Calcium/Kalkwasser

Poppy828 · 08-28-2004, 05:07 PM

Evening everyone. I thing my previous thread has been utilized enough.

Anyway, I went a few days without checking my water parameters instead of being "anal" about it. Anyway, I checked this morning for everything. Trites were fine along with alk and ammonia.

Trates were up a bit from normal to .15...usually "0".
PH was down also at 8.1...I usually keep it at 8.3.
Calcium was way down to 300...has been 450 for a week straight. Well I got some Kalkwasser and started a slow drip into my sump after letting the mix sit for an hour or so before dripping. I had the drip set to 1 drop every second or so. After an hour and half, the water was cloudy and a ton of little tiny white things floating in the water. I stopped the drip just in case it was caused by that. Not sure if I need to do a water change now or what...water is still cloudy after an hour of no drip and I did bump the flow rate up to help the cloudiness. No change though...any advice on this?

Thank you,

Todd

Birdlady · 08-28-2004, 05:14 PM

Hey there!

Trates show your tank is cycling

Sounds like your tank is "snowing" Calcium is precipitating from the water....
Bring on the Chemistry Cavalry!
Let me see if I can dig up some links on that while waiting....

Birdlady · 08-28-2004, 05:19 PM

Here is a rather long thread on this issue...

http://www.3reef.com/cgi-bin/yabb/Ya...728275;start=0

Follow the link to the article JohnO gives on the first page...

It is a good one detailing calcium, alk, mag, and precipitation.

Hopefully, someone will come along to give you more detailed help soon!

Poppy828 · 08-28-2004, 05:21 PM

Thanks Birdlady. Nice to see you again.

I am not sure if snowing is a bad thing or not???? To darn new yet. I have been reading everything I can and I think I have overloaded my tiny brain.

Want ot make sure I make the right choices...Thank you for your time and help once again.

Todd

Birdlady · 08-28-2004, 05:24 PM

Snowing = Bad Thing....

Sorry....

Take a rest, read in the AM. Snowing won't really do alot of harm in the short run - I think... but it has to be arrested to restore ionic balance in the water. Don't hurt yourself...LOL

Poppy828 · 08-28-2004, 05:38 PM

Well that just stinks. I thought I was doing everything correctly. Darn it.

The wierd thing is, the toadstools have not really been normal since I put them in the tank as mentioned in the previous thread. Now with the snowing, they are starting to extend there feeders. Not a lot, but they are poking through.

I'm lost on this one.

Birdlady · 08-28-2004, 07:47 PM

You are doing fine

The more I learn from this hobby, the more I find out there is to learn! Once you get your Ph, Alk, Calc balanced and in good working order, there will be something else to learn!
It's a progression!

You are seeing the concerns and asking the questions! That's doing things right in my book!

Poppy828 · 08-29-2004, 02:23 AM

Well thank you for the vote of confidence. I do appreciate it.

The water looks better this morning. Not as cloudy...just a hint of cloudiness but otherwise fine. Thank you for the quick response last night also Birdlady.

We'll see how things go.

T

Matt Rogers · 08-29-2004, 07:43 AM

Slow the drip down Poppy.. no easy though... may want to try this...

if you have room in your sump, get a kent marine float switch for $15. connect your kalk reservoir to that (you'll have to raise your kalk reservoir on a foot stool or table to get the gravity feed going).

Have the line going into the reservoir not go all the way to the bottom. This will prevent it from sucking too much kalk paste directly from the bottom where it settles.

This will handle your kalk input and your evap at the same time, only adding when you need it.

Once in a while, inspect the switch to see if you need to clean/rinse it. I used one with the same setup for over 3 years without probs. I used a 5 gallon reservoir.

Kalk is good for maintaining calcium levels, but if you need to increas them you should use an additive like Kent Marine Liquid or Turbo calcium. I have also heard good things about Calxmax.

matt

Poppy828 · 08-29-2004, 05:33 PM

Thanks Matt. I took a reading late morning and calcium was only 350...However, the Ammonia went off the chart and ALK went to 16, trites went way up also..PH dropped to 8.

So with the help of a different LFS store (mine said leave it alone the problem would fix itself) I bought some ready made ocean water. I bought 25 gallons to do a water change. I tested the ready made for Salinity before adding it in the tank to make sure I was not shocking my livestock.

I changed roughly 20-22 gallons. I let it cycle for an hour and started testing to get a baseline of where I was.

Ammonia- .01...just a shade between the first and second level on the stick

PH--8.2
Trites...01ish
Trates-0
Salinity-1.024
Calcium-495
ALK-3

I also added 4 capfuls of liquid bacteria and removed all filter material except of course the bio-balls hoping that would help kill off the remaining ammonia. I also turned off the UV sterilizer and am not sure if I will turn it back on or not. I am getting mixed reviews on it's function for a reef tank. Some say yes and vice versa. I think I will leave it off for a couple weeks to hopefully let the tank cycle correctly without any additions to it before I consider turning it back on.

I should also note that I DO NOT plan to add anything in the form of a fish or coral for another few months minimum. This was a big enough scare for me to realize I was going way to fast.

Birdlady...I believe the first thing you told me was to go slow...I wished I would have listened better. That will not happen again. Thank you all for your help. I will post readings again in the morning to see where we are.

Todd