Ninjabeaver Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 Hey guys I have a 40 gallon mixed reef, that has a 40 gal sump with an Omega 120 skimmer that runs all the time. I also run carbon and GFO in a dual chamber reactor. I let all kinds of nasty algae grow down in the sump and there is not much to speak of in the main display. I also have a kalkwasser drip going, it was set to about 1 drop / 10-15 seconds. Also do 5 gallons a week for water change with reef crystals. The problem I am seeing now is my alk and calcium do not stay consistent enough. Today my alk tested at 5.5 dkh and cal was 350, but I also don't trust my red sea alk test as I find it hard to read when the actual color changes occurs, and the inability to consistently draw up the right amount of titrant. Looking for advice as to what I should do next Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rworegon Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 Check your magnesium. Without the balance of magnesium you will have trouble keeping up your alk and calcium. Also, what is your coral load, any clams? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninjabeaver Posted October 3, 2014 Author Share Posted October 3, 2014 Check your magnesium. Without the balance of magnesium you will have trouble keeping up your alk and calcium. Also, what is your coral load, any clams? oh I forgot to mention that my mag is 1120, so that is low as well I do have a clam, 2.5 inches or so now. All in all probably 50 different corals from sps to lps. Also dosing acropower once a week, and feeding phyto and zoo plankton once a week as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rworegon Posted October 3, 2014 Share Posted October 3, 2014 You stated that you have a kalkwasser drip going. Do you dose magnesium at all? I'm not familiar with reef crystals chemistry but Kent reef salt mixes up with higher than normal mag, and calcium. You might try a few water changes with that, see where you end up. If not I would start dosing some magnesium. Do it slowly and watch you numbers as you dose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninjabeaver Posted October 3, 2014 Author Share Posted October 3, 2014 I have some kent tech M I can dose Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Z Reef Posted October 3, 2014 Share Posted October 3, 2014 Yikes that's really low, but take it easy bringing it back up. Your corals have slowly adjusted to the lower levels so don't panic and shock them dosing like crazy. I had a similar issue and slowly brought it back up and things recovered fine. Try and get that Mag up in the 1300s at least and slowly dose cal and alk. It sounds like your outrunning the kalk is adding, so 2 part should be initiated to get things back to normal again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandinga Posted October 3, 2014 Share Posted October 3, 2014 With that many corals in that small of a tank you are going to have to dose alk and Ca...maybe not daily, but possibly. I'd recommend using a 2-part system to get your levels GrADUALLY up...then once you have them stable, check to see how much your Alk and Ca drop each day... Sometimes people can do kalk drip only, but usually kalk is just something to help a reactor or two part system stay more stable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arsonmfg Posted October 3, 2014 Share Posted October 3, 2014 With that much coral and a clam you're going to need to start either dosing 2 part or pick up a calcium reactor... You might be able to pick up kalk reactor and increase your kalk but I'd just go with a two part system or a calcium reactor with quality media. Like everybody else said go slow but you need to get that alk on the rise soon or your going to start losing corals. The red sea test kits are actually great, just remove the silly little tips and just drip directly from the syringe and swirl between every drop it'll give you a plenty close measurement to know where you need to be. Don't stress too much on chasing numbers, you'll drive yourself crazy... just get your tank up to a balanced level of alk and calcium in an acceptable range and let your corals tell you what they like and keep that mag up above 1300. I prefer Kent salt as well because of the higher mag, I never have to dose mag in either of my systems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninjabeaver Posted October 4, 2014 Author Share Posted October 4, 2014 Ordered a dp-4 and two part stuff from brs. .I think red sea is going to send me a new titrant bottle. Also ordered a hanna alk checker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninjabeaver Posted October 4, 2014 Author Share Posted October 4, 2014 Thanks for the advice..slow and steady like everything else in this hobby. My purple haze monti doesnt look good (no PE), and my only acan not faring well either, but thats mainly because it got stung but my torch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Z Reef Posted October 4, 2014 Share Posted October 4, 2014 Also, what's your salinity at? Keeping it at 1.026 will help keep your levels up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninjabeaver Posted October 4, 2014 Author Share Posted October 4, 2014 I have been a very consistent 1.024, with a 5 gal ato res. Lately I have had problems keeping skimmer tuned, the foam goes way down some parts of the day, and others way too much....when I was on vacation it went too bubbly and drained the ato...my collection cup has a hose connected to another 5 gal bucket in case of it happening, but I cant seem to get the foam to be consistent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Higher Thinking Posted October 4, 2014 Share Posted October 4, 2014 I don't know if others have had this problem, but my skimmer goes crazy when I put my hands in the tank. Once it's dialed in, if I put my hands in the tank for more than a couple minutes, the skimmer will immediately start wet skimming and overflowing. I was having problems getting my skimmer tuned and I finally realized it was directly correlated to my hands in the tank. Whenever I do extensive stuff in my tank I have to turn the skimmer way low and let it skim like that for a couple hours. Then I can turn it back to it's normal spot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninjabeaver Posted October 4, 2014 Author Share Posted October 4, 2014 I don't know if others have had this problem' date=' but my skimmer goes crazy when I put my hands in the tank. Once it's dialed in, if I put my hands in the tank for more than a couple minutes, the skimmer will immediately start wet skimming and overflowing. I was having problems getting my skimmer tuned and I finally realized it was directly correlated to my hands in the tank. Whenever I do extensive stuff in my tank I have to turn the skimmer way low and let it skim like that for a couple hours. Then I can turn it back to it's normal spot.[/quote'] i wish the vertex omega 130's had an easier way to dial back things, instead of trying to turn the large pipe to close off more of the hole. annoying...my bubbles go way down when my hands are in, or if I just feed fish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninjabeaver Posted October 9, 2014 Author Share Posted October 9, 2014 I wanted to share my Hanna alk checker came today as well as my two part equipment....got everything mixed, used the BRS calculator to figure out my daily dosage to slowly get back up to where I should be... the calculator worked very well, I measured the solution and added alk and ca, then remeasured and it was right on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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