AlaskaReef
New Member
Hey all, I'm a newbie in this hobby starting out from Fairbanks Alaska. I am in the process of setting up my 120gal tank and so far everything is going well. I'm currently waiting on a shipment of live sand, then I'll be ready for a few fish I assume.
I have ran into one issue though, I am currently filling a 44gal brute trashcan up with ro/di water over many days. So far my tank is about 80% full, with the sump still dry. Today, more importantly within the last 6 hours, white precipitating flakes began to float atop my water, and some clinging to surfaces. I still need to get a test kit, which I plan to do tomorrow, but I used an old ph test strip from my freshwater aquarium that can read both fresh and salt water. The ph came out to around 7. I did a little research and it seems it could be caused by calcium precipitation due to an acidic ph. Salt I used was coralife and my salinity is 1.025, however I have not begun to heat my tank, and the temperature is around 60 degrees Fahrenheit so I suspect it'll drop to respectable levels as I heat it. Any ideas? Do I just need to boost my alk and ph? Also will this precipitate just dissolve back into solution once the ph rises, and will that cause a calcium spike?
Sorry for all the questions, first ever reef tank and I didn't expect to run into a chemistry problem without any living organisms yet
I have ran into one issue though, I am currently filling a 44gal brute trashcan up with ro/di water over many days. So far my tank is about 80% full, with the sump still dry. Today, more importantly within the last 6 hours, white precipitating flakes began to float atop my water, and some clinging to surfaces. I still need to get a test kit, which I plan to do tomorrow, but I used an old ph test strip from my freshwater aquarium that can read both fresh and salt water. The ph came out to around 7. I did a little research and it seems it could be caused by calcium precipitation due to an acidic ph. Salt I used was coralife and my salinity is 1.025, however I have not begun to heat my tank, and the temperature is around 60 degrees Fahrenheit so I suspect it'll drop to respectable levels as I heat it. Any ideas? Do I just need to boost my alk and ph? Also will this precipitate just dissolve back into solution once the ph rises, and will that cause a calcium spike?
Sorry for all the questions, first ever reef tank and I didn't expect to run into a chemistry problem without any living organisms yet
