problems with cal and alk

flyline · 02-13-2007, 06:28 PM

im having problems with my cal and alk i have had my tank set up for about 5 months and i still cant get the coraline algea to take off. i do 10% water changes every week and still no luck well today i went to the lfs to have my water tested and they said everything looks good but my alk and cal was a little low..they said cal was at 350 and alk was at 9.6 and told me to suplement my water with kent marine super buffer and kent marine turbo calcium. im not a big fan of adding stuff to my tank but against my better judgement i went ahead and picked those products up.. they told me to add 1/8 to a 1/4 tsp of turbo calcium at night and 1/2 tsp of superbuffer in the morning and to do this till my next water change this weekend and to test my cal and alk see where they are at and adjust if need be. does this sound right? i dont want to add anything that i dont really have to but i also want things balanced in my tank. and one more quick question while i was down at the lfs i picked up a flametail blenny they told me they are reef safe what do you guys think of them? thanks alot everyone

flyline · 02-13-2007, 06:37 PM

oh by the way i have a 20 gal with a 10 gal sump

Witfull · 02-13-2007, 06:40 PM

moved to chemisty forum

prow · 02-13-2007, 10:13 PM

they did not give you bad advice. you can use those. IMO not the best way. here is a link that might help you decide one how you want to dose your tank.
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/feb2003/chem.htm at the bottom are a few links about Ca and ALK you might want to look through aswell.

for your coralline you need your Ca up around 400-420ppm and your alk around 3meq. coralline also likes atinic and blue spectum lighting. though it does seem certain colors grow better under certian lighting. for the most part it likes blue/atinic lighting. make sure you dont have too many redlegged hermit crabs that eat it up. scraping the existing coraline in high flow areas will help spread it.

for the blenny not sure about the flametail blenny. but i dont know any blenny that is not reef safe. all blennies i know of are safe.

02-13-2007, 06:28 PM	#1 (permalink)
flyline Midas Blenny Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: victorville ca Posts: 122 View Gallery Karma Komment	problems with cal and alk im having problems with my cal and alk i have had my tank set up for about 5 months and i still cant get the coraline algea to take off. i do 10% water changes every week and still no luck well today i went to the lfs to have my water tested and they said everything looks good but my alk and cal was a little low..they said cal was at 350 and alk was at 9.6 and told me to suplement my water with kent marine super buffer and kent marine turbo calcium. im not a big fan of adding stuff to my tank but against my better judgement i went ahead and picked those products up.. they told me to add 1/8 to a 1/4 tsp of turbo calcium at night and 1/2 tsp of superbuffer in the morning and to do this till my next water change this weekend and to test my cal and alk see where they are at and adjust if need be. does this sound right? i dont want to add anything that i dont really have to but i also want things balanced in my tank. and one more quick question while i was down at the lfs i picked up a flametail blenny they told me they are reef safe what do you guys think of them? thanks alot everyone

02-13-2007, 06:37 PM	#2 (permalink)
flyline Midas Blenny Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: victorville ca Posts: 122 View Gallery Karma Komment	Re: problems with cal and alk oh by the way i have a 20 gal with a 10 gal sump

02-13-2007, 10:13 PM	#4 (permalink)
prow Manta Ray Join Date: May 2005 Location: Redondo Beach, CA Posts: 3,854 View Gallery Karma Komment Add yours!	Re: problems with cal and alk they did not give you bad advice. you can use those. IMO not the best way. here is a link that might help you decide one how you want to dose your tank. http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/feb2003/chem.htm at the bottom are a few links about Ca and ALK you might want to look through aswell. for your coralline you need your Ca up around 400-420ppm and your alk around 3meq. coralline also likes atinic and blue spectum lighting. though it does seem certain colors grow better under certian lighting. for the most part it likes blue/atinic lighting. make sure you dont have too many redlegged hermit crabs that eat it up. scraping the existing coraline in high flow areas will help spread it. for the blenny not sure about the flametail blenny. but i dont know any blenny that is not reef safe. all blennies i know of are safe.

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