Am I changing too much water?

[EasyEd77]

In my 100 gallon I have been changing 10 gallons of water a week. It has been established for over a year and it seems like every couple of months I get a brown algae bloom. I replaced the bulbs in my sunpod 4 months ago. All of my fish and coral look healthy. The calcium and alkalinity were a little low (6.8 alk 390 calcium) so I started dosing two parts B-ionic to buffer it up. Does anyone have any idea what my problem could be?

[Michael]

10% a week is a good amount ed, and the low ph is a reason for the brown algae as well as excessive c02, look here at WKs thread ed http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...readid=1031074 and are you using ro-di make up water, and ed


To Reef Central

[EasyEd77]

I am using RO/DI to make my water I make sure the TDS is 0. It may be the PH, recently I added a fuge with chaeto. I have been running the lights in the fuge opposite to the tank. What should I do if the PH is low?

[Michael]

hi-ed thanks for re-posting, fresh air around the sump and tank can and will help, plus if your calcium is low you could dose kalkwasser/limewater and this can help raise the ph as well, if you have your heating on and windows shut excessive carbon dioxide can aid low ph and can aid the brown stuff as well, ive battled it myself, glad you use ro-di and its good you have a refugium, i dont, just a bare berlin sump but a fudge is the way forward

[EasyEd77]

Thanks again, the first thing that I am going to do is test the PH to be sure this is the problem. The heater sounds like it could be the cause. The tank is in my office in a metal shop and in winter the heater is always on with the windows and door shut because of the noise. If this is the case I will try supplamenting to get the ph in a better position.

Happy New Year
Ed

[EasyEd77]

The PH was at 8 and the Alk was only around 6.5. Should I wait until the Alk is 7 or above before I start trying to get the PH up?

[Michael]

if the ph is 8 then its ok, try to raise the alk to about 8, a decent salt can achieve this, what time of day did you check the ph?

[EasyEd77]

I checked it at around 10:30 AM. I am using tropic marine pro salt and keep the salinity at around 1.025. I will keep dosing a small daily dose of the B-Ionic two parts until the tank stabalizes.

[Aquarist007]

first of all check the stats on the salt you are using--they differ quite differently in their alk, cal and mag concentrations:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...readid=1287118

Secondly using two part is fantastic for keeping levels constant but not for raising them to any degree

Here is a blog for using two part and raising your levels prior to using it:

http://www.reefcentral.com/wp/?p=262