Help with the World of Reef chemistry

[Boomer]

Looks good

You should be fine for two days as long as someone is checking it. Our only real concern is the pH getting to high.

 

[reeftank1]

I am back and did the tets last night and a second round this morning to just confirm.
Last night This morning
PH 7.91 7.67
dKH 7.0 (2.51) same
Mg 1230 1230
Ca 365 * 390

The PH last night was before the Kalk and after the light sequence. I am adding another 2 liters now.

The Ca on the test last night was between 25 and 26 drops = 375-390

I have to buy the Mg today or where can I buy Mg Chloride? Effluent still running 6.54

I will get the Mg up after I buy it. I will load another Kalk bottle when this one is in.

Thanks Brian

 

[Boomer]

OK. Make the kalk drip faster now.

 

[reeftank1]

Second load of 2 liters of ro/di kalk going in and I used 185 gms Seachem MgCL2. The PH has made it to 8.08 at the end of the light sequence today. Hopefully the Mg should be about 1280 on the test tomorrow. We see

 

[Boomer]

Well, it looks better every day.

 

[reeftank1]

Here are the latest test results. It seems that everything is coming together nicely. I hope it doesn't unravel the same way!!!!

PH last night has dropped down to 7.88. Through the last 8 hours I have dropped 1.5 liters of kalk mixed at 1.5 tsp/2 liters.

PH 7.89 and increasing still
Mg .14 = 1290 ppm
dKH .56 = 7.0 or 2.51/meq/l
CA 28 drops = 420 (This is the highest it has every been)

Is there a chart or an easy way to view the effect on CA based on a certain amount of Mg in a solution or am I going to have to understand "advanced chemistry" to try and figure this one out?

All the tests have been done the same time just after the light sequence. Should I keep the kalk going, work on the Mg a bit more, reduce the reactor pacing, or just watch the sytem work a bit? I am really impressed on how things are looking and the coral are really going to town.

 

[Boomer]

Things look almost prefect just that slightly low pH yet. It would be nice to have a day pH of 8.1-8.2

 

[sryder]

just curious has this helped with the hair algae?

I noticed in the pics that the hair algae is growing more on the rockwork and not on the glass. normally when i do a water change i blow off what ever there is on the rock work ( usually not too much i have pretty good flow) to get it into suspension within the water column. not changing water for 2 years wouldnt all of that gunk build up on the rocks and feed the algae after time? also not doing water changes do you add alot of additives and if so what do you use?

i was just curious also if anything had changed prior like adding a new coral or rockwork moved around?

 

[reeftank1]

Hi Sryder,

I had not put anything new in the system other that instead of only using brine shrimp(What the local shop told me to feed 2 years ago). I started adding a small pinch of J. Sprung seaweed every 3 days for the tangs. I do blow the gunk with a Mj1200 and it made a hell of a mess. Then the skimmer went into overdrive and I may have mentioned that I pulled about 3 cups of stuff out. The algae if it is indeed hair is really grown onto the rocks well. As for now I cut the brine and switched to Mysis and the reef formula without the binding agent for the other fish. It is ro/di soaked and washed to keep it as clean as I can. I will get a could pictures up. With the past month of tweaking it seems the hair has stopped and I am seem more rock. I am in a big babysitting mess and so just staying on the water is really helping thanks so much to Boomer. I did a a new coral frag about a week ago but it is clean.

 

[sryder]

I had a tank crash around 10 months ago due to electric in the water . it realy sucked. as things died off i developed a hair algae breakout. it seemed that the initial outbreak was the worse. a few things i knew were wrong was that i had alot of die off in the water snails, fish, corals, toxins from corals etc. the electric of course and i had what i believed too many rocks stacked instead of being open. so water flow was not strong enough to get underneath and throughout to move out the detritus.
I believe my skimmer was undersized for the tank. and i was not running carbon.

what I did was took all of the rock from the 140 out and scrubbed every last piece outside of the tank and rinsed it in clean ro salt water. I cleaned all of the crud out of the tank and replaced the rock in a more open ,caved and more swimmable aquascape for the fish. I replaced my skimmer from a berlin classic to an asmg-3 what a differance. as soon as i plugged the asm in it started working where the berlin had stopped. I added more flow from a 1600 gph tunze a mag 24 for return, a couple of maxi jey 1200's and have recently added a 875 gph little giant closed loop. I ran activated carbon and still do along with phosguard. I also added some red scarlet hermits. some other hermits i had, had eaten all of the snails in the tank. I also added a lawnmower blenny and a yellow eye kole who is an awsome algae eater. I had to remove the rock a second time and scrub it again to finally beat the hair algae. I have not seen a sign of it since and I hope I never do. I hope this helps
steve

 

[reeftank1]

Thanks for the advise Steve. I hope I never will have to pull the rocks. I may just start from new base if it goes this far!!!! As for all my live stuff, fish, corals - they are all doing very well. It is just the algae seems to be hanging around waiting for another serving of lunch. Here are some photos of the majority of rock. On the left side the tank it has less algae but it seems isolated to a couple of rocks still. I do have an ampmaster 2700 on a closed loop with great circulation but it is still the learning curve on the chemistry that I battle with.

 

[reeftank1]

Boomer,
Through the last 8 hours I have dropped 1.5 liters of kalk mixed at 1.5 tsp/2 liters. It was at 8.17 about half way through the bottle last night then came down to 7.85 this morning.

PH 7.94 and increasing still (no kalk going in right now)
Mg .15 = 1280 ppm
dKH .51 = 7.9 or 2.8/meq/l
CA 25 drops = 375
(How could Ca drop 35 ppm in 2 days?) The tests were double also.

Eff. PH is still perfectly stuck at 6.54 Vented and windows open.

I will increase the Mg 20 ppm with Seachem Mg. then retest tomorrow
Can the coral demand be high enough to pull this much Ca in 2 days? the reactor is dropping about 280 ml/hr. How about a water change at some point?

 

[reeftank1]

Boomer,

One other thing if you say to do a water change. Since IO salt mix is slightly low for the parameters that I need to keep - shouldn't I maybe put some MG and Ca to the WC? Any other supplements? It seems that over time the net effect would be that as happened in my case the Mg and Ca will become critical even thought the reactor is replacing what has been used up by the occupants. I may be way oversimplifing the true reactions taking place. Thanks for your thoughts.
Brian

 

[sryder]

Thanks for the advise Steve. I hope I never will have to pull the rocks. I may just start from new base if it goes this far!!!! As for all my live stuff, fish, corals - they are all doing very well. It is just the algae seems to be hanging around waiting for another serving of lunch. Here are some photos of the majority of rock. On the left side the tank it has less algae but it seems isolated to a couple of rocks still. I do have an ampmaster 2700 on a closed loop with great circulation but it is still the learning curve on the chemistry that I battle with.

that hammer coral looks realy nice.
your in very good hands with boomer leading you along. keep us updated on the progress.
steve

 

[Boomer]

Can the coral demand be high enough to pull this much Ca in 2 days?

It could, as the pH, Alk and Ca++ rise so does both their demands rise. In general, with Calcium using animals/plants, for every 1meq / l Alk loss there is a 20 ppm Calcium loss. So it you used up 1 meq / l Alk / day that is 20 ppm Calcium in one day. I have seen some that high and others lower. You are at about .75 meq / l / day which is 15 ppm Calcium / day, which is not uncommon. It just seems a little high for you.


Re-test to make sure.

The tests were double also.

Does this mean you did two tests, as you did not think the first one was correct ?

Do you see any white films anywhere, glass, heater or on the rock ? Your kalk is not mixng with the skimmer water anywhere is it.

Water changes ? A good approach is 10 % / wk or 30% / m


Since IO salt mix is slightly low for the parameters that I need to keep - shouldn't I maybe put some MG and Ca to the WC?

That is fine to do and many do it that way. It also relieves the pain in the ass of trying to bump it up in the tank. Others sup's no.

 

[reeftank1]

I will retest one more time tomorrow. Can the light cycle have much effect on the Ca or Mg testing?

I did 2 tests to make sure that I am getting the same result - no goofing up somewhere along the way. Mainly on the Ca because this was first and there was such a difference.

Oh no!!!! the drip for the kalk enters right over the reactor input in the sump. this is how Lifereef is designed and both inputs feed to the filter block for the return line and the skimmer. So yes more than likely the skimmer is eating up the eff and kalk drip.

Will do a water change on Sunday.

On the water change, should I test each time I mix before it goes in to determine the Mg or is the mix consistantly low and to what degree? This may have been covered at some thread already but I can't seem to find it.

Thanks,
Brian

 

[Boomer]

Can the light cycle have much effect on the Ca or Mg testing?

No, it would have very little impact but with very sensitive test equipmemt you would see some. It would depend on tank and what calcium using plants and animals. For example, Halimeda often grows more at night, in regards to Caclium up-take.

On the water change, should I test each time I mix before it goes in to determine the Mg or is the mix consistantly low and to what degree?

IO is pretty consistant. Yes, it is low in Ca++ about 50-60 ppm but high in Mg, usaully high 50-100 ppm

 

[reeftank1]

Boomer,
Through the last 8 hours I have dropped 2 liters of kalk mixed at 1.5 tsp/2 liters. It was at 8.18 about half way through the bottle last night then came down to 7.90 this morning.

PH 8.05 and this is close to the end of the light cycle
Mg .11 = 1335 ppm
dKH .51 = 7.00 or 2.51/meq/l
CA 26 drops = 390

Eff. PH is still perfectly stuck at 6.56 (Fan accross surface of tank)

I went to adjust the Mg up 20 ppm and overshot. ??? Calc. was based on the back of the bottle. The online reef calc. was very close to the same @ 19 tsps.

Temp has been down for 3 days now due to the venting and evaporation. I am only adding ro/di top off via the kalk drip.

Should I keep dumping the leftover kalk chalk from the bottle each time into the trash? Should I test every other day or so now?
I am seeing lots of growth tips an some beautiful purple colors on on of my acro's.

Algae ???? I think it may be showing signs of growing a bit. I will give it a day and maybe do the water change sooner. Still no NO4.

 

[Boomer]

1335 is fine, no worry at all

Increase kalk to 2.0 tsp /2 l. Watch Alk, it is fine to bring it up to 3.5 or even 4 if it gets there. This should also bring up the pH and Ca++. Keep drip rate the same.

Should I keep dumping the leftover kalk chalk from the bottle each time into the trash?

I would for now. Adding new kalk to the bottle as part of the new bottle mix would be fine but you would have to add less. If you do that, bring it back to 1 1/2 tsp to see how things work out.


Start testing ever other day is fine. Once you strat the 2 tsp drip just check the next day to see where it is going, it should be fine. Just check pH and Alk, calcium will be fine. I'm interesed mostly in pH, the Alk will not climb much.

 

[Boomer]

Yes, it is low in Ca++ about 50-60 ppm but high in Mg, usaully high 50-100 ppm

Some guys have been runnig tests and most of them are comimg up now with;


IO salt

Ca++ = 360 -380 ppm ( 410 NSW)

Mg ++ = avg 1200 ppm (1300 NSW), Big shift/change from the last tests done by Inland @ 1400 ppm