Calcium Issue

[garry_boyd3]

Brilliant, thanks Tina (again ). I think I am going to look for Salt water aquariums for dummies book. Will post stats soon.

Thanks Rabbut.

 

[garry_boyd3]

Shall I get the company to hold off delivering the hairy mushroom & sun coral for a week or so?

 

[rabbut]

Should be fine to carry on IMO, your levels posted thus far aren't too far off the ball. Below KH 7 and Ca 350 you may get immediate issues, but ATM, your just looking at slower growth... You'll have all you need within 2 weeks for testing and supplementing, a single hard coral in a tank the size you have listed will not drop the levels into the danger zone in that time, especially if you have a good water change regiem. If you have more hard corals that I don't know about though, it may well be an idea to hold off the delivery.

All the best
Rabbut

 

[TigerIssey]

Is the company different to the one above Rabutt?? if so could you send me the link aswell please.

Thinking about the 6 ft tank so will need additives to be as cheap as poss.

 

[garry_boyd3]

Just sent it to you.

 

[Buddyboy67]

lol...just been talkin to colin there...missed all this and he was going to get you sorted,lol... ooooops

 

[TigerIssey]

Got it Gary thanks.

 

[garry_boyd3]

I have a theory on this. Obvioulsy hear me out & let em know what youn think

We worked out that about 3 weeks or so ago I was using TMC Salt not Pro reef. Straight away I did 3-4 water changes in a week to get th CA up to 400. Then went down to 2 water changes aweek (About 22lts a week, 18% roughly). Then the Ca has gone down to 380. So, once I have done all the tests you guys have sugegsted, should I increase the water changes to 3 times aweek (just over 33lts) a week & see if the Ca rises? (In other words I will buy bigger buckets). Maybe a solution because from what I read for my size tank I should not need to add too much additives (not worried about cost, as long as I get it right)

Many thanks.

 

[seffieuk]

You really shouldn't be needing to do so many water changes a week - I used to change 25 litres a week in my 130 litre and that was fine to keep the CA around 430

What hard corals have you got in the tank? What are your Mag levels?

Seffie x

 

[garry_boyd3]

Test kit for Mags being delievered today. So will be testing Ca, Mags & KH staright away & putting result on here. At teh moment corals wise I only have Zoas & Rics, which seem to be doing great.

 

[TigerIssey]

I think Gary that you have not yet got got the calcium level to what it would be if you had used pro reef from the start.

I set up with pro reef, with softies only I could maintain a calcium level around 430 -440 easily.

Do you have the spare container to do larger water change??

Let us know the mag first but that may be a better way of going about it. Pro reef is a high calc and high mag salt, you should be fine once you get the levels there.

I think because you are doing smaller changes at the moment, then will be topping off inbetween, you are diluting the levels back down again rather than it being used by calcification.

A look at those levels will help.

 

[BigC]

I think you need to first test your tank, then test your waterchange water, then test your tank again after you have performed your waterchange, just to see what actually is happening and to give yourself a baseline from which to work off. Then you can see how much chemicals are being used up on a weekly basis and adjust to suit.
ATB
C

 

[garry_boyd3]

Thanks Big C. The test kit did not come today, actually I will restate that, the postman came & left a note trhrough the door. My wife whio promised me she would not go out till he arrive went out for 3 hrs... So off to the post office in the morning. So what I will do:
I will do what you say ASAP & post the stats.

After that I will see what you guys say, if you think I should do a massive water change I will.

 

[SkiFletch]

BigC beat me to it. Have to know the stats on the water used for changing. Because if that is lacking in any mineral (or in excess of one) all the water changes in the world won't help you

And always always always start with magnesium when monkeying around with water chemistry. If it's not at a reasonable or high level, no amount of tweaking will help for calc and alk. It has to do with the chemical equillibria that's going on in seawater. If you want to really become a chemistry buff, start reading Dr Randy Holmes-Farley's writings/articles in the reefkeeping.com and advancedaquarist.com online magazines. He's detailed but very thorough and if you can stick with him, you'll know all about what's going on with your tank

 

[garry_boyd3]

Thanks Ski. I will from now on have Magnesium at the top of my weekly tests...

As some of you know I decided to test my own refractormetre just in case. I did get it tested at the LFS & they said it was correct, but wanted to make 100% sure. I won't go into details (its on the refractormetre thread), because I look like an idiot & could not make it work. However I am getting a Sun coral today and going to ask what their SG is, so I can check against it. If not I will try again tonight (while haviong a pint) & test it. If I still can't do it right like a donkey I will go to another LFS to check....