Parameters all over, alk and calc constantly low. Help raising?

[everpresentnoob]

I have a 125 gallon tank with probably 25 or 30 gallons in a sump, 3 filter socks reef octo classic 150int skimmer. Bunch of extra rock in the sump. Slowly building an ats, but it's not installed yet.

Ok, on to my issue. I cannot for the life of me get my alc and calc to stay stable. Constantly testing alc with a hanna test or and I have gotten it to come upfrom 4.6 a month ago. Yesterday it was 7.3, added some alk supplement and it was at 8.1. I'll test today after work and see how much it has dropped.

Calcium has been consistently 350 to 380, but doesn't want to raise.

I'm using esv b ionic 2 part for my corrections, adding into the sump where a cheap wave maker is running, and no I don't add the two at the same time. Normally 30 to 60 mins apart.

Someone suggested my mag might be low causing the alk and calc to drop quickly so I tested that Saturday. 1120... Tested nitrate last weekend 6, and phos was .07, ph was 8.0.

Tank is stocked with about 10 fish and a handful of corrals, torch, birdsnest, jade dragon, zoas, and a number of things I don't know the name of but look good. Lol. I know how helpful that is ... I do have a number of spots of coraline growing , but not to much. I can see growth on everything so I understand some consumption, but it's not even. I haven't been able to get any sort of baseline to set up dosing. It's more of a test and dump type thing.

Currently I'm thinking that low mag is contributing to the low alk and calc levels and if I raise mag it should help buffer so they stay higher? Or am I completely off my rocker here....

I'll try to get a white light pic of the tank tonight to post

 

[Fish Fan]

When I see two or more parameters both low, I suspect low salinity. I would double check your that your salinity tester is well calibrated. Don't calibrate it with distilled or RODI water, or even with store bought calibration fluid. Make your own calibration fluid using the recipe in this link. It's easy and practically free, you just need regular kitchen table salt and a decent kitchen scale or measuring spoons:
https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/reef-aquarium-salinity-diy-calibration-standards.956/

 

[X-37B]

Check and make sure SG is stable.
Do you use an ato?
2 part needs to be dosed daily to keep both alk and ca stable.
I run esv on 3 systems and alk and ca are dosed with a kamoer pump 1-2 times a day. This is how stability works.

 

[everpresentnoob]

I understand dosing daily keeps it stable, my issues is that my numbers are random so I can't calculate how much to dose daily.

My salinity is at 1.25, checked with a refractometer and a hydrometer (the fancy glass bulb doodad that you float in the water. I may have the name wrong. Lol). Salinity has been stable, both in the tank and with the new water from my water change this weekend.

And yes, I run an ato.

 

[X-37B]

Get mag to 1300 and start dosing esv daily. I missed the low mag.
Test everyday at the same time.
What is random?
Test and add. Next day test and add. This will tell you how much you system is using.

Alk was 7.3, add and now 8.1.
What was it the next day?

 

[everpresentnoob]

It was 7.3 yesterday morning. Added esv to raise and that evening it was 8.1. I'll test today when I get back home. Wasn't about to try testing at 0400 before I left for work this morning. Lol.

As to all over the place, I will test one day and it will be in the low sevens or mid to upper sixes I will dose ESV alkalinity and sometimes the next day when I retest it will not have changed and other days it will have come up a bit. I have been using the calculator on BRS for how much to add to try and raise it up knowing I'm not supposed to go over one dkh per day. I have really been struggling over the last month trying to get it up to 8:00. Yesterday was the first day I've actually seen it that high. But nothing was consistent with it. I would dose enough to raise it one dkh and then test the next day and it may have raised 0.2 or it may have raised the full one dkh. But there was no consistency.

My magnesium supplement should be here tonight. So I will start dosing that to raise mag up to 1300. Obviously not at once and not one day to see if hopefully that helps the calcium and dkh be a little bit more consistent in testing.

I am using the Red Sea test kit for calcium a henna checker for alkalinity and Red Sea for magnesium. I was using Hannah for the calcium as well but it was consistently super low. I finally took a water sample as well as my test kits it's one of the local fish shops and they ran it through the aqua spin and that said my calcium was 4:30. We tested the water right there with my henna and they gave back a reading of 320. So the Red Sea test there seems to be working a lot better.

What I would like is to be able to see a consistent drop during the day so that I can figure out how much to set up my dosers to add each day. And then I'm sure there will have to be a little bit of tweaking and fine tuning to keep my numbers where I want them, but right now I have my dosers all set up but I have absolutely no clue what they should be dosing each day because nothing is consistent.

I hope this rambling makes sense

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I understand dosing daily keeps it stable, my issues is that my numbers are random so I can't calculate how much to dose daily.

My salinity is at 1.25, checked with a refractometer and a hydrometer (the fancy glass bulb doodad that you float in the water. I may have the name wrong. Lol). Salinity has been stable, both in the tank and with the new water from my water change this weekend.

And yes, I run an ato.

Pick a low equal parts dose and stick with it for a week. Say 0.2 dKH per day. Do not adjust daily and do not adjust based on calcium.

Then see how things changed in a week. Testing is too imprecise to adjust daily, especialyl for calcium which moves very slowly.

If calcium is low but alk is reasonable (say, 7-9 dKH), then just give a one time corrective dose for it only.

 

[everpresentnoob]

Pick a low equal parts dose and stick with it for a week. Say 0.2 dKH per day. Do not adjust daily and do not adjust based on calcium.

Then see how things changed in a week. Testing is too imprecise to adjust daily, especialyl for calcium which moves very slowly.

If calcium is low but alk is reasonable (say, 7-9 dKH), then just give a one time corrective dose for it only.

After I raise my mag, or during my next few days of dosing mag to raise it to 1300?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

After I raise my mag, or during my next few days of dosing mag to raise it to 1300?

How long has the tank been dosed with calcium? Unless its been dosed in large amounts for a long time, your magnesium will be close to your salt mix and I would not recommend dosing it based on testing, which is too inaccurate. Magnesium cannot deplete faster than about 1/10th as fast as calcium.

I would not do anything about mag now, but going forward, this is a better method than dosing based on testing:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/just-say-no-to-magnesium-testing-rmm-is-born.1017528/