Why does my reef tank have high Ca and Alk?

[PeaBrain]

Following.

 

[Nick Barbier]

Ok, test your alkalinity, then don’t dose anything for 24 hours. After 24 hours (as exact as you can be), test alkalinity again, it will have dropped. This is your daily consumption. Use that drop and plug it into the calculator to see how much you have to dose to regain your target. Dose that amount, it is now your daily dose. Repeat the exercise every day for a week or two to tweak the dose and make sure you haven’t made any errors. You can then reduce testing to weekly, making adjustments as needed.

After dosing for two days, my Alk is holding steady @ 8.4, which is exactly where I want it. I will test it again tonight to see if it's still @ 8.4. Now if I can only get the Ca to drop, that would be great. It's still over 500, I am shooting for 430.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

After dosing for two days, my Alk is holding steady @ 8.4, which is exactly where I want it. I will test it again tonight to see if it's still @ 8.4. Now if I can only get the Ca to drop, that would be great. It's still over 500, I am shooting for 430.

Exact calcium values are not very important as long as it is in the 400-550 ppm range, so don't worry too much about elevated calcium.

 

[Nick Barbier]

Exact calcium values are not very important as long as it is in the 400-550 ppm range, so don't worry too much about elevated calcium.

Thanks Randy, now that I have the Alk @ 8.4, I will continue to let the Calcium drop until it's in the mid 400s. Thanks for all your advice and help!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Sounds good.

You're welcome and happy reefing.

 

[Nick Barbier]

Sounds good.

You're welcome and happy reefing.

After a week of my tank's Alk being steady at 8.4, the Alk started rising three days ago to 8.6. So I stopped dosing and waiting for the Alk to fall back to 8.4. After testing it last night, instead of falling, it rose to 9.3. What would cause my Alk to rise when I'm not dosing?
I haven't dosed the Ca in about a month because it's been over 500. I've also added several SPS and LPS frags in the last few weeks.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

What exactly are you dosing?

Might be test error.

Might be overdosed by mistake.

Might be corals have slowed growth for some reason and are not using like before.

 

[Nick Barbier]

What exactly are you dosing?

Might be test error.

Might be overdosed by mistake.

Might be corals have slowed growth for some reason and are not using like before.

I'm using an Aqua Medic 4 dosing pump and dose Oceans Blend 2 part solution. However, I haven't dosed Alk for 4 days now. I was using the Red Sea Pro test kit, but I ran out of the Alk regent. Plus it expires this month. So I switched to the Salifert test kits. But even before I switched, the Alk was testing high. It was 10 dkh with the Red Sea kit. The first time I tested with the Salifert kit, the Alk tested 9.3, and last night it was 10.1. How can that be when I haven't dosed any Alk for 4 days? The Alk was steady at 8.4 for a week before it starting climbing. Something has to be causing the Alk to climb. I haven't dosed any Ca for about a month because it has been over 500 ppm. I have added about 18-20 sps and lps frags in the past month. My tank is a 125g mixed reef. I am using 4 AI Hydra 26's with the blue LEDs set to 118% and the white LEDs set to 25%. The blue lights start ramping up at 8am and peak at 4pm and start ramping down at 8pm till they're off at 11pm. The white lights start ramping up at 12pm and peak at 4pm. They also start ramping down at 8pm till they go off at 11pm. The blue lights run at 2% in the moon light mode and follow the moons monthly cycle from 11:30pm till 7:30am.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I would keep monitoring it. It may not actually be climbing appreciably. Test kits are not infallible.
Declining nitrate will boost alk.

 

[clffthmps]

If cal and alk are high I would let them drop.if cal is a little high and alk is low i would Dose equal parts. I would wait about 24 to 48 hours.check cal and alk and mag.

 

[clffthmps]

I would also check my test kits. to make sure they are not expired.

 

[Nick Barbier]

I would keep monitoring it. It may not actually be climbing appreciably. Test kits are not infallible.
Declining nitrate will boost alk.

Now that makes perfect sense, I have been dosing Red Sea NOPOX. I didn't know that. Thanks Randy, I will test my nitrate levels.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Now that makes perfect sense, I have been dosing Red Sea NOPOX. I didn't know that. Thanks Randy, I will test my nitrate levels.

A drop of 50 ppm in nitrate using NOPOX will raise alkalinity by about 2.3 dKH, returning exactly the alkalinity that was lost when that nitrate was formed from ammonia.

Thus, if nitrate is steady, even with NOPOX dosing, there is no net effect on alkalinity.

The relationship of nitrate to alkalinity only applies when nitrate is actually rising or falling, not just being present.

 

[Nick Barbier]

A drop of 50 ppm in nitrate using NOPOX will raise alkalinity by about 2.3 dKH, returning exactly the alkalinity that was lost when that nitrate was formed from ammonia.

Thus, if nitrate is steady, even with NOPOX dosing, there is no net effect on alkalinity.

The relationship of nitrate to alkalinity only applies when nitrate is actually rising or falling, not just being present.

Very good information! Thanks Randy

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Very good information! Thanks Randy

You're welcome.

Happy reefing.

 

[Nick Barbier]

You're welcome.

Happy reefing.

I am used to the Red Sea Pro test kit. Now that I switched to the Salifert test kits, I noticed that they are different and will take some getting used to.

 

[Nick Barbier]

I've been testing the Alk daily in my 125g mixed reef. I have gotten it to 8.4 KH and it stays there for 2 to 3 days. Then it unexpectedly increases to 9.3 to 9.5 in a day. I let the Alk drop to 7.7 and then dose 62 ml of Oceans Blend Pt. 2 (according to the Reef Chemistry Calculator). The Alk rises to 8.4 and stays steady for for 2-3 days and then rises again to 9.3-9.5. I am dosing 1 ml of NOPOX, and my Nitrate is barely detectable at 2 ppm. Randy, according to your earlier post, the only thing that can cause Alk to rise is a decrease in Nitrate. I am using an Aqua Medic Evo 4 Redoser to dose my 2 pt. solution. I have been adding a few new frags about once a week, but I don't see how that could affect the Alk (Ca, yes). I can't seem to keep the Alk stable regardless of what I do. What else can I do, that I'm not already doing to stabilize the Alkalinity? Thanks

 

[Nick Barbier]

You're welcome.

Happy reefing.

I've been testing the Alk daily in my 125g mixed reef. I have gotten it to 8.4 KH and it stays there for 2 to 3 days. Then it unexpectedly increases to 9.3 to 9.5 in a day. I let the Alk drop to 7.7 and then dose 62 ml of Oceans Blend Pt. 2 (according to the Reef Chemistry Calculator). The Alk rises to 8.4 and stays steady for for 2-3 days and then rises again to 9.3-9.5. I am dosing 1 ml of NOPOX, and my Nitrate is barely detectable at 2 ppm. Randy, according to your earlier post, the only thing that can cause Alk to rise is a decrease in Nitrate. I am using an Aqua Medic Evo 4 Redoser to dose my 2 pt. solution. I have been adding a few new frags about once a week, but I don't see how that could affect the Alk (Ca, yes). I can't seem to keep the Alk stable regardless of what I do. What else can I do, that I'm not already doing to stabilize the Alkalinity? Thanks

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I've been testing the Alk daily in my 125g mixed reef. I have gotten it to 8.4 KH and it stays there for 2 to 3 days. Then it unexpectedly increases to 9.3 to 9.5 in a day. I let the Alk drop to 7.7 and then dose 62 ml of Oceans Blend Pt. 2 (according to the Reef Chemistry Calculator). The Alk rises to 8.4 and stays steady for for 2-3 days and then rises again to 9.3-9.5. I am dosing 1 ml of NOPOX, and my Nitrate is barely detectable at 2 ppm. Randy, according to your earlier post, the only thing that can cause Alk to rise is a decrease in Nitrate. I am using an Aqua Medic Evo 4 Redoser to dose my 2 pt. solution. I have been adding a few new frags about once a week, but I don't see how that could affect the Alk (Ca, yes). I can't seem to keep the Alk stable regardless of what I do. What else can I do, that I'm not already doing to stabilize the Alkalinity? Thanks

I don't see any explanation for what you wrote except test variability. I'd just keep monitoring and not worry too much about changes of that magnitude unless they keep trending up or down substantially.

 

[Nick Barbier]

I don't see any explanation for what you wrote except test variability. I'd just keep monitoring and not worry too much about changes of that magnitude unless they keep trending up or down substantially.

Thanks Randy, I'm just trying to keep the Alk as stable as possible. So you don't think the Alk going from 8.4 to 9.5 in three days is too much of a change?