Adding too much Coral Vital?

[drewster]

Is there such thing as adding too much Coral Vital to your tank? I've been adding it every day for the past 2-3 weeks because i just set up my tank. It's a 55 gallon tank so i add a half a teaspoon. My coralline (sp) algae was looking pretty good and was growing really fast and in the last few days it seems to have disappeared. Most of my rocks are turning white and my hermit crabs shells are turning white too. My water levels are good. I don't have a calcium tester so i can't test the calcium levels. I just ordered my dosing pump so i can start adding Kalkweisser in a few days. Whats going on?

 

[hermit]

I would guess that it would be your calcium levels.. Seems like everything else is fine and I have not heard of adding too much Coral Vital. How often and how much calcium have you been adding up to this point.. I would venture to guess that when you take care of that, that it would come back quite quickly...
Good Luck
Originally posted by Drewster:
Is there such thing as adding too much Coral Vital to your tank? I've been adding it every day for the past 2-3 weeks because i just set up my tank. It's a 55 gallon tank so i add a half a teaspoon. My coralline (sp) algae was looking pretty good and was growing really fast and in the last few days it seems to have disappeared. Most of my rocks are turning white and my hermit crabs shells are turning white too. My water levels are good. I don't have a calcium tester so i can't test the calcium levels. I just ordered my dosing pump so i can start adding Kalkweisser in a few days. Whats going on?

 

[clayton]

Don't forget that on reefs the water is very nutrient poor. Overdosing with coral vite has been said to cause slime algae blooms.

 

[drewster]

Well, my algae growth seems to have stopped all together. Hopefully my Hippo Tang will find some algae to pick at somewhere. I checked my levels today and notice that my nitrites, nitrates, and ammonia are all fine. My PH and alk are low though. Quite low in fact. Could this be a problem? I did about a 15% water change today to see if that would do anything. I bought a PH buffer to get my PH back up. As for the alkalinity i'm adding this reef supplement that came with my test kit. It said to add it when the alk is low. Any other suggestions? My cleaner shrimp died today too which pisses me off because i just bought him and the store doesn't do refunds. My tank is starting to look like crap and my wallet is starting to look thinner.

 

[hermit]

Believe me... I know what you are saying about money and this hobby.. Although my most recent undertaking was a bit overkill.. It cost me a ton of money.. I was thinking I might just have my paycheck automatically deposited in my LFS account.. Then on top of it... EVERYTHING aside from and anenome and a few buttons died on me... IT sucked.. I mean really sucked.. I can't imagine what it would feel like it if it was some 300 gallon setup of something like that.. My micro was bad enough.. I think my fish guy is kinda glad because now I am in there everyday eyeing new stuff.... Stick with it man...
Originally posted by Drewster:
Well, my algae growth seems to have stopped all together. Hopefully my Hippo Tang will find some algae to pick at somewhere. I checked my levels today and notice that my nitrites, nitrates, and ammonia are all fine. My PH and alk are low though. Quite low in fact. Could this be a problem? I did about a 15% water change today to see if that would do anything. I bought a PH buffer to get my PH back up. As for the alkalinity i'm adding this reef supplement that came with my test kit. It said to add it when the alk is low. Any other suggestions? My cleaner shrimp died today too which pisses me off because i just bought him and the store doesn't do refunds. My tank is starting to look like crap and my wallet is starting to look thinner.