calcium and alk problems.....experts help please

[biggdriver]

I have a 65 gallon 110lbs fiji/tonga lr with 50%corralline alge coverage, no corals, 3 shrimp, a dozen snails, dozen hermits, orange star, overflow with sea swirl about 800gph flow. 30 gallon sump/refugium with red sea berlin skimmer..water is about 80degress, no phosphates, nitrites or trates..Use only ro/di water with reef crystals..400w MH and 2 true blue pc's 32watts?..running about 8hrs a day..24/7 in the sump with a 150 watt pc bulb..I am evaporating about 1 1/2 gallons of water a day and replacing that with only kalk water makeup at a dose of about 2tsps/gallon mix..The problem I am having is that I can't keep my alk above 3 and my calcium stays around 250 with all the kalk that is being added daily.I have no corals at all yet ..This should be more than enough kalk mixed to keep up the levels yet it still drops..I have started adding baking soda/washing soda and salifert calcium ALONG WITH the kalk daily and it is climbing slowly..This seems like an awful lot for not even having any corals in the tank..If I quit adding everything but the kalk mix my levels go back down..My corralline alge is starting to lose it's bright color.(hopefully the suppliments will help) but why should I have such a problem with it? I have had other tanks and have not had the problem I do with this one. The tank is about 4 months old and I do a water change of about 6 gallons a month..SHould I increase this?? I stumped..Everyone else I have talked to can't help me they don't know either..Any help would be appreciated

 

[biggdriver]

I also am utilizing a dsb of about 6 inches with the top 2 inches live fiji sand. the other is pink samoa sand..Thanks

 

[broomer5]

Kalkwasser by itself will rarely ever raise the calcium and alkalinity in a tank that is intially low in both of these levels.
I would continue adding a good qualitiy marine buffer like SeaChem Reef Builder to get your alkalinity up.
For calcium - you may want to try their Reef Advantage or Reef Complete.
Once you get both levels up to where you want them, and your pH is also stable, dosing the kalk should continue to help maintain them no problem.
If you're interested - take a look at this FAQ link to SeaChem.
Pretty good stuff to read - and great stuff to use in your tank - IMO.
Good luck,
<a href="http://www.seachem.com/en_support/support_faq.html" target="_blank">http://www.seachem.com/en_support/support_faq.html</a>

 

[biggdriver]

I have been adding kalk about 2 months after setup and then when the alk and cacium levels were checked they were fine, 4 and 440 respectively..Can the little bit of settlement accumulated in the bottom cause the overall decline over the long run

 

[broomer5]

It may.
You do not want to add the stuff in the bottom of the kalkwasser mixing container.
Doing so can be counter-productive and cause a loss in alkalinity. Once the alk is out of whack, the pH and calcium is hard to maintain.
Read these articles if you care to, it may help in understanding all the relationships.
<a href="http://www.reefcorner.com/Manual/alkcalcium.htm" target="_blank">http://www.reefcorner.com/Manual/alkcalcium.htm</a>
<a href="http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/aqfm/1998/july/bio/default.asp" target="_blank">http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/aqfm/1998/july/bio/default.asp</a>

 

[bammbamm74]

Hey, just a thought, but Kent makes something called Liquid Reactor that is supposed to raise calcium, alkalinity and magnesium. I couldn't get my calcium over 290 and I started dosing liquid magnesium and using Kents Turbo Calcium and I've gotten my calcium up to 380 so far with an alk of 11.9(??) (not meq/L I think that's about 3.2 or something.)

 

[q]

Only thing I can think of is if you are adding it too fast and it deosn't have the CO2 necissary to react with it.