forestal
Active Member
Hello all. I am in a bit of a pickle with my tank and need some help. Please bear with the longwinded intro as it may be relevant
My 120 gallon tank has been set up for 4 years and i have done weekly to monthly 40% water changes during that time.
I use instant ocean salt, maintaining a specific gravity of 1.024-1.025
Until recently I have used the Hagen saltwater test kit and have not supplemented anything.
I use RO/DI for mixing and for FW topoff - I need 5-10 gallons/week topoff depending on the weather/season.
I keep mostly stony corals and fish, feed moderately to heavy, with a 40g sump/fuge.
when doing monthly water changes my Alk would measure 80-90mg/L (equiv. to ppm CaCO3) and Calcium 380-400. When doing weekly water changes I would get my alk to 90-100mg/L(ppm) and calcium to 400 consistently. My pH remains at 8.2-8.3 throughout this. I did a trial of buffering but with all in the tank growing and doing ok, i chickened out afraid I would screw something up.
Then over the last 6 months as hair algae went nuts, maintenance slipped due to health issues i paid no attention, did not test.
The passion has roped me back in and I test the water- but to my great relief no change from previous.
I have cleaned up the tank, have carbon/phosban running, numbers are the same using the Hagen test kit but now my calcium is 320...ok time to start adding as corals are using up faster
after reviewing the online info on calcium supplementation as well as my budget I decide that Kalk(limewater ) for a low-moderate demand tank is a reasonable method. I want to add this to maintain and hopefully boost a bit my alk and add calcium.
I also decided I wanted a better test kit to make sure I am doing well and got the salifert for calcium/pH/alkalinity.
(interject the fact that although i received a minor in chemistry 18 years ago in college, my brain doesn't seem to work well anymore )
So salifert says Ca = 270 (yikes) and Alk is 4.5meq/L (wait but its supposed to be low not high) ;I remeasured with the Hagen and got 80ppm CaCO3 again and 320,
pH with salifert, Hagen and Seachem is 8.2-8.28
reading I realize CaCO3 is not all that makes up the alk, but I am not adding anything except what is in the salt and food.
According To Dr. Holmes-Farley's writings the range to shoot for is 2.5-4 meq/L or 100-120 ppm CaCO3
any advice other than slowly supplementing with kalk and recheck each day to see where it goes.
Dr. Farley had a great article on how to fix depending on where your ca/alk is and if i am too high alk, it is supplementing just calcium, or am i low on both and just supplement Kalk.
Thanks for any help
My 120 gallon tank has been set up for 4 years and i have done weekly to monthly 40% water changes during that time.
I use instant ocean salt, maintaining a specific gravity of 1.024-1.025
Until recently I have used the Hagen saltwater test kit and have not supplemented anything.
I use RO/DI for mixing and for FW topoff - I need 5-10 gallons/week topoff depending on the weather/season.
I keep mostly stony corals and fish, feed moderately to heavy, with a 40g sump/fuge.
when doing monthly water changes my Alk would measure 80-90mg/L (equiv. to ppm CaCO3) and Calcium 380-400. When doing weekly water changes I would get my alk to 90-100mg/L(ppm) and calcium to 400 consistently. My pH remains at 8.2-8.3 throughout this. I did a trial of buffering but with all in the tank growing and doing ok, i chickened out afraid I would screw something up.
Then over the last 6 months as hair algae went nuts, maintenance slipped due to health issues i paid no attention, did not test.
The passion has roped me back in and I test the water- but to my great relief no change from previous.
I have cleaned up the tank, have carbon/phosban running, numbers are the same using the Hagen test kit but now my calcium is 320...ok time to start adding as corals are using up faster
after reviewing the online info on calcium supplementation as well as my budget I decide that Kalk(limewater ) for a low-moderate demand tank is a reasonable method. I want to add this to maintain and hopefully boost a bit my alk and add calcium.
I also decided I wanted a better test kit to make sure I am doing well and got the salifert for calcium/pH/alkalinity.
(interject the fact that although i received a minor in chemistry 18 years ago in college, my brain doesn't seem to work well anymore )
So salifert says Ca = 270 (yikes) and Alk is 4.5meq/L (wait but its supposed to be low not high) ;I remeasured with the Hagen and got 80ppm CaCO3 again and 320,
pH with salifert, Hagen and Seachem is 8.2-8.28
reading I realize CaCO3 is not all that makes up the alk, but I am not adding anything except what is in the salt and food.
According To Dr. Holmes-Farley's writings the range to shoot for is 2.5-4 meq/L or 100-120 ppm CaCO3
any advice other than slowly supplementing with kalk and recheck each day to see where it goes.
Dr. Farley had a great article on how to fix depending on where your ca/alk is and if i am too high alk, it is supplementing just calcium, or am i low on both and just supplement Kalk.
Thanks for any help