UPCOMING: Events

Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Results 11 to 13 of 13

Thread: red alge problem

  1. #11

    Default

    eleyan, take your sweet time bringing the calcium up. Quick changes can cause irrepairable damage. The dKh is good, all you need to do right now is add a little calcium. If you also add buffer in equivalent amounts, you will not make headway with the calcium right now. Calcium and dKh work like a see-saw. As dKh rises, calcium goes down. As calcium is increased, dKh goes down. You can boost both in equal amounts (RE: kalk), but, if one is low and the other is optimal, adding in equal parts will not bring you into balance. Magnesium makes this process stabile providing its high enough. Test for that. IO in fresh mixed water runs a bit low, but, should be good to keep it in check as long as you have a source for Mg in your sand/rock/additives.
    You have a 72, so in reality it might be safer and easier to balance things with partial water changes. 10% at at time, more frequently than you indicate you have been doing. If your add things and get a sudden swing back, and you can with a buffer system like this, it could really do some damage. A 300 calcium is not the end of the world or your tank life. A sudden change can be. Be thankful its taking a long time to change. That fact alone has spared you lots of grief at this point. You said you are using kalk. That helps get rid of the phosphates as well as some other things. The worst thing you can ever do with a reef tank or marine animals is to get into a hurry and try to solve perceived problems overnight. My first reaction to a problem so long as there isn't 50 gallons of water on the floor or something like that, is to chill and do my best not to react at all. Think thru a strategy to repair and research it, for maybe a week or so, and then start on a well researched plan of action that will eventually bring about results. Reef keeping: Its like the story of the tortoise and the hare.
    Larry
    INSTAR
    CEO, Biologist
    "Heck, the water is clear, must be good"

  2. #12

    Default

    The reading I was getting out of my RO/DI unit was just what my electronic TDS meter gave me. I think it's kind of a sum total of everything that disolves into ions. Whatever they are, they must have been accumulating in my reef, which probably isn't good. I would assume some of it is phosphate. But you know what they say about ***umtions.

    Jack

  3. #13
    Join Date
    10-13-2003
    Location
    NW San Antonio
    Posts
    7,113

    Default

    TDS is Total Dissolved Solids, as opposed to TSS - Total Suspended Solids (i.e. particulates).

    Gary
    Gary

    125 SPS, 75 gal. LPS/softie reef, 9 gal. Nano

Similar Threads

  1. Red Alge
    By SVT519 in forum Emergency Discussion
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: Fri, 13th Apr 2007, 09:54 PM
  2. BROWN ALGE
    By clone in forum Emergency Discussion
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: Tue, 5th Sep 2006, 09:21 PM
  3. alge problem
    By blackstrips85 in forum Emergency Discussion
    Replies: 10
    Last Post: Fri, 16th Jun 2006, 08:00 AM
  4. Brown Alge ?
    By ansonluna in forum General Reefkeeping Discussion
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: Thu, 27th Jan 2005, 06:34 AM
  5. How do you get rid of bad alge?
    By RedDragon in forum General Reefkeeping Discussion
    Replies: 17
    Last Post: Wed, 26th Mar 2003, 06:12 PM

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •