alkalinity, calcium, and magnesium...oh my!

highergroove · 04/11/2012, 05:49 PM

Hoping someone could give me some advice. I am having issues with all of these!

1) I have a 300 gallon tank with a DSB (12 years now) and am finally getting back into improving it. I have a Korralin reactor and I set it at about 8 bubbles/min and 60 drops/min effluent. This had my alkalinity up at 13 and my calcium at 380. What is the best way to tip that balance - get more calcium with a lower alkalinity?

2) I am also having issues with Magnesium! I have added 3 bottles in the last week or two and my Mg still stays at about 900-1000. Is the alk or ca having an effect? Recently my reactor was off and my alk was 10 and calcium 410 - I started the reactor back up at 6 bubbles/min and 30 drops/min effluent and then added an entire bottle of Aquavitro ions and it is down to 900. During this tiome the alk jumped up to 11 and the calcium 400.

Going crazy!!!!

bnumair · 04/11/2012, 08:00 PM

i would start with mag, get a good reading a reliable one to make sure its low. bring it up slowly to 1300-1450 range. once there then bring ur cal to 420-480 range and alk to 8-11 range. once u have all those ranges covered then set ur cal rct to 1 bubble every 10 sec. 1 drop every 1.5 sec with internal ph of 6.5-6.7 range. test daily after that to see how much cal and alk is drop perday. then u can tune ur reactor to those readings and or add supplements for cal and alk.
Never ever tune ur reactor to bring levels up. only to maintain.
let me know. i have the same setup and may be able to guide more.

bnumair · 04/11/2012, 08:01 PM

also what salt are u using? and what all corals do u have in ur tank?

bertoni · 04/11/2012, 10:10 PM

I would tune the reactor back a bit, to let the alkalinity fall, and then dose calcium chloride, like Kent Turbo Calcium, to increase the calcium level. The reactor adds calcium and alkalinity at a fixed rate close to 2.8 dKH per 20 ppm Ca⁺⁺.

How big were the bottles of magnesium? I'd get a second opinion on the test kit, too.

This calculator should give you some idea of how much calcium and magnesium supplement you'd have to add:

http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chem_calc3.html

Raising magnesium requires large amounts of supplement. I'd check some freshly-mixed saltwater, to see what the level is there.

04/11/2012, 05:49 PM	#1
highergroove Registered Member Join Date: May 2011 Posts: 61	alkalinity, calcium, and magnesium...oh my! Hoping someone could give me some advice. I am having issues with all of these! 1) I have a 300 gallon tank with a DSB (12 years now) and am finally getting back into improving it. I have a Korralin reactor and I set it at about 8 bubbles/min and 60 drops/min effluent. This had my alkalinity up at 13 and my calcium at 380. What is the best way to tip that balance - get more calcium with a lower alkalinity? 2) I am also having issues with Magnesium! I have added 3 bottles in the last week or two and my Mg still stays at about 900-1000. Is the alk or ca having an effect? Recently my reactor was off and my alk was 10 and calcium 410 - I started the reactor back up at 6 bubbles/min and 30 drops/min effluent and then added an entire bottle of Aquavitro ions and it is down to 900. During this tiome the alk jumped up to 11 and the calcium 400. Going crazy!!!!

04/11/2012, 08:00 PM	#2
bnumair Dr. Reef at ur service Join Date: May 2009 Location: Tulsa, Ok, USA Posts: 7,751 Blog Entries: 15	i would start with mag, get a good reading a reliable one to make sure its low. bring it up slowly to 1300-1450 range. once there then bring ur cal to 420-480 range and alk to 8-11 range. once u have all those ranges covered then set ur cal rct to 1 bubble every 10 sec. 1 drop every 1.5 sec with internal ph of 6.5-6.7 range. test daily after that to see how much cal and alk is drop perday. then u can tune ur reactor to those readings and or add supplements for cal and alk. Never ever tune ur reactor to bring levels up. only to maintain. let me know. i have the same setup and may be able to guide more. __________________ Water Quality: NO3 0,Phos 0,Cal 440,Alk 7.5,Mag 1300 "Reef Fast, You Crash, Reef Slow, You Pass" Mike's Reef 3:16 Current Tank Info: 350g DT,95g sump, 50g Frag tank, 4800gph return 4x Sea swirls. 6x AI Vega Color. 200# Pukani rock, dual recirculating skimmer, Biopellet, GFO Carbon rx's, Cal rx. Closed loop. 1.5hp chiller, genesis renew. Apex & RKE

04/11/2012, 08:01 PM	#3
bnumair Dr. Reef at ur service Join Date: May 2009 Location: Tulsa, Ok, USA Posts: 7,751 Blog Entries: 15	also what salt are u using? and what all corals do u have in ur tank? __________________ Water Quality: NO3 0,Phos 0,Cal 440,Alk 7.5,Mag 1300 "Reef Fast, You Crash, Reef Slow, You Pass" Mike's Reef 3:16 Current Tank Info: 350g DT,95g sump, 50g Frag tank, 4800gph return 4x Sea swirls. 6x AI Vega Color. 200# Pukani rock, dual recirculating skimmer, Biopellet, GFO Carbon rx's, Cal rx. Closed loop. 1.5hp chiller, genesis renew. Apex & RKE

04/11/2012, 10:10 PM	#4
bertoni RC Mod Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mountain View, CA, USA Posts: 88,616	I would tune the reactor back a bit, to let the alkalinity fall, and then dose calcium chloride, like Kent Turbo Calcium, to increase the calcium level. The reactor adds calcium and alkalinity at a fixed rate close to 2.8 dKH per 20 ppm Ca⁺⁺. How big were the bottles of magnesium? I'd get a second opinion on the test kit, too. This calculator should give you some idea of how much calcium and magnesium supplement you'd have to add: http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chem_calc3.html Raising magnesium requires large amounts of supplement. I'd check some freshly-mixed saltwater, to see what the level is there. __________________ Jonathan Bertoni