Tank crashing slowly .. help

[newfly]

Yup. They do.

Btw, did you change lights or lighting schedule recently?

I change the "on" and "off" time 1 hour early, but the overall photo period remains the same. No changes to the light intensity/spectrum setting . That was "after" the color start losing color. I don;t think its the light. I did the change so i can feed the fish earlier (kids going back to school)

 

[newfly]

Together or separate?

Reef Chemistry Calculator

reef.diesyst.com

I've had that book marked for years and use that whenever I have to calculate an ad-hoc dose.

Soda ash or baking soda are the two common items for DIY alk supplement.

Id assume you are doing this separate to bump alk.0

Dosing separate. I was wondering even with separate dosing, it will be negative side effect in the tank.

 

[Srt4eric]

Will do. Anyone knows if Neptune sells the ICP test kit? Alternatively, I can order from BRS

They do

 

[xCry0x]

personally, i wouldnt trust just one additive for all the elements needed. i would try the 2 part - better way to have a grasp on each BIG 3 parameters. i am a fan of kalk and then 2 part as additional supplements with additional mag if needed.

Interesting, do you do saturated kalk in ato then dose 2 part to supplement?

I've always done one or the other.

Running kalk in ato now as a starting point but figured I'd be getting my doser running again soon.

Not to hijack the thread

 

[jhuynh]

Interesting, do you do saturated kalk in ato then dose 2 part to supplement?

I've always done one or the other.

Running kalk in ato now as a starting point but figured I'd be getting my doser running again soon.

Not to hijack the thread

4 head dosing unit. kalk, alk, cal, mag

2 tablespoon pickling lime (mrs wages) to 1 gal rodi. stir and let settle for 24hours. siphon out the clear liquid in container. can dose that or put in ato. i had it in ato once, but clogged the float valve, so i had it on a doser instead.

 

[Coral reefer]

Is mixing AFR and soda ash a no-no? On one hand, i think besides the double dose mistake, the alk is close to ~8. Ideally i would like to get to 8.6 which is the alk on my new saltwater water mix.
Can i use soda ash to increase from 8-->8,6?

Or i'm asking for trouble mixing these 2?

It makes sense to try to match your new water, but also not super important IMO since it is really close.

 

[newfly]

Stop AFR and started 2-parts ( many thanks to @H2OPlayar for the supply). Let’s hope the tank will stabilize in the next couple of weeks.

 

[rygh]

What is your Magnesium level?
I see notes of Alk swings, and that is one of the common causes.

 

[newfly]

What is your Magnesium level?
I see notes of Alk swings, and that is one of the common causes.

Mag at 1300.

 

[H2OPlayar]

Mag at 1300.

Raise it to 1450ish. You coming back today? I just made a fresh gallon of mag!

Edit: to 1450 from 1500 to keep others safer, but I like mine high at 1450 to 1500

 

[newfly]

Raise it to 1500ish. You coming back today? I just made a fresh gallon of mag!

How fast can i raised it? 1300-->1500 will need about almost 1L of magnesium mix. That is a big change i think

Is 1400 a reasonable target first before increasing it further?

Yes, i can swing by today. i'll txt you

 

[Coral reefer]

Raise it to 1500ish. You coming back today? I just made a fresh gallon of mag!

Why so high?

 

[H2OPlayar]

Why so high?

I have found 1400-1500 keeps precipitation from happening and helps with the stability of Alk and CA. When I was in the 1300's I had trouble with my calcium being used up at a much higher level than I thought was normal as compared to my coral growth rate and my alk consumption. When I got my mag up north of 1400, it leveled off. When I had bryopsis issues, I tried the higher mag at 1650 and saw no ill effects in my tank, kept it there for 2-3 months while I took as much as I could out, then lowered it back down to 1450ish.

I would start by going with 25 ppm increase per day to get you to 1400-1450 and see how things work.

 

[JVU]

Raise it to 1500ish. You coming back today? I just made a fresh gallon of mag!

Wow that is really high. If my Mg were that high I’d be trying to lower it.

 

[H2OPlayar]

Wow that is really high. If my Mg were that high I’d be trying to lower it.

Maybe it's the size of my system, but I have never seen ill effects from mag, even up at 1650. I have read it can be hard on inverts, but what would you shoot for and why?

And just confirmed my trident reads 1515 right now.

 

[JVU]

What I recall about precipitation issues is that if you run Alk higher than normal sea water (higher than 7) you want your Mg to be 3x your Ca (or more) to avoid problems. I don’t know personally if that is exactly right, seems like a rough number. But it is real that Mg inhibits Ca-carbonate precipitation.

Normal Ca is around 420 and normal Mg is around 1300. If you have your Alk and Ca levels elevated you’d want Mg elevated too to balance it out.

My Mg runs around 1400, and seems good at that level. I’d rather have it around 1300-1350 or so but it won’t budge downward without a major intervention and I haven’t thought it’s worth it. I would not personally recommend going above 1400 on purpose. Mg is a lot easier to raise than it is to lower.

 

[rygh]

Mag at 1300.

My opinion: Fine.
People that run high Alk/Ca often run high Mg to compensate. But I have never seen any real studies on that.
I generally run 1300-1450.
I worry below 1200.
I worry above 1600.

If you tweak it, do it slowly, like all changes.

 

[newfly]

I’m going to slowly bump up the mag from 1300 to 1350 in 5 days (+10 per day) and keep it there for a few weeks.

 

[newfly]

Quick Update:

Its so much easier to tweak the alk now with 2-parts. Use the online calculator, add the dosage and boom the alk is exactly where it should be! Compare to A4F, this is a piece of cake. I did make a small mistake in the calculator. My tank total volume is 65G but i did not account for rocks etc. The real water volume probably 57-60(?). I used 65G in the cal and the alk is a tad higher than i want it, but i can live with the difference of 0.2ppm

My daily dosing :

15ml of soda ash to maintain 8.4-8.6
24ml of Mag ( to get 5ppm increase a day, will monitor and adjust once i reach 1350; currently at 1300)
10ml of Ca ( for starters, will monitor and measure weekly; currently at 400)

I figure the small amount of Mag and Ca dosage will not change the numbers by much.
Stop Nitrate and AFR.

 

[rygh]

Side tips:
Vaccum-siphon sand bed. It might be full of crud.
A series of moderate water changes over a week or two might help.