Water Parameters Changed when my lighting changed.....

[randythereefer]

I'm maintained very consistent parameters over the course of several years CA 390 PH 8.3 ALK 7.8 DKH PHOSPHATE .1 to .3 mg/l salinity of around 35 ppt and MG of 1300 ish. Recently I changed two things:

1) I killed all of my flatworms (I had an ongoing infestation spanning years) and am now flatworm free.
2) I upgraded my lighting over my 90 gallon from one 400 watt halide w/ one 250 watt halide (with two VHO actinics of course) to two 400 watt halides (with VHO actinics of course).

I started noticing faster coral growth and then I check my levels this week....

New levels are: CA 330ppm PH 8.3 ALK 5.3 DKH PHOSPHATE .5 mg/l (wowzers) salinity 35ppt MG 1125. I run my calcium reactor with one drop of CO2 per second and the effluent at about 1to 2 drops per second and have a Kalk Reactor for the topoff water. Any suggestions for getting these levels up? I do a 30 gallon water change once per week with Instant Ocean. After the water change of course my levels seem to go near normal but a week later they're back down and I'm not sure what to do to get more CA ALK and MG into the system in a balanced way.

Thanks,

Randy

 

[kevinpo]

Hi Randy,
Glad to hear you are getting good growth from your tank. You have a few paths to choose to boost your levels. You could manually dose. This is less automatic but still effective. Not really too much a pain once you get a pattern established.

You could increase your co2 bubble rate. I test the effluent for calcium. I like to see 550-600ppm reactor output. Once you have that output you can raise the drip rate until the effluent calcium drops to 500ppm. Then increase the co2 bubble rate until bring the calcium back to 550-600 on the effluent.

You could add a second reactor or buy a larger reactor and sell off the smaller one. On my 600 I am on my third reactor since 2001 and have added a second one but recently I have had to start dosing manually again. I am gaining more than 150lbs/yr of coral growth.

Regards,
Kevin

 

[estanoche]

+1 on what Kevin suggested - I've been battling diving CA/ALK/MG lately as my corals are starting to hit critical mass... have had to keep uping my bubble rate and drip rate to keep things stable, plus some dosing here and there to get things back up where they should be

 

[randythereefer]

I upped my bubble/effluent. I'm crossing my fingers that this will work and I won't have to go to a six foot tall calcium reactor LOL. Also in my endeavors I noticed my sump light was not coming on for the complete reverse photo period which was causing a drop in PH which in turn caused the CO2 to shut off intermittendly. I lengthened the reverse photo period and now the nightime tank PH hovers around 8.0.

 

[zoolan70]

I'm going to suggest you get a ph controller for your calcium reactor. Best money you can spend, in my opinion. Set the controller for whatever pH you want (I do 6.5) and then all you have to adjust is your flow rate through the reactor to change the amount of CA and Alk being added.

I really like the Milwaukee controller. They are around $100 and you can find them on most any supplier site.

 

[randythereefer]

So I got a bigger CA reactor and used my old one for MG media. Now I'm getting some odd results. I ran the tests twice tonight to be sure....

CA 385 PH 8.6 (and at night it doesn't dip below 8.2) Alkalinity 6.8 dKh MG 1430. So this is what i don't understand. My CA went up but my alkalinity went down. My magnesium went up but and so did my PH. I thought lower alkalinity meant lower PH.... This is totally weird. As another odd side note. The magnesium media (neomag) seems to take up CO2 very readily. It’s like the CO2 just disappears within the chamber rather than build up. I realize that is what is supposed to happen but i seem to be able to put way more CO2 into the magnesium reactor. Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated.

Randy

 

[kevinpo]

Hi Randy,
You can high PH and very low alkalinity and visa verse. When we speak of alkalinity in reef keeping we are talking about total carbonate hardness (which is what your test kit is measuring). High CO2 levels will cause PH to drop but not change alkalinity. High fish load can also cause a drop in PH. At night (or when the lights are off) the PH drops because the algae in the tank no longer converts CO2 to O2 causing it to build up as the fish respiration produces CO2. This is one of the reasons to dose kalkwasser at night. IIRC it has a PH of around 12.3. It will also raise the calcium and alkalinity a small amount but not as much as it will raise the PH.

I'm pretty sure the Neomag is a form of dolomite which will also raise the alkalinity as it breaks down. I'm no chemist but I can have Boomer post here if you would like a more detailed scientific explanation.

Regards,
Kevin

 

[randythereefer]

I suppose everyone could use a chemistry lesson now and again LOL!!