Water Chem ?

[ansonluna]

Started dosing calcium last week and now everything is outta wack. What can I do to get things back to normal:

ALKALINITY - last week: 2.8
today : 4.0

CALCIUM - beyond 500ppm

[GaryP]

Alkalinity meq or kH?

What product are you dosing?

[ansonluna]

meq...sorry, just reading the other post about this.

[GaryP]

It looks like you are at the top of the range now. What are you dosing for alkalinity? What about calcium?

[ansonluna]

I use oceanic salt. not dosing alk. dosing "reef success calk" for calcium.

[NaCl_H2O]

That's 11.2 dKH and 500+ Ca ... not too bad, not really "Outta Wack"

What's your PH?

The Ca will drop by itself, just hold off dosing anymore and let it settle down.

How are you testing for Alk & Ca - Salifert?

[GaryP]

I'd say just slow down your dosing until you get a feeling for how much you need to dose on a weekly basis to maintain a balance on your levels. I would also recommend you test for Magnesium. Mag helps keep things in balance.

[NaCl_H2O]

He is using Oceanic - I seriously doubt that his Mg could be low ;)

[::pete::]

I second that ...

[ansonluna]

nacl - yes for ca. alk with the test kit that came with calk. tested ph day before yesterday was at 8.2.

also, was polishing my water and come carbon fell in the sump. will it harm anything to leave it in there. or do i need to go after every little pebble.

[ansonluna]

I'm just very new to this water chem stuff and I have visitors coming in tomorrow and I am in a brown alge boom (my family has to see this crap). there are sections all over my sand. this just happened recently and I don't know if it the water chem or just the tank getting used to additional inhabitants.

[::pete::]

Diatoms and probably just because its a newly setup tank ... it will pass. Add some ceriths.

[ansonluna]

sucks, because i had an initial boom. went away and i though i was in the clear. added a few big poopers (atlantic and yellow tang) and now it all started again.

[::pete::]

What water are you using?

[NaCl_H2O]

Chemistry (Ca & Alk) aren't your problem, it is nutrient export (lack of) and water flow. Crank up your skimmer if you can, and do a water change, maybe two?

No problem with the charcoal in the sump unless it can get sucked into a pump and get stuck in the impeller? Get out the big pieces as best you can.

Then tell them it is a new brown encrusting, very rare, coral :D

[::pete::]

Then tell them it is a new brown encrusting, very rare, coral

:D

[ansonluna]

I'm still using sink water. I hope to get a ro/di next month.

[::pete::]

Thats probably the problem there. How is the skimmer?

[NaCl_H2O]

How big is your tank?
How much RO/DI do you need for a water change?
When does the family show up??

[NaCl_H2O]

Ok, I re-read ... visitors tomorrow - bummer!

Do you have a filter sock? Panty hose will work too! Connect it to your drain into the sump and stir up the top layer of your sand bed - the sock/hose will catch the lose algae. You can also siphon it off, but use the hose on the end of the siphon hose so you "Export" the lose algae.

Use a toothbrush to brush algae off the Live Rock, leave the sock on the drain for an hour or two to catch all the junk - but watch it so it doesn't get full of crap and overflow your tank.

A water change, even with tap water, might still help.

BTW - Tap water + Oceanic + Ca suppliment is not a good mixture! You are headed for a system crash (TDS) down the road (months), so get that RO/DI on your high priority list!

[Dozer]

In the meantime (until you get your RO/DI unit) you could always buy some RO/DI water from a LFS...

[ansonluna]

thanks for eveyones input. maybe I'll switch to Intant Ocean, temperarily.