J & Jr Posted July 23, 2007 Share Posted July 23, 2007 my water has always tested fine,the other day I got a Mag. test kit because I have never tested for that. tested the tank and it was a little low around 1080ppm so I got some Teck-M from kent dosed the tank and now my Cal seems to have dropped to around 280 And my dKH to around 8.0 they used to run about 400 and 9.3. I have been dosing kent cal., kent tech-M and reef builder for the last 4 days and the next day everything is back down. any clue whats wrong? how do I get things back to normal? All other tests seem fine, PH 8.0, Phos. 0.1, Ammonia-NO2-NO3 at 0.0, thanks for any suggestions Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsoz Posted July 23, 2007 Share Posted July 23, 2007 ??? I thought that magnesium helped to keep calcium levels higher. ??? I wish I could help. dsoz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holly Posted July 23, 2007 Share Posted July 23, 2007 Calcium and alkalinity are related; If you have too much calcium, this drives down alkalinity, and if you add too much of an alkalinity supplement, your calcium will drop. Magnesium helps prevent calcium precipitation, so it does help maintain levels, to a degree. I found this online. You're in Zone 3. The author gives specific directions for how to move back into the right parameters: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2002/chem.htm Maybe also doing a small WC will also help...? Hope this helps! Keep us informed on how things are going... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J & Jr Posted July 23, 2007 Author Share Posted July 23, 2007 Thanks holly that was a good read and I am going to try tis out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chewie Posted July 23, 2007 Share Posted July 23, 2007 Calcium and alkalinity are related; If you have too much calcium' date=' this drives down alkalinity, and if you add too much of an alkalinity supplement, your calcium will drop. Magnesium helps prevent calcium precipitation, so it [i']does[/i] help maintain levels, to a degree. I found this online. You're in Zone 3. The author gives specific directions for how to move back into the right parameters: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2002/chem.htm Maybe also doing a small WC will also help...? Hope this helps! Keep us informed on how things are going... Excellent info, and great resource! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael7979 Posted July 24, 2007 Share Posted July 24, 2007 If you do a WC add the supplements to the WC water. That way you know the water you are adding is where you would like it to be. Then check and see what the tank params. are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J & Jr Posted July 24, 2007 Author Share Posted July 24, 2007 Michael that was a great idea I did a small WC tonight with the water I had on hand, and mixed up some new thinking to do another soon. will test and supplement as needed before adding to the tank wait a day then checkand see where I'm at. thanks everyone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyles Posted July 24, 2007 Share Posted July 24, 2007 Michael is right, this is always the proffered method, you should be shooting for a mag level of 1300, I keep mine at 1500, buffer your water prior to WC, this always makes life easy. Ryan has a great magnesium supp at his shop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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