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06/12/2017, 01:44 AM | #1 |
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Low dKH, low Mag and lowish Calcium levels
I could do with a bit of help to get my dKH, Mag and Calcium up to suitable levels. I tested yesterday and got dKH = 5.5, Mag = 970 and Calc = 375. My tank is 450 litre with 5 small fish. I have loads of soft and LPS frags, all very small. Everything is doing ok in the tank but after 6 months I was expecting a good bit more growth from the frags. I change about 15% water every 2 weeks and I am running Rowaphos in a reactor and a tiny fuge with cheato, just for some pod generation really. Currently I have no algae problems and phosphate reading 0, nitrate reading 0, sg = 1.024 and pH hovering around 8.0 to 8.2 morning to evening. I run Evergrow 5080 LEDs at around 45% max at midday. The little fuge is lit 24 hours and the cheato grows like crazy. I know my dKH should be at least 8, Mag should be ideally 1400 and Calc should be 400 - 450. I use Reef Crystals for water change make up and currently do not dose anything. Any advice how I can or should increase these parameters to better levels? Thanks.
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180g (US) DT with 30g (US) sump. Softies and LPS. Red Fire Fish, Royal Gramma, 2x Ocellaris Clowns, 2 Spot Tang, 4x Green Chromis, Lyretail Anthias, One Spot Foxface, 2x Azure Damsels, Green Clown Gob |
06/12/2017, 01:47 AM | #2 |
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Test your newly mixed salt water. If you are saying water change every 2 weeks, it should replenish used mg kh and cal.
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06/12/2017, 01:57 AM | #3 |
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Thanks hegeh.
I am conscious I need to check my make up water next. I will do that later after work. Let's suppose for now that the commercial salt mix I use is making water with mg, dKH and Ca levels it should. Then what will I do?
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180g (US) DT with 30g (US) sump. Softies and LPS. Red Fire Fish, Royal Gramma, 2x Ocellaris Clowns, 2 Spot Tang, 4x Green Chromis, Lyretail Anthias, One Spot Foxface, 2x Azure Damsels, Green Clown Gob |
06/12/2017, 03:21 AM | #4 |
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If the make up water parameter is on par, then its time to start dosing, but its very unlikely that the amount of corals you having consume that fast.
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06/12/2017, 03:42 AM | #5 |
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I agree that testing some freshly-mixed saltwater is a good place to start. The tank might need daily dosing. Coralline algae can consume 2-3 dKH per day on its own, in my experience, so I'd be cautious about using the just the coral population to estimate usage. A second opinion on the test kits might be useful, too, at some point.
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06/12/2017, 03:52 AM | #6 |
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Currently I have no coralline algae. My test kit is confirmed by a hanna meter for dKH.
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180g (US) DT with 30g (US) sump. Softies and LPS. Red Fire Fish, Royal Gramma, 2x Ocellaris Clowns, 2 Spot Tang, 4x Green Chromis, Lyretail Anthias, One Spot Foxface, 2x Azure Damsels, Green Clown Gob |
06/12/2017, 03:57 AM | #7 |
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Would dosing Kalkwasser be the obvious thing to start doing?
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180g (US) DT with 30g (US) sump. Softies and LPS. Red Fire Fish, Royal Gramma, 2x Ocellaris Clowns, 2 Spot Tang, 4x Green Chromis, Lyretail Anthias, One Spot Foxface, 2x Azure Damsels, Green Clown Gob |
06/12/2017, 04:30 AM | #8 |
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Dosing Kalk wouldn't add any magnesium. I'd just use baking soda for alkalinity and calcium chloride for the calcium levels. Kalkwasser is a very dilute supplement, and often isn't enough even to maintain the levels in a tank.
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Jonathan Bertoni |
06/12/2017, 04:36 AM | #9 |
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Baking Soda I can manage. Where would I get Calcium Chloride and what would improve Mg?
I presume there is some limit to dosing rates of these things and techniques for dosing? I hope not to have to buy dosing pumps...
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180g (US) DT with 30g (US) sump. Softies and LPS. Red Fire Fish, Royal Gramma, 2x Ocellaris Clowns, 2 Spot Tang, 4x Green Chromis, Lyretail Anthias, One Spot Foxface, 2x Azure Damsels, Green Clown Gob |
06/12/2017, 04:51 AM | #10 |
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Calcium chloride is available in bulk from various vendors like Bulk Reef Supply. There are lots of aquarium products based on it, as well. Kent Turbo Calcium is fine.
For magnesium, I'd look into some bulk magnesium chloride and get epsom salts from the drug store. If the magnesium actually is that low, the tank will need a lot of supplement to get it back to 1275 ppm or so, the canonical ocean average. I'd see what's up with the salt mix that you're using before doing anything. Also, the SG device might be wrong. That might explain some of the results, too. Raising the SG slowly to 1.026 should help a bit, and would bring the tank close to the canonical ocean average of 1.0264. Various kinds of testing problems and salt mix problems seem common enough to warrant some caution.
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06/12/2017, 05:07 AM | #11 |
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Thanks bertoni. I will definitely check my water make up first. Just wanted some other ideas to read up on as well.
What would the best way to check my refractometer is working ok? Now that you mention it I did have some wild results with it in the past when checking make up water. I recalibrated it at the time with a 30ppm calibration solution that came with a salinity probe I now use. I double check sg with the refractometer every couple of weeks as well though. The probe is just for a quick daily sanity check.
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180g (US) DT with 30g (US) sump. Softies and LPS. Red Fire Fish, Royal Gramma, 2x Ocellaris Clowns, 2 Spot Tang, 4x Green Chromis, Lyretail Anthias, One Spot Foxface, 2x Azure Damsels, Green Clown Gob |
06/12/2017, 12:18 PM | #12 |
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Salinity calibration solutions often won't work properly for a refractometer. This article might help:
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-06/rhf/index.htm You could buy the PinPoint 53 mS salinity calibration solution. It's made from artificial saltwater and thus usually is accurate. We've seen some reports of possible bad batches, though.
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06/12/2017, 01:35 PM | #13 |
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Thanks for replies so far. Tested my make up water now. It seems my salt mix isn't great. At 1.026 or 35ppm it gives Ca=400, Mg=1050 and dKH=7.25. I have a new bucket of Reef Flowers for my next batch so hopefully it will be better.
I am pretty sure my refractometer is right because I checked with 35ppm solution and it was dead on. I then mixed a batch of new salt water, exactly 10litres with 350g of salt. This should produce 1.026 salinity and again my refractometer was dead on. I am raising the tank from 1.024 to 1.026 over the next day or two. Also adding some Reef Flowers KH, Ca and Mg balling solutions to raise all 3 a bit. Hopefully I will see some coralline and coral growth with those changes. Any other long term advice is welcome.
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180g (US) DT with 30g (US) sump. Softies and LPS. Red Fire Fish, Royal Gramma, 2x Ocellaris Clowns, 2 Spot Tang, 4x Green Chromis, Lyretail Anthias, One Spot Foxface, 2x Azure Damsels, Green Clown Gob |
06/12/2017, 01:58 PM | #14 |
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Okay, that magnesium level in the freshly-mixed saltwater is an issue, if the measurement is correct. I might try to get a local fish store to measure the level for me, in case of kit error. Reef Crystals should be much higher than that. You could try mixing up the dry salt, in case the product settled badly in shipment. That helps in some cases.
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06/13/2017, 01:54 AM | #15 |
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I agree. The bucket states Ca of 420, Mg of 1250 and dKH of 7.5. I would be inclined to think my kits are off but both Ca and Mg seems very unlucky. Tonight I will make 10 litres with my new bucket of Reef Flowers and see how it compares to what the manufacturer states. The make up salt I used yesterday was the very last drop of salt from the Reef Crystals bucket. Maybe that had something to do with it. If Reef Flowers make up water is reading low for Ca and Mg I will get it checked at the weekend at the LFS. For what it's worth I am inclined to believe my results since I have no noticable coral growth and no coralline algae...
Is salt mix performing that poorly justification for returning it to the shop in the future? Is it common for mixes to under perform? I thought Reef Crystals was a top notch product. Live and learn I suppose.
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180g (US) DT with 30g (US) sump. Softies and LPS. Red Fire Fish, Royal Gramma, 2x Ocellaris Clowns, 2 Spot Tang, 4x Green Chromis, Lyretail Anthias, One Spot Foxface, 2x Azure Damsels, Green Clown Gob |
06/13/2017, 02:10 AM | #16 |
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I should just clarify that I made a mistake with my salt manufacturer. It is in fqact Red Sea Salt (not the Coral Pro version). This one:
http://www.swelluk.com/red-sea-salt/...FQZLDQod3wEJhw Not sure if that makes a difference to any advice given so far.
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180g (US) DT with 30g (US) sump. Softies and LPS. Red Fire Fish, Royal Gramma, 2x Ocellaris Clowns, 2 Spot Tang, 4x Green Chromis, Lyretail Anthias, One Spot Foxface, 2x Azure Damsels, Green Clown Gob |
06/13/2017, 04:15 PM | #17 |
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Red Sea should be higher than that in magnesium. I'm not sure what happened, but it'll be interesting to see the measurements for your new salt.
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06/13/2017, 04:36 PM | #18 |
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If you intend to have a tank with coral and coralline algae, you better get used to the idea of regular dosing alk/cal/mg ......water changes alone will not cut it....
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06/14/2017, 10:24 AM | #19 | |
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Quote:
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Tom Current Tank Info: Tank of the Month , November 2011 : 600gal integrated system: 3 display tanks (120 g, 90g, 89g),several frag/grow out tanks, macroalgae refugia, cryptic zones. 40+ fish, seahorses, sps,lps,leathers, zoanthidae and non photosynthetic corals. |
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06/14/2017, 05:18 PM | #20 |
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Red sea blue tub should have the parameter on par vs the pro salt. Did you tried to shake the salt? Some said that some of the minerals is at the base of the salt tub due to the journey from the factory to your house.
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06/15/2017, 08:34 AM | #21 |
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Ok I just tested my new Reeflowers make up water. sg=1.026, Ca=395ppm, ALK=7.5, Mg=1187. I am not impressed... but readings are similar to Red Sea. I think I need better test kits. Any suggestions of good brands? I am afraid to dose because I'm not sure I have the correct values yet...
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180g (US) DT with 30g (US) sump. Softies and LPS. Red Fire Fish, Royal Gramma, 2x Ocellaris Clowns, 2 Spot Tang, 4x Green Chromis, Lyretail Anthias, One Spot Foxface, 2x Azure Damsels, Green Clown Gob |
06/15/2017, 09:30 AM | #22 |
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I use Salifert for Calcium and Magnesium as well as hanah checker for alk.
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Tom Current Tank Info: Tank of the Month , November 2011 : 600gal integrated system: 3 display tanks (120 g, 90g, 89g),several frag/grow out tanks, macroalgae refugia, cryptic zones. 40+ fish, seahorses, sps,lps,leathers, zoanthidae and non photosynthetic corals. |
06/15/2017, 10:40 AM | #23 |
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I use Hanna for ALK so that's good but my readings are all around 7.5 for new mix water.
I have seen Dali feet recommended before so I'll have a look. Might get an LFS check at the weekend too.
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180g (US) DT with 30g (US) sump. Softies and LPS. Red Fire Fish, Royal Gramma, 2x Ocellaris Clowns, 2 Spot Tang, 4x Green Chromis, Lyretail Anthias, One Spot Foxface, 2x Azure Damsels, Green Clown Gob |
06/15/2017, 10:41 AM | #24 |
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Salifert
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180g (US) DT with 30g (US) sump. Softies and LPS. Red Fire Fish, Royal Gramma, 2x Ocellaris Clowns, 2 Spot Tang, 4x Green Chromis, Lyretail Anthias, One Spot Foxface, 2x Azure Damsels, Green Clown Gob |
06/16/2017, 09:35 AM | #25 |
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Anyway how is ur corals doing? Are they healthy and have pe?
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