Need help with water parameters

AnthonyA9953 · 04/23/2018, 07:48 PM

Just tested my water and I’m a little freaked out.
The tank is a 125 LPS dominant with a few softies. I have about 10 medium LPS corals.

Water parameters are
Calcium- 408
Alk- 6.5
Magnesium- 1600+(The chart stopped at 1600)
Salinity- 1.024
Tanks been running for a year
I’ve been dosing b-ionic two part solution
Dosage amount was 13 ml of calcium 16 ml of alk
I amped it up to 16 ml calcium and 20 ml of alk

Any suggestions?

AnthonyA9953 · 04/23/2018, 07:49 PM

Everything in the tank looks fine however i am getting a algae Blenny and hermit crabs in the mail tomorrow. Should I be worried for them?

AnthonyA9953 · 04/23/2018, 07:50 PM

I use Red Sea coral pro salt and do 15-20% water changes a month.

RobZilla04 · 04/24/2018, 04:48 AM

If you are not dosing Mag I suggest that the test kit is faulty. The Cal is fine, but the Alk is low. You can bring the Alk up by increasing the dosing slightly or by using Baking Soda.

Here is an online calculator tool https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/reef-calculator

If you really believe the Mag is that high, I would hold off on adding the inverts as they are sensitive when Mag gets really high.

AnthonyA9953 · 04/24/2018, 06:15 AM

Ok I suspected the kit could be faulty. Thanks.

Playapixie · 04/24/2018, 12:33 PM

Several things I’ve learned over the years:
-is your alk reading in DKH or meq/ml? Can’t use that number without knowing which unit you are following (I assume you mean DKH?)
-some 2-part calcium solutions also contain magnesium. It’s vague on the B-ionic label/website how much mag it contains, but it’s possible that your tank’s Ca and Alk consumption are higher than your mag consumption, and the mag has been creeping up because it’s included in B-Ionic. I’ve had the same thing happen; I switched to a 2-part that doesn’t contain mag and now dose that separately based on tested demand.
-raising your salinity to 1.025 or 1.026 will raise the calcium and alk a bit. 1.024 is low for corals, and arguably low for everything (even though fish tolerate it.) If you run your salinity lower, you’ll need to dose your macro and micro elements more.
-use one-time adjustment doses to first bring your levels to desired (as per the labels on the bottle) and then adjust your daily dose based on consumption (test...don’t dose for 4 days...retest...dose the difference as a make-up dose, and divide that number by 4 to figure out your daily dose.) Then test every few days at first until you’re convinced you’ve found stable values. Remember that as corals grow, the amount they consume also grows, so the dose number isn’t static; it will grow over time.
-If you’re dosing a balanced 2-part like B-Ionic, dose for the high end of the calcium range (220-250 depending on whose protocol you’re following) and the alkalinity will raise/stay higher correspondingly (though maybe not enough.)
-you may have an imbalance in consumption in your tank of ca vs alk. That’s not abnormal, but it means that you may need to dose your two parts separately rather than in a 1:1 system like B-Ionic. Or use a separate alk supplement every day/few days/week to bring the level back to your desired. My tank consumes far more alk than Ca and always has (7 years) and I eventually switched to a different brand/system instead of a tied 1:1 system.
-remember that alk levels change much more quickly than calcium levels (as there is so much more calcium than alkalinity present in seawater), so the higher you keep your calcium using a 1:1 formula, the less the swing in alk will be.

Order of operations to fix things:
1) water change with salt at 35PPT. You may need to do several over several days to bring your salinity up. You could also top off with 35PPT salt water instead of fresh until your tank reaches 35. But water changes will help bring everything back into “normal.”
2) once you’ve reached desired salinity, test ca/alk/mag and do one-time adjustment doses to bring your levels to your desired numbers. If they are far off, you may need to spread out the adjustments over several days so you don’t make huge changes all at once.
3) once your levels are where you want them, do the 4-day consumption test I talked about above, and set your daily dosing based on that.
4) retest frequently until you get to know the system well. Once you have a firm handle on demands, you’ll be able to back off on testing.

Don’t panic about the mag. It should come down with water changes, and it’s unlikely to be harming anything (I researched the crap out of this when I had a similar thing happen.) Do consider switching to a 2-part that doesn’t contain mag, and dose that separately. Obviously if you’ve been dosing mag without testing, don’t do that any more. Mag changes slowly (there is so much of it present) so there is no reason to dose it without testing first, as you can correct it fairly infrequently.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

04/23/2018, 07:48 PM	#1
AnthonyA9953 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2017 Posts: 128	Need help with water parameters Just tested my water and I’m a little freaked out. The tank is a 125 LPS dominant with a few softies. I have about 10 medium LPS corals. Water parameters are Calcium- 408 Alk- 6.5 Magnesium- 1600+(The chart stopped at 1600) Salinity- 1.024 Tanks been running for a year I’ve been dosing b-ionic two part solution Dosage amount was 13 ml of calcium 16 ml of alk I amped it up to 16 ml calcium and 20 ml of alk Any suggestions?

04/24/2018, 04:48 AM	#4
RobZilla04 Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2016 Location: St. Augustine, FL Posts: 1,857	If you are not dosing Mag I suggest that the test kit is faulty. The Cal is fine, but the Alk is low. You can bring the Alk up by increasing the dosing slightly or by using Baking Soda. Here is an online calculator tool https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/reef-calculator If you really believe the Mag is that high, I would hold off on adding the inverts as they are sensitive when Mag gets really high. __________________ 90g Mixed Reef

04/23/2018, 07:49 PM	#2
AnthonyA9953 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2017 Posts: 128	Everything in the tank looks fine however i am getting a algae Blenny and hermit crabs in the mail tomorrow. Should I be worried for them?

04/23/2018, 07:50 PM	#3
AnthonyA9953 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2017 Posts: 128	I use Red Sea coral pro salt and do 15-20% water changes a month.

04/24/2018, 06:15 AM	#5
AnthonyA9953 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2017 Posts: 128	Ok I suspected the kit could be faulty. Thanks.

04/24/2018, 12:33 PM	#6
Playapixie Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2011 Posts: 19	Several things I’ve learned over the years: -is your alk reading in DKH or meq/ml? Can’t use that number without knowing which unit you are following (I assume you mean DKH?) -some 2-part calcium solutions also contain magnesium. It’s vague on the B-ionic label/website how much mag it contains, but it’s possible that your tank’s Ca and Alk consumption are higher than your mag consumption, and the mag has been creeping up because it’s included in B-Ionic. I’ve had the same thing happen; I switched to a 2-part that doesn’t contain mag and now dose that separately based on tested demand. -raising your salinity to 1.025 or 1.026 will raise the calcium and alk a bit. 1.024 is low for corals, and arguably low for everything (even though fish tolerate it.) If you run your salinity lower, you’ll need to dose your macro and micro elements more. -use one-time adjustment doses to first bring your levels to desired (as per the labels on the bottle) and then adjust your daily dose based on consumption (test...don’t dose for 4 days...retest...dose the difference as a make-up dose, and divide that number by 4 to figure out your daily dose.) Then test every few days at first until you’re convinced you’ve found stable values. Remember that as corals grow, the amount they consume also grows, so the dose number isn’t static; it will grow over time. -If you’re dosing a balanced 2-part like B-Ionic, dose for the high end of the calcium range (220-250 depending on whose protocol you’re following) and the alkalinity will raise/stay higher correspondingly (though maybe not enough.) -you may have an imbalance in consumption in your tank of ca vs alk. That’s not abnormal, but it means that you may need to dose your two parts separately rather than in a 1:1 system like B-Ionic. Or use a separate alk supplement every day/few days/week to bring the level back to your desired. My tank consumes far more alk than Ca and always has (7 years) and I eventually switched to a different brand/system instead of a tied 1:1 system. -remember that alk levels change much more quickly than calcium levels (as there is so much more calcium than alkalinity present in seawater), so the higher you keep your calcium using a 1:1 formula, the less the swing in alk will be. Order of operations to fix things: 1) water change with salt at 35PPT. You may need to do several over several days to bring your salinity up. You could also top off with 35PPT salt water instead of fresh until your tank reaches 35. But water changes will help bring everything back into “normal.” 2) once you’ve reached desired salinity, test ca/alk/mag and do one-time adjustment doses to bring your levels to your desired numbers. If they are far off, you may need to spread out the adjustments over several days so you don’t make huge changes all at once. 3) once your levels are where you want them, do the 4-day consumption test I talked about above, and set your daily dosing based on that. 4) retest frequently until you get to know the system well. Once you have a firm handle on demands, you’ll be able to back off on testing. Don’t panic about the mag. It should come down with water changes, and it’s unlikely to be harming anything (I researched the crap out of this when I had a similar thing happen.) Do consider switching to a 2-part that doesn’t contain mag, and dose that separately. Obviously if you’ve been dosing mag without testing, don’t do that any more. Mag changes slowly (there is so much of it present) so there is no reason to dose it without testing first, as you can correct it fairly infrequently. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk