precipitatation guy,low cal. in salt

briang · Apr 29, 2007

I had the cal. preciptation problem. I listened to you guys and you got it right.Thanks. You all said water change once my ph. started to fall, and one of you said wait till precip. stablizes. I did. someone else mentioned that I should check the cal. level in my newly mixed 'red sea' salt. I thought I was wasting my time but I didn't have anything better to do,so I did. Well I mixed it and airated for 48 hours at 1.025 I checked cal. and it was only 360.Now being that I could only do a 20% change today, I'm making another batch of RO-DI now ,will airate 24 hours then add, I know my mag. must be low,otherwise, when I added the cal. It wouldn't have precipitated .I'm wondering If I add cal. to the new batch I'm Making now ,do you think It will fall out of solution? I don't want to add mag. blindly, and my ordered mag. test kit won't be here till thurs. or fri. At least my ph. is back up to8.2. And what do you guys think about the salt? Is it just a bad batch or is it always low?

plack · Apr 29, 2007

Almost all salts are not optimal when mixed.They are made for the masses not just for reef aquarists. It is very common to add to the new mix of salt water.

Also my guess is that you are not having precipitation because that happens with excess NOT with low levels. Again I ask you what are/were you using to elevate the calcium and alk ?

briang · Apr 29, 2007

plack said:
Almost all salts are not optimal when mixed.They are made for the masses not just for reef aquarists. It is very common to add to the new mix of salt water.

Also my guess is that you are not having precipitation because that happens with excess NOT with low levels. Again I ask you what are/were you using to elevate the calcium and alk ?

I used Kent Marine "Liquid Reactor" I added it when I tested my cal. at 340. It definitly fell out of solution. The only thing I can think of to make this happen is low mag.

plack · Apr 29, 2007

The directions state

"This product is intended to cloud the aquarium and any cloudiness observed (due to its highly-concentrated formula) will dissipate within an hour or so. It is strongly recommended that Liquid Reactor be added to the system at night, in order to counter the natural tendency for pH to decrease during this time, and to allow time for the aquarium to clear."

Maybe try this .

Make a small batch (a gallon or two) of new salt in a bucket then add the liquid reactor the same ratio you have beeen adding to the tank stir and watch .

Let me know if you see things in suspension

briang · Apr 29, 2007

plack said:
The directions state

"This product is intended to cloud the aquarium and any cloudiness observed (due to its highly-concentrated formula) will dissipate within an hour or so. It is strongly recommended that Liquid Reactor be added to the system at night, in order to counter the natural tendency for pH to decrease during this time, and to allow time for the aquarium to clear."

Maybe try this .

Make a small batch (a gallon or two) of new salt in a bucket then add the liquid reactor the same ratio you have beeen adding to the tank stir and watch .

Let me know if you see things in suspension

I followed the directions to the letter. When I woke up the next day is when I saw precip.I will try it in a new salt batch .Being that the new mixture will not be low in mag. and should be ionically balanced, I doubt it will fall out of solution.