Two Part Solution Problem- Help!

[dcw1sfu]

Originally Posted by reefwars

Fwiw calcium and Alk have no effect on each other although its common to her that they do , adding Alk will not lower or raise calcium and vice versa they are completely independent of themselves and one don't change the others number and technically can't

I agree if your using kalk as a ph boost then sodium carbonate would be a Fine choice as well

You are right there is not a direct relationship that adding one will automatically drop the other. I looked into this further. I was misinformed.

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by dcw1sfu

You are right there is not a direct relationship that adding one will automatically drop the other. I looked into this further. I was misinformed.

I should note that This is only if we're talking about calcium chloride and bi/carbonate solutions though other Alk or calcium additives may be different , these two will only add what their supposed to and not affect the other

[The Guy]

What's your Magnesium level at, I understood from what I have read and listened to on the BRS site your Mag level needs to be at at 1300-1500ppm for your alk& cal dosing to be able to adjust & stabilize properly. I am no expert just sayin. Might be worth looking into.

[straightrazorguy]

Originally Posted by The Guy

What's your Magnesium level at, I understood from what I have read and listened to on the BRS site your Mag level needs to be at at 1300-1500ppm for your alk& cal dosing to be able to adjust & stabilize properly. I am no expert just sayin. Might be worth looking into.

I did. Yesterday Mg was 1480.

[straightrazorguy]

Update:
Today, the Alk was 9 dKH and the Ca 420. The Alk doser has been unplugged for 48 hrs now, so the alk levels are sustained at 9 by my kalk additions alone. I am still dosing the same amout of CaCl2 solution as ever....

[straightrazorguy]

I'm still puzzled as to why this imbalance occured. The STN wasn't severe enough (I didn't lose masses of corals) to radically reduce Alk consumption. The STN seems to continue (I fragged a couple of pieces to save some SPS). Still, for over a month I seemed to have dialed my levels with equal Ca and Alk solution additions on top of the Kalk addition at a fixed rate. That's why I am so reluctant to take the kalk offline.

What I would like to know is why, all of a sudden, Alk levels started to increase after more than a month of the all the parameters being balanced and steady. Has anybody else experienced this?

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by straightrazorguy

I'm still puzzled as to why this imbalance occured. The STN wasn't severe enough (I didn't lose masses of corals) to radically reduce Alk consumption. The STN seems to continue (I fragged a couple of pieces to save some SPS). Still, for over a month I seemed to have dialed my levels with equal Ca and Alk solution additions on top of the Kalk addition at a fixed rate. That's why I am so reluctant to take the kalk offline.

What I would like to know is why, all of a sudden, Alk levels started to increase after more than a month of the all the parameters being balanced and steady. Has anybody else experienced this?

It's not hard to figure out , 8.5 to 9.0 isn't a big jump in fact it's barely out of testing noise . In any way you look at it alk declines only when being used , why these animals stopped using as much as they did could be many but the fact remains that in order for alk to rise you had to of added it , if the amount added doesn't equal to the amount used them bam a rise in alk

Calcium will follow they same rule only you won't see the difference day to day but may weekly.

So either the tests were errors, you added more alk than normal or animals stopped using it for whatever reason...it's as simple as that so you'll need to adjust accordingly