Chemistry problems

[aiko670]

Hi all- I'm kinda new to this post but not reefs.

I've had my 58 Oceanic mixed reef running for around 8yrs now and with in the last year I've been steadily losing coraline alge. All of my corals seem to be thriving though.

Here are some stats....

PH-8.2 recalibrated my meter tonight just to make sure....(Milwaukee PH Meter)
Calcium-480ppm(Salifert test less than 1yr old)
Alkalinity-16dkh(Salifert test less than 1yr old)

Any ideas why my alkalinity would be so far off?

Thanks
Adam

 

[Anonymous]

Are you dosing anything? If so, what & how much.

 

[aiko670]

Nope, I just do partial water changes every couple months. I only have 4 very small fish and I don't feed them often so there's not too much of a load.

I have about a 3"live sand bed and run a berlin sump with only a large venturi protein skimmer powered by a mag 7. The tank it's self if powered by a mag 9. There is plenty of water movement and my canopy is vented and has an exhaust fan.

I think I may take a sample to a pet store and see what kind of readings they get. It's hard for me to imagine why the DKH would be so high.

I'm still bugged about the coraline though.......

 

[Anonymous]

what salt mix are you using?? Oceanic? If so I've heard of issues with it involving alkalinity, magnesium, etc.

 

[aiko670]

I use Insant Ocean.

 

[Anonymous]

I can't figure out how your Calcium stayed high with such a high Alkalinity. I have heard of bad batches of IO. Make up some new saltwater and test it for ALK. The ALK has to be comming from somewhere and with no additives everything points to a bad batch of salt or a defective test kit.

 

[aiko670]

Thanks, I'll test some makeup water for Calcium and alkalinity.

Something weird is definitely going on though.

 

[minibowmatt]

Could it be that your reef is maturing soo much that all the ca is being used up by the corals themselves and you dont have enough left over for the corraline algae? Think of coraline like a macro.. it eats what the rest of the reef isnt using, if the reef is using it the macro dies..
Just a possiblity...

 

[aiko670]

OK, here's the deal. I used all the salt I had for my last water change so I decided to take a sample to my LFS. They tested it for Calcium, Alklinity and Magnesium.

He basically came up with the same results I did but also tested the Magnesium and found it to be low. He also didn't seem to think it was a big deal for the Calcium and Alkalinity to be high, he thought it may be a product of my deep sand bed.

Calcium-480ppm
Alkalinity-15.8dkh(I came up with 16)
Magnesium-1290mg/L

1) Would you guys be worried about all this?
2) The Magnesium is a little low but do you think that's causing my coraline problems? He sold me ESV B-Ionic Magnesium. Do you think I should use it to get back up to 1400mg/L

Thanks!
Adam

I just don't get it.

 

[Anonymous]

If it were me I wouldn't worry too much about it. Keep an eye on your heaters. If they start to encrust with Calcium carbonate deposits then you'll probably have to clean your powerheads and pumps (heat causes precipitation).

Your Mg level is OK. Nothing wrong with raising it to 1350ppm.

I had another thought on your ALK. Is there any way that a large amount of Borate made its way into your tank. Seachem salt, Seachem Buffer, etc? That would explain why your not precipitating Calcium.