Tank precipitating

[polarbear]

So today when I got home I noticed what looked like precipitation in my tank. I tested the water and the following were the results:

Calcium 480ppm
dkh 7 (125.3ppm)
Mg .82 (1600ppm)

The only thing that has changed in my tank was adding purple tech (the kent marine kind) two different times. My calcium was at 440ppm and since went up to the 480ppm after adding the purple tech.

Should I be worrying about anything? The test results above are where they should be right? Please help me out on this one. I have never had this happen before.

[CoryDude]

Did you do a recent water change? I've had calcium precipitate on new salt water when I added a buffer.

I've only used purple tech a few times on my 60 gallon. It did cause some precipitation but it disappeared after a few minutes.

[polarbear]

No recent water change and I last used the purple tech 3 days ago.

[Texreefer]

well, your Ca is a little high Compared to your Alk, is it still cloudy?.. if it is, its likely not precipitation but mor likely the beginging of a bacteria bloom... i'm not a big fan of any of those additives.. you pay for packaging and water.. and the product like tech, purple up,Etc. can cause short term cloudiness in your water when used, especially if you accidentally overdose a bit.

[polarbear]

Thewater is not cloudy at all. It’s only that way for about an hour after usingthe product which is what they tell you on the package. I have used purple up beforein my old biocube and never had anything bad happen. The only thing I see inthe water is fine little particles floating around. Kind of like when the sandgets stirred up a bit. It was not any worse this morning before I left forwork.

What should my Alk be? I have reef builder by seachem that I could use to raiseit a bit. I just didn’t want to put it in the tank until I got some feedback.

[Squiers007]

Your Alk should be closer to a dkh of 9-11, especially since your Ca and Mg are on the higher side...

Sent from my Ally using Tapatalk

[polarbear]

so should i add the reef builder tonight to try and raise it slowly?

[Bill S]

Try this:

http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chem_calc3.html

One more thing: make SURE your test kits are right. I chased an alkalinty problem a couple of years ago, that wasn't really a problem.


(http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chem_calc3.html)

[polarbear]

Ok so I used the above calculator and got the results on how much reef builder to add. It says that the balanced calcium at 9dkh is 425ppm. Does this sound right? if so how do I decrease the calcium?

[polarbear]

Ill take the water tonight to get tested to make sure the test kit is right.

[CoryDude]

Ok so I used the above calculator and got the results on how much reef builder to add. It says that the balanced calcium at 9dkh is 425ppm. Does this sound right? if so how do I decrease the calcium?





Water changes my friend, water changes.

You may also see your calcium drop as your raise you alkalinity. It's a see-saw effect on the two.

[beareef19]

the little sand like particle are exactly that. calcium carbinate sand . I cant remember where I read it but if your water is unbalanced you can create a sand storm and all the calcium in your water can precipitate out creating sand. Maybe it was an article by Randy Holmes Farly on Reef Central

[polarbear]

Ok well I added the seachem reef builder tonight to try and raise my alk. I'll test again tomorrow to see if anything changes.

[Bill S]

Why not just use anhydrous baking powder? You just bake it in the oven for an hour to drive off the CO2. It's DIRT cheap.

[polarbear]

I already had the reef builder laying around.

Im going to have to do a water change this weekend to see if it helps becuase I can still see the stuff floating around in the tank.