ALK and Ca PROBLEMS!!!!!!!

shawnts106

shawnts106

Member
We are having a few problems with a tank here.... Its ALK is 7.5 meq/l and 26.25DKH, with a Ca reading of 600.... its this bad?... is the Alk to high?... We are having serious problems keeping SPS in this tank... we have lost about 20 Hydnophoras, 2 or 3 digies, and some of our Zoos arent opening...
the perimeters are:
Nitrate: 20
Nitrite: 0
Ammonia: 0
Ph: 8.3
Alk: above
Ca: Above
we have been running Phosgaurd for a week....
Whats up with this tank... its got 2 150watt 20,000 XM mh about a foot off the 70gallon tank!
they may be 250watts.. I forget!
what do you think is going on with this tank... we just cant seem to keep the sps alive!!!!!
OH
Salinity is 1.025
Just cant figure it out...
The ALK is up so far because we *work* thought that it was the problem so someone was buffing the tank daily.. which wasnt good!!!!!!!!!
so WHAT IS UP WITH THIS CRAZY TANK!!!!!
 
sweetreef

sweetreef

Active Member
holy crap what test kit you using thats off the charts do you test your water you use in water changes i have had mine up to 16.0 dkh and that was crazy what i did was test my water i use in changes and if it test out fine..Hey are you using any buffers because if you are that will make your alk go up..So what i did to get mine down was did about a 30% water change then a 10% water change once a week in time it lowers on its own but on your case that way to high i would test your water that you use for water changes first if it ok then i would do a 30% water change to start off with try to lower it slow not real fast!!!
 
sweetreef

sweetreef

Active Member
and just buy doing a 30% water change should lower it alot probly by 15 points sould get you down to about 17 are so dkh just buy changing 30% of your water..
 
007

007

Active Member
I'm willing to bet your doing something wrong with the test kit. If your numbers are accurate, you would be seeing a precipitation effect.
 
sweetreef

sweetreef

Active Member
ok cool you shure your doing it right because in your case you are using the hole syringe before you get a color change because my salfert test kit dont test that hi and your should be the same mine goes as hi as 16.0 kh value in dkh and the alk in meq/l is 5.71 for good alk you want to try to keep it around 4.23 to 3.20 in meq/l thats where i try to keep mine..As i ask you have you been using any buffers in your tank????
 
sweetreef

sweetreef

Active Member
you only want to use buffer in your tank when it gets really low and i mean really low just buy using buffer a few times like say in a week it can make your alk go off the roof some ppl use it to bring there ph up and try to stable it but all that does is makes things go crazy for me i never use buffers in my tanks the only thing i put in mine is iodine and cal and coral exl
 
sweetreef

sweetreef

Active Member
yeah thats what iam saying 007 because i have never new alk can test that hi...well my test kit dont go that hi...lol
 
msd2

msd2

Active Member
Good advice on the w/c. You also need to address your nitrate problem after you get your alk/ca balanced. 20ppm of nitrate is too high for a reef. zero is best but under 10 is okay.
You can keep ca levels higher than typical BUT you need to keep the alk elevated as well. There is a balancing chart on this site someplace but for example if you want to keep ca levels at 500 your kdH should be at 19.6 or alk 7.0. My own experience is that it is too much work to keep the numbers elevated that much and I settle for 450ca/4.50alk
 
shawnts106

shawnts106

Member
Well let me clarify something first, Its not my tank, its a tank at work we are having problems with... and yes we have had cloudy water, white cloudy water, which I thought was precp..
also, I disagree on the Nitrate thing, Nitrates are ALWAYS in aquarium water... its the most common pollutant... plus Clams feed of Nitrate, and we have clams in there too... also, macro uses it . In my information I have heard that a Nitrate level of 40 or below is acceptable for reef and 40 to 60 is acceptable for F/O....
I DONT THINK WE SHOULD BE KEEPING HIGH NITRATE LEVELS IN OUR TANKS OF COURSE!!!.... MY nitrates in my tank here stay about 15 to 20... but I just added 4 more inches of sand to my tank, so hopefully this will help with that!!!
We tested this tank 3 times... I watched ... it all came out the same.... 1 drop swish, 1 drop swish, 1 drop swish, used the same amout of water... I will test it again on Monday or Wendsday to see whats going on then... thanks for the help though!!!!!
 
flatzboy

flatzboy

Active Member

Originally posted by shawnts106
We are having a few problems with a tank here.... Its ALK is 7.5 meq/l and 26.25DKH, with a Ca reading of 600.... its this bad?... is the Alk to high?... We are having serious problems keeping SPS in this tank... we have lost about 20 Hydnophoras, 2 or 3 digies, and some of our Zoos arent opening...
the perimeters are:
Nitrate: 20
Nitrite: 0
Ammonia: 0
Ph: 8.3
Alk: above
Ca: Above
we have been running Phosgaurd for a week....
Whats up with this tank... its got 2 150watt 20,000 XM mh about a foot off the 70gallon tank!
they may be 250watts.. I forget!
what do you think is going on with this tank... we just cant seem to keep the sps alive!!!!!
OH
Salinity is 1.025
Just cant figure it out...
The ALK is up so far because we *work* thought that it was the problem so someone was buffing the tank daily.. which wasnt good!!!!!!!!!
so WHAT IS UP WITH THIS CRAZY TANK!!!!!

 
msd2

msd2

Active Member

Originally posted by shawnts106
Well let me clarify something first, Its not my tank, its a tank at work we are having problems with... and yes we have had cloudy water, white cloudy water, which I thought was precp..
also, I disagree on the Nitrate thing, Nitrates are ALWAYS in aquarium water... its the most common pollutant... plus Clams feed of Nitrate, and we have clams in there too... also, macro uses it . In my information I have heard that a Nitrate level of 40 or below is acceptable for reef and 40 to 60 is acceptable for F/O....
I DONT THINK WE SHOULD BE KEEPING HIGH NITRATE LEVELS IN OUR TANKS OF COURSE!!!.... MY nitrates in my tank here stay about 15 to 20... but I just added 4 more inches of sand to my tank, so hopefully this will help with that!!!
We tested this tank 3 times... I watched ... it all came out the same.... 1 drop swish, 1 drop swish, 1 drop swish, used the same amout of water... I will test it again on Monday or Wendsday to see whats going on then... thanks for the help though!!!!!
Not going to engage in an argument about nitrate levels, a simple search on here will reveal what levels work best. Or you can ask any of the other ppl that have been doing this successfully for a long while. Yes of course nitrate is always present but on a well setup up reef tank the test kits available to the hobby person are not sensitive enough to detect it if your doing it right.
The real reason for my response is about the 4 inches of sand you added. I truly hope you didn't just add an additional 4 inches of sand to the entire bottom of your tank, right? You realize that it will cause the tank to recycle hence the reason ppl add sand slowly over time if the tank is already established.
 
shawnts106

shawnts106

Member
I did NOT take out my old CC... I mixed the new sand in with the CC.... so that the Bacteria stayed in the tank.... is this bad? I was under the impression that you can add sand just dont take out your already established substrate!
 
007

007

Active Member

Originally posted by JacknJill
. . . clams dont feed off nitrate . . .
Actually they do . . . .
 
007

007

Active Member

Originally posted by shawnts106
. . . . Its not my tank, its a tank at work we are having problems with . . . .
I can't believe that an LFS hired you!
 
shawnts106

shawnts106

Member
WHAT!... I dont know what exactly you mean by that, but first off... we have tried everything to fix this tank and KEEP the SPS corals that are being put in it!... so far all has failed. We have done several water changes, buffed, checked perimeters and skimmed like crazy.... added Phosgaurd.... Algone, and everything else you can think of to try and get rid of this problem.... and your telling me that you cant believe a LFS hired me?.... check yourself now... or ILL DO IT FOR YOU!
 
jacknjill

jacknjill

Active Member

Originally posted by 007
Actually they do . . . .
oops never mind then lol. i was thinking of something else
 
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