Calcium problems.
 

"and this is why I said in the begining that I was going to use the suplament to bring it up to whare it should be then i will probably never need it again."

Oh,ok.....to me though,thats like shopping for a new doorknob, when you havent purchased the house yet.

[ 16 September 2002, 07:58: Message edited by: Superfudge ]

Calcium problems.
 

Hi,

If you are using ARM, which happens to be near 100% Aragonite, then you will get about...oh... < 5% magnesium. I would email Caribsea and see if they add magnesium in to their mix because Aragonite, as a rock, doesn't have much magnesium. Remember that Domolite discussion...Aragonite is better because it can't over dose Magnesium !

So, how long have you had this low calcium state ?

IMHO, I would try the magnesium theory on a small bucket of tank water before trying it in the system.

- Victor.

Calcium problems.
 

ok the listings on my ARM aragonite are

Calcium 381,000ppm
Carbonate 590,000 ppm
Stronium 7,390 ppm
Magnesium 1,050 ppm
potassium 56ppm

so by looking at this if your levels are ballanced it should keep them ballanced.

well as long as everything desolves at the same rate...

Steve

Calcium problems.
 

My advice is still to run the reactor for a month before deciding you have a problem. You have a new tank, and this is normal for a new tank. You're using the same salt as 90% of this board; those with mature tanks don't have Ca levels of 200ppm AND they don't add Mg. Most don't even have a reactor. Leave it alone.

Calcium problems.
 

Steve,

I have to agree with Marc and Brad, I think you need to leave it all alone and wait for the tank to mature.
I had the exact same thing happen when I switched to my 120g last fall from my 33g. I think it has more to do with the "new" sand you have in your tank. This will buffer your system and your currently fighting this buffer system. I did the samething for 3 months with Kent Part A&B then with my reactor. Then after about 3-4 months everything fell right into line. I had the same normal alk but could not get the Ca++ up.

Just my thaughts.

Lee

Calcium problems.
 

Hello,

Um.. the thread is picking up speed with many more people participating. Good.

Steve, I tried to read your last post but I'm kinda tired right now (9:45am on Monday and a problem I'm working on is giving me a headache. The monitor image is shaking!) so I didn't double read it.

But bottom line is this and I'm going to list in point form because it's easier for me to write:

1) Unless you are very experienced with "rapid deployment" of calcium reactors, with apriori knowledge of your tank water condition, it'd take (like Fudge and others said) a few weeks for it to dial in. This can be 4-6 weeks or more. If you are very good, however, it'd take days but still probably a week for things to balance out.

2) Good media like the ARM dissolves all needed nutrients in the proper balanced proportion like a multi-vitamin like Fudge said.

3) Good ca reactors would give you a high value of alk and ca in the effluent. How high? I can't even measure them with my test kits. That's how high and efficient it is.

4) Alk and Ca are like kids. You want harmony between them and it is up to you to do that. If one is bullying the other, then the other is in trouble.

5) Good ca reactor design = over engineering. How? A very large chamber. Why? Because a larger effluent rate doesn't affect the internal turnover rate much. This means the water circulating inside and through the media have enough time to dissolve it.

6) Increase in CO2 while maintaining same effluent means lower pH inside reactor and higher dissolving of media. Increase of effluent while maintaining same CO2 means less dissolving of media and higher pH at output. So you need to increase both in your case.

Titus

[ 16 September 2002, 10:06: Message edited by: Titus ]

Calcium problems.
 

FWIW, I always had trouble keeping my mag levels up, before a reactor. With it, they never went below 1350ppm. That must mean the ARM, supplies a sufficient amount of magnesium.

Steve, I would say the effluent alk. needs to be almost 3 times the tanks alk. My tank was always at 12dkh and my reactor effluent app. at 36dkh.

[ 16 September 2002, 10:09: Message edited by: Doug ]

Calcium problems.
 

Ok, sence my suplement is being shipped and I had a few extra days to play and try some of your sugestions, I increased the bubble count on my reactor from 60 bpm to 90 bpm.
befor I di dthis increas my levels were

Tank
KH/Alk 10.7 dKH, Ca 210, Mg 860 ppm

effulent
KH/Alk 27 dKH, Ca 310

48 hours after increasing the co2

tank
KH/Alk 17.6 dKH, Ca 225, Mg 930 ppm, PH 7.9 (at night time)

effulent
KH/Alk 48 dKH, Ca 410, Mg 1050 ppm, PH 6.4

I am going to leave it like this for 2 more days and take another set of readings then, My only concern is the Alk reading of almost 18 dKH... is this a problem?

Steve

Calcium problems.
 

Steve,

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">That was what I told you a couple of weeks ago. I aim for at least 24 dKh out of my reactor. At the very least.

And as well you have to concider that once again, this is a new tank. Brand spanking new. As is the reefkeeping to you. Leave everything sit for at least a month.

With all the corals and fish you have added in such a short period of time your tank has not been able to stabilize on it's own. The more you mess with things such as reactors, inhabitants, lighting all in such a short periods of time and not lettign it to settle is not letting your tank find it's own balance.

Everyone is passing on advice that is wonderful But I honestly have to side with Marc, Brad and Lee. Your tank is young. Leave it be. Once it is stable(three months isn't stable with everything you have added) then start worrying about calcium levels and alkalinity.

I am a strong believer in a tank shouldn't be stocked full when it is brand new until at LEAST 6 months. No sooner. By the looks of your pics I see at least 10-12 fish and a sh!tload of corals. Soft and Hard. Keep changing the tanks parameters as you are trying to do right now and you are looking at a sure fire recipe for a huge crash. Your tank is unstable and not letting it find its stablity is going to make it more and more succeptible to one parameter suddenly going out of whack and making things much worse.

JMVHO

[ 17 September 2002, 19:18: Message edited by: DJ88 ]

Calcium problems.
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Um.. I took Marc's advice.. I increased my co2 and effulent rate.. and everything is still climbing.. So what I was getting at is that if my Alk is ok, I will not add anything as long as the Ca reactor is working.. which it apears to be doing.

I thought you said to set if for twice what I wanted for a alk, sorry if I misunderstod your meaning.. but now for my original question.. how much Alk is to much..??

somebody should sit down and write some generic steps for setting up a Ca reactor as it is hard to find anything to help you out.. sure you can find advice on what to set at but like I have gotten some people like it twice there tank alk and some people like it almost 4X there tank Alk, so it gets quite confusing, also some expected observations as to what to expect when you tweek this or tweek that would be cool. hmmm maby when I get this thing all figured out

Steve

[ 17 September 2002, 19:50: Message edited by: StirCrazy ]