can't keep the chemicals balanced!

[pohtr]

I did finally take a water sample to a lfs where the nice lady there tested the water. Cal was at 320 where it usually is. magnesium was at 660, way low. The KH didn't make sense to me. She said it was 3 drops and should be 10. Maybe she didn't mean drops, exactly. Anyway, all are very low. I already have the turbo boost and purchased from her Seachem Reef advantage magnesium and Kent Superbuffer-dKH. Didn't find the Kent product on the chemistry calc online. Are those really better than baking soda & epsom salt?
I was thinking I could add the doses to my 2.5 gal jugs I use to add water at a rate that stays slow but steady. If I ever get it right then I need help figuring out how to keep it that way.
Whatsupdoc, sure I'll pay the shipping, gladly! Do you not use it? please email me
mepohtr@yahoo.com
CaCo2 is what, calcium? (remember I'm a chemistry flunky)
lighting is 4x65 half & half actinic & 10K. The colt is down on a rock on the sand. Is he a softie? Was the bubble a softie?, he had a skeleton.
rio2500 on skimmer 728gph (kent nautilis)
mag 5 return 500gph@4' 310
penguin 1140 300
powersweep 229
askol 402, ?
filtration is a gravity overflow to a refuge that's probably about 30 gal. I have a few propagules & some brillo down there & rubble & sand. Then I have a section of poly fiber fill about 4" thick between fuge & the return area.
My phosband thing has rowa phos in it. So if I put carbon in there how much should I use?
The sand is deep in places so I have a little dsb but it is also bare in places because my clark clown likes to fan it all over the place. I don't really know how much LR I have. I will try to get a pic because I know I have a tank full.
I just can't get convinced that more water changes will solve this. That is because before & after changes the levels in question here are still close to the same.
I don't think I'm adding chem too fast, I keep a file card on each chem and keep track so I don't mess up. I think I didn't realize before that once I raised these 3 levels that it would be so difficult to keep them right. I thought monthly water changes with good salt would do it. I guess I was wrong.
My biggest failing is my chemistry incompetence I think.
This is just so much much more complicated then I had ever imagined when I started this.
thanks everyone for your help.

 

[pohtr]

I have just tested the magnesium myself. The titrant used .9 ml so does that mean 1125 Mg/L?. That is a lot different than the lfs came up with. Or else I didn't understand what she was telling me.
The total Alk was 3 drops which I think means 1.5 which is very low.
I am adding a little of the additives to the replacement water so the numbers should go up. I just don't know whose testing to believe. Probably not mine.

 

[wattsupdoc]

I wouldn't believe the LFS tests....What kits are you using? There is no difference between using Baking soda and the pre bottled stuff. Either way there's no harm in bumping the mag up significantly. Bump it till your test says 1400. Low magnesium will have a effect on keeping these levels up. I need an address to send the pickling lime. PM me. Three drops might mean 8.4 DKH, or could mean 3 meq/lt.either of those are the same thing and acceptable...low, but still.... Of course it could mean 3 dkh which is NOT good. Whatever you do adjust these very slowly I wouldn't raise it more than 2 DKH per day, This means you'll need to dose what the tank is likely to consume, plus enough to bump it up some, but no more than 2 DKH per day increase. Google Reef Chemistry Calculator that will help you to know how much to dose. So you would enter your WATER Volume, not what your tanks all combined will hold(i.e a 75g DT and a 30g sump) but how much water you actually have in the system I usually just enter the water volume of my DT and that gets it close enough. When dosing it is best to dose Very slowly, not poor all the alkalinity in then all the calcium, but poor a little of ALK. in then wait, (go do something for 15 -20 min. or so.) then pour a little more, then wait. you don't need to string it out for hours actually, but the idea is to allow the additive to mix thoroughly and not have a large concentration all at once, some of it may precipitate right out as you added it. Also, you must do this every day if your tank is consuming very much. Which, really if you don't have much if any corals shouldn't be that much. However Coraline itself can and will take up quite a bit. Anyways, I'm babbling now

. You need a good quality test kit like salifert or seachems (I have had luck with). There are some others, What do you have? And you need to set aside an hour or so EVERY DAY for the tank, at least until you get it nailed down.
Whats the Askol 402??? You could use some additional flow in this tank. Right now you only have like around 10X. You should shoot for around 30X, You can count the skimmer flow, or anything unless it is actually creating water movement in the DT. Get a couple Koralia 4's and stick in there.You'll be glad you did.

 

[pohtr]

instant ocean is the alkalinity test.
Seachem is the magnesium.
The Seachem alkalinity test that came with the magnesium didn't work at all for me.
An hour a day??? If all I had in my life were a fish tank then maybe, but definitely cannot do that much, especially because it is torture. The chemistry that is. And (rant, rant) WHY do they have the instructions printed so teensie? I have to use a magnifying glass along with my glasses just to read them. I did take all the magnesium stuff and separate it from the carbonate, borate etc., that came with the kit and that will help simplify things some. Now there are only 13 pieces.
What I can do is compromise and try to do a test for the top 2 right now, the magnesium & total alk and do that every other day or so, which would be how often I add the water I already added the chem to. So tomorrow I will test again.
I am aware of the reef chem calculator online and always refer to it. It doesn't even list the Kent marine Superbuffer - dKH, so I'm going with their directions which are one teaspoon at a time, predissolved.
So is the epsom salts just as good also? Why doesn't that affect the salinity?
The Askol 402 came with the tank, which was second hand, so I have no idea how much it pumps. Feels like the power sweep though. (the un-sweeping power sweep that is)
Where do you actually pour your chems into the tank?

 

[pohtr]

MAGNESIUM WOES
I am testing water this morning. The magnesium has gone down, even though I've been dosing. I have 2 test kits. One is Red Sea but the one I used is Seachem. The Seachem only goes up to 1250ppm. How am I to test to 1350-1400???
At my current level of 1150 I would need 128 tsp or 22.6 oz of my Seachem Reef advantage magnesium to reach 1300. Or 17.7 oz of epsom salts. Does this seem right to you?
About the calcium testing...solution turned purple at 23 drops but never turned blue all the way to 43 drops or so, just darker purple. Didn't want to use up the whole bottle. I haven't been dosing calc so I'm sure it's not because my calc is way high. Also, isn't the color suppose to turn from purple to blue in just a few drops?
I'm going back to the chemistry lab (ha!) now to test total alk which was up to 4.0 last time.