Problems with ALK and CAL, help me guys!!!!

Jeremy1988 · 07/24/2017, 08:21 PM

Hey guys! Long time no hear right haha. K, anyways...so I have a year an a half old 90 gallon reef tank. O were to begin...well I never feed my corals until about 3 months ago and started using reef nutrition phyto feast, aqua vitro fuel and reef chili!...so I run 3 dosing pumps, there the BRS drews dosing pumps, which are the BRS top of the line brand. I run 3 commercial timers...Apollo eco plus digital timers. Sooooo I thought I had my timers dialed in really well...for like 2 months they were on point! I even left (in the military) for 3 weeks, came back and were BAM right on the #s!!! Well...like I said I started to feed...the tank came alieve bc I'v never feed my corals before...sooooo now my levels started to creep up, I will also add my water changes have been less frequent bc my bio pellets are mature and kicking ***. Nitrates stay around 2 to 5. Going back my levels have been creeping up, NOT MAG just ALK AND CAL. So I backed down the dosage times. Seems logical right...I checked back like a week and a half later and the ALK had raised to 9.8...which is a bit too high for my liking and the CAL I cant quite read but the water starts to turn colors at the end of 500..so its probably 510...maybe 520. And this was after I backed the dosing times down!!! So for now I have cut off both ALK and CAL timers to let the levels fall naturally...and I'll be honest...I'm a bit concered about the CAL being so high. I will also add that a little before I started feeding my corals I had always kept mainly LPS, softies, an alien eye, and procllipora...well right around that time I added 2 acan frags and a birdsnest...so I thought for sure they would consume ALK and CAL...well apparently the FRAGS are not...need some help guys...this had me scratching my head. I have NOT changed salts, not changed salienty, nothing!!! PH is fine...seems to be 8.1ish...maybe 8.0 its an ELOS test kit...and I'm using Red Sea test kits, I even used a Salferit CAL test kit and I got really close to the same readings...what the heck right! AND MAG has been the exact same for probably 4 months now...1400.

Lsufan · 07/24/2017, 10:09 PM

Most mag tests aren't very accurate & it's easy to make a error during testing. As far as the other 2, it's hard to say what exactly changed to where u have less uptake. It could be something as simple as coralline stopped growing as fast because it can use up some alk.

I would go ahead & let it drop to where u plan on keeping it then start testing & getting it dialed in again. It may take u a couple of weeks to get it dialed in, but once u do u should be able to keep it pretty stable. I only test calcium & mag every couple of weeks to a month, but I test alk weekly. My params have been stable for a couple years but I still test alk once a week. By testing once a week If something changes in the tank I will catch it before it gets out of hand. If u only test it once a month it can get out of wack pretty bad before u catch it.

Calcium at those numbers should not really hurt anything. It is definitely on the high side so I would let it come down, but it's not worth stressing over

Lsufan · 07/24/2017, 10:10 PM

double post:

Mishri · 07/25/2017, 10:35 AM

what are you feeding your corals? -since this appears to be the only change...

Jeremy1988 · 07/25/2017, 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lsufan

Most mag tests aren't very accurate & it's easy to make a error during testing. As far as the other 2, it's hard to say what exactly changed to where u have less uptake. It could be something as simple as coralline stopped growing as fast because it can use up some alk. U may have even had some precipitation before.

I would go ahead & let it drop to where u plan on keeping it then start testing & getting it dialed in again. It may take u a couple of weeks to get it dialed in, but once u do u should be able to keep it pretty stable. I only test calcium & mag every couple of weeks to a month, but I test alk weekly. My params have been stable for a couple years but I still test alk once a week. By testing once a week If something changes in the tank I will catch it before it gets out of hand. If u only test it once a month it can get out of wack pretty bad before u catch it.

Calcium at those numbers should not really hurt anything. It is definitely on the high side so I would let it come down, but it's not worth stressing over

Hey thanks guys and gals!!! Yupp we figured it out I believe...I called BRS this morning told them everything...they think that whats happening is that now that my bio pellet reactor has started to consistently start bringing down and or keeping nutrients lower (nitrates etc) that's the cause of it....which I think would make sense. My #s for CAL MAG and ALK were on point for months and months...but the bio pellet reactor has taken quite a while to really truly get going and do what everyone says there suppose to do.

It is interesting though...bc I forgot to ask...but I'm not sure how the marriage of lower nitrates in term means corals use up less additives? I believe I was "starving" my corals previously before I started feeding them. I already use a pipit to feed my few fish I have, and I only feed once a day...and I really started stepping things up when feeding them. I'm using aqua vitro fuel, reef nutrition phyto feast and reef chili now...so what I did is just disconnect the pump from the timers...gonna wait a couple of days or few and get the #s down, then re adjust from there. I have a feeling it will take me about a month or so to dial them back in with this apparent new change...

Lsufan · 07/25/2017, 03:03 PM

That makes sense. With higher nutrients the corals that u have were getting plenty of food so they were growing fast. Once your nutrients went down the coral growth slowed so your params started creeping up. Glad u got it figured out

07/24/2017, 08:21 PM	#1
Jeremy1988 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2016 Posts: 209	Problems with ALK and CAL, help me guys!!!! Hey guys! Long time no hear right haha. K, anyways...so I have a year an a half old 90 gallon reef tank. O were to begin...well I never feed my corals until about 3 months ago and started using reef nutrition phyto feast, aqua vitro fuel and reef chili!...so I run 3 dosing pumps, there the BRS drews dosing pumps, which are the BRS top of the line brand. I run 3 commercial timers...Apollo eco plus digital timers. Sooooo I thought I had my timers dialed in really well...for like 2 months they were on point! I even left (in the military) for 3 weeks, came back and were BAM right on the #s!!! Well...like I said I started to feed...the tank came alieve bc I'v never feed my corals before...sooooo now my levels started to creep up, I will also add my water changes have been less frequent bc my bio pellets are mature and kicking ***. Nitrates stay around 2 to 5. Going back my levels have been creeping up, NOT MAG just ALK AND CAL. So I backed down the dosage times. Seems logical right...I checked back like a week and a half later and the ALK had raised to 9.8...which is a bit too high for my liking and the CAL I cant quite read but the water starts to turn colors at the end of 500..so its probably 510...maybe 520. And this was after I backed the dosing times down!!! So for now I have cut off both ALK and CAL timers to let the levels fall naturally...and I'll be honest...I'm a bit concered about the CAL being so high. I will also add that a little before I started feeding my corals I had always kept mainly LPS, softies, an alien eye, and procllipora...well right around that time I added 2 acan frags and a birdsnest...so I thought for sure they would consume ALK and CAL...well apparently the FRAGS are not...need some help guys...this had me scratching my head. I have NOT changed salts, not changed salienty, nothing!!! PH is fine...seems to be 8.1ish...maybe 8.0 its an ELOS test kit...and I'm using Red Sea test kits, I even used a Salferit CAL test kit and I got really close to the same readings...what the heck right! AND MAG has been the exact same for probably 4 months now...1400.

07/24/2017, 10:09 PM	#2
Lsufan Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: Baton Rouge Posts: 1,410	Most mag tests aren't very accurate & it's easy to make a error during testing. As far as the other 2, it's hard to say what exactly changed to where u have less uptake. It could be something as simple as coralline stopped growing as fast because it can use up some alk. I would go ahead & let it drop to where u plan on keeping it then start testing & getting it dialed in again. It may take u a couple of weeks to get it dialed in, but once u do u should be able to keep it pretty stable. I only test calcium & mag every couple of weeks to a month, but I test alk weekly. My params have been stable for a couple years but I still test alk once a week. By testing once a week If something changes in the tank I will catch it before it gets out of hand. If u only test it once a month it can get out of wack pretty bad before u catch it. Calcium at those numbers should not really hurt anything. It is definitely on the high side so I would let it come down, but it's not worth stressing over Last edited by Lsufan; 07/25/2017 at 03:04 PM.

07/25/2017, 10:35 AM	#4
Mishri Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Great Falls, MT Posts: 1,404	what are you feeding your corals? -since this appears to be the only change... __________________ 300 gallon 8ft long, 2x xf250 gyre, reef octopus 250-int - work in progress Aquarist since 1986

07/24/2017, 10:10 PM	#3
Lsufan Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: Baton Rouge Posts: 1,410	double post:

07/25/2017, 03:03 PM	#6
Lsufan Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: Baton Rouge Posts: 1,410	That makes sense. With higher nutrients the corals that u have were getting plenty of food so they were growing fast. Once your nutrients went down the coral growth slowed so your params started creeping up. Glad u got it figured out