CAl and alk levels

[scumchug]

Originally Posted by mseepman

I too have the problem of ALK and CAL being too high. I use AquaCraft Biosea and out of the bucket, I get ALK levels of 7 and CAL levels of 450 very consistantly between bags. Somehow over the last 3 months, my tank has crept up to ALK of 9-10 and CAL of 500. I use both Salifert and Hagen test kits with similar results. I don't have a reactor and I don't dose for Calcium or ALK.

Any suggestions would be great.

I'd be willing to bet that your not using RODI water for top offs, or your DI filter is done. As you keep adding water, it evaporates leaving behind calcium among other things. Eventually the calcium builds up.

[Farrmanchu]

Mike, why not take the Kalk Reactor off line for a bit, while dripping Baking Soda or other Alk supplement until Ca gets used up. I have the same problem, when I use Kalk alone, Ca rises and Alk drops slowly. The fish and other bioload use up Alk. I find my tank uses around 10ppm a day of Ca, so when I stop Kalk, it drops 10ppm per day, but I keep Alk high with baked Baking Soda dissolved in RO. Once the SPS and Clams get bigger, you may get away with Kalk alone, just more of it, with a bigger demand on Ca from Corals.