posts about balancing alk and cal and mag. Hopefully it will paint a better picture and i can get these corals growing. I have a mixed reef w about 20 small corals. A few acro and other sps frags, monti caps, maze brain...a few others.
Oh yea im testing alk w red sea.

Even though you can use a calcium reactor without a PH probe in the reactor I would not do it. With 20 small corals you do not need a calcium reactor yet. If you get ph control on the reactor and after your alk gets into lower numbers you can start it back up but start with very low effluent flow rate and a higher ph around 6.8 then slowly raise flow rate or lower ph to maintain alk. Read and then when you get tired of reading read more. You will have to eventually make magnesium and calcium adjustments manually but use reactor to maintain alk levels. Using a monti cap as an example say the frag is only an inch across and in a month it grows to 1.5 inches not much alk is used. take one that is 10-12 inches across with multiple levels that increases by a half inch across, it will use a lot of alk. I also have red sea kit but I like the Hanna tester as I get more consistent readings.
You don't have to invest in an Apex as there are a number of PH controllers like Milwaukee that work just fine for a calcium reactor. Lots of people use an Apex but the Milwaukee has worked well for me for years. There are a lot of good articles under Chemistry forum here on reef2reef.
There are a number of ways to maintain levels besides a calcium reactor much of it is preference but you would never use a calcium reactor on a small tank and most people will not use dosing or kalk alone and would use a calcium reactor on say 300 gallon or larger. I have always used one when I up sized to 90 gallon display and now I am at 250 gallon, wish I could afford larger but I am happy at that size. Remember research everything before you do something. If buying fish think what you want, then what are the requirements are they safe with others of their same kind or other fish are they coral safe. Same thing when buying corals. Do everything slow and you will still make mistakes and have stuff die. Do some things fast and you may have everything die. Enjoy the hobby there are very many people with lots of knowledge that they are willing to share. I was out of the hobby for 7 years and just got back into it about 4 years ago and feel like I am still relearning everything. But then again I have more time than I did 30 years ago working 10-14 hours a day and raising 6 children. Now all I have is time.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

It was rising before i added the reactor or perhaps there was some discrepancies with my testing?? I started off in may @ 8dkh and tested @ 9dkh in june and then 10dkh in july. And then 11 and 12dkh in aug and sept. I havent dosed, or done a water change until sept 28. I just let the tank run for 6 months. On sept 28 i did a 50 percent water change and hooked up the cal reactor. I thought the water change would have bumped me back down to around 9dkh or so, and then i could maintain stable parameters with the reactor. This is my first time using a cal reactor and all im going by is my testing and what ive learned online. Nobody is helping me im just winging it for the most part. and ive been progressivly turning the reactor down but i guess its not enough and maybe i should turn it off for a bit.?? What should my regulator guages read? And what should my effluent drip rate be, and co2 bubble count be generly? I just dont want to screw things up lol my coral and fish look pretty happy! Sorry if i sound like an idiot lol or a dummy but this is fun for me to learn and tinker with

If alk was tending to rise even before it, you don't need the reactor at all yet.

 

[Gdk414]

If alk was tending to rise even before it, you don't need the reactor at all yet.

Yes agreed. But i thought the big water change would balance things a bit and i have a wholesaker and was going to buy tons of sps. Cal reactor is preparing for the future once i can measure and adjust confidently.