My Never-ending Calcium Problem

[Frankie]

I saw Boomer hangin in RC if anyone wants to go chase him down. I bother him to much so someone else needs to do it!

[CATALYST]

Look in your water change bucket and stir it up a little. Is it on the bottom? Maybe you're adding it when you change the water. I had a problem like this.

[Melanie]

Why would sand be blowing in every square inch of water from top to bottom though? This seriously is driving me crazy. And my 3 little fish do not produce enough poop to have continuous rain of poop 24/7 throughout 80 gallons of water. Especially with consistant water changes and light feeding.

One thing I DID neglect to mention, and it may mean something or nothing....the stuff blows out of my return heads mostly.

Here is a pic of my sump if it makes any difference...

[Melanie]

Originally Posted by CATALYST

Look in your water change bucket and stir it up a little. Is it on the bottom? Maybe you're adding it when you change the water. I had a problem like this.

Nope, that water is crystal clear.

[Woodstock]

Is that plain fresh water in the top off reservoir? Test the RO water for alk and ca and post results.

[Melanie]

Here is a video that captures it perfectly. I just shot this.
YouTube - Snow Storm

[Frankie]

It almost looks like micron bubbles. If that is solid white then you have snow for sure. have you tried to catch it in a cup and see if it settles? If it all rises up to the top and the glass clears perfectly i would say its bubbles.

[Melanie]

Ok, on the agenda for tomorrow is catch it in a clear glass and see if it settles. Also to do: test RO water for alkalinity and Ca.

[Dentoid]

Originally Posted by Melanie

One thing I DID neglect to mention, and it may mean something or nothing....the stuff blows out of my return heads mostly.

This sounds like air is being sucked in somehow. Perhaps its the plumbing. Does it stop when you turn off the return pump? Is it possible that your return pump is sucking in air?

[Dentoid]

I just looked at the picture of your sump again. It looks like microbubble in there.

[Blenny90]

Looks like micro bubbles. Some are so small that they hang and actually drop in the tank or stay suspended. They attach to rocks or coral also.

[Frankie]

Hey the cool thing is, I got to find this cool rendition of "third stone from the sun" by some kid on utube! I think he kicked a++!

[tbittner]

I agree, microbubbles. What was that right towards the end where it looked like it shot out a bunch of bubbles? It's like the bubbles collected somewhere and then all got released.

[prow]

yup, micro bubbles. seems like your water surface is more wave like than rippled. did you try to off you PH's and go with very low flow for a couple hours to see if cleared up?

also, if you were getting the snow storm your Mg would be getting used up also. no change in Mg and your alk is pretty steady, so dout your getting any percipitate.

with that rippled water surface i bet your down draft is pretty good, stirring up sand particles togather with mircobubbles and nitrobubbles is a better bet on whats going on.

i would also advise you start testing your water before you do water changes. test your make up water and adjust accordingly. then after the water change you should wait till the next day to test it again. later testing your tank water before changes will be mostly all you do for testing. adjusting your make up water will be the same with IO or reef crystals(they are both consitant, others i might be, i dont know about them though) so you will not need to test every batch just spot check it after you get the adjustments down.

[caitrina]

Melanie, check in the overflow box at your return where it is connected to the pipe(the ball joint area, if that is what you have also) , mine does the same thing but not as badly as yours. I tried to take mine off to put some plumpers tape there, but couldn't get it off. Anyway I have water coming from that ball joint area flowing back into the overflow and after I wiggled and screwed it partially off and then back on my bubbles cleared more. However that is where mine seems to be sucking air.