Interesting Case

[trilinearmipmap]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

My guess is low magnesium. Before I would track magnesium, I noticed calcium buildup on many of my pump's magnets and shafts. Powerheads .. skimmer pumps .. etc. Calcium precipitates easily when Mg is low. This effect has been profoundly reduced since keepng Mg where it should be. Now I still notice some buildup on the Tunze magnets but nothing that needs to be removed more than say once every 6 months or so.

+1

[sphelps]

I've got him to cut back on dosing to 100mL/day of each and stop the kalk altogether. I wanted him to stop all dosing for a bit so see how things balance out but he wasn't that comfortable with that so we settled on a much lower and balanced dosing schedule. I will be maintaining his tank for 9 weeks this summer so I guess we'll see if I can sort things out a little for him.

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by sphelps

I've got him to cut back on dosing to 100mL/day of each and stop the kalk altogether. I wanted him to stop all dosing for a bit so see how things balance out but he wasn't that comfortable with that so we settled on a much lower and balanced dosing schedule. I will be maintaining his tank for 9 weeks this summer so I guess we'll see if I can sort things out a little for him.

did you find out if he is dosing all at once.. if so I am willing to bet this is the problem. he needs to spread his dosing out though the day. some in the am, some at lunch, some after work some befor he goes to bed.

my guess is that when he doeses he creats a temporary high concentrating in the sump which will percipitate easily then as it is mixed it is dropped back down to a normal level.

I had the same problem befor I put my Ca reactor online. actualy that was the reason I went to a Ca reactor and a Kalk reactor.

Steve

[sphelps]

The alk was dosed automatically throughout the day and the Ca was dosed all at once each day. While I agree dosing this much at once is a problem the main issue is the amount. Any tank should be able to handle a daily dose all at once provided it's not an overdose.

[Delphinus]

True.... although ... it's still better to add it slowly than all at once. It takes time to mix in and become homogenous.

Now that I think about it some more, that was something I used to do when I had calcium buildup in the past, I'd just do Ca in the morning and Alk at night and just dumped it into a fast moving part of the sump or the overflow itself. It still takes a little while to dissipate into the overall tank volume and in that time what's happening? This is going back like 10 years or more so memory is faded a little, but I did used to dose 2-part, then I thought that was for the birds, went to a Calcium reactor and also thought it was remarkable that the Ca reactor, although maintaining less ideal values than the dosing did, the growth in the tank was better (and the calcium buildup was gone). Fast forward a few years and the pendulum swings the other way, I conclude that CO2 cylinders are for FW tanks (instead of birds this time) and I go back to dosing but this time using timers and slow dosers, adding slowly and spread out over the day (while still alternating Ca/Alk) and yeah it's like the best of both worlds. Nicer params, good growth and no ca buildup in impellers.

In your friends case it's probably a combination of factors that each on their own wouldn't be enough to cause it but in concert together they are.. That's my guess anyhow. Should be interesting to see, 9 weeks should be plenty of time to get it sorted and settled, methinks anyhow..

[sphelps]

Yeah I'll be making a few changes to start with and all the dosing will be automatic throughout the day, but for now I just needed him to cut back.

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by sphelps

The alk was dosed automatically throughout the day and the Ca was dosed all at once each day. While I agree dosing this much at once is a problem the main issue is the amount. Any tank should be able to handle a daily dose all at once provided it's not an overdose.

sorry was at work for the last two days.

it isn't that the tank can't handle it, but rather when you dump that much Ca in at once the sump Ca level is probably spinking over 1000ppm untill it gets mixed completly with the total volume of the system.. these levels cause percipitation hence the frequent cleening of the pumps.

as for the amount you will find that once you spread out the dosing in snaller amounts through out the day the consumption will drop due to less percipitating out of solution. his tank isn't realy using that much but his pumps are

PS. don't test and comeback saying he is not over 1000ppm it was just a number I grabbed out of think air to make the point but depending on the size of the sump it may be an accurat number or not.

Steve