Alk/Cal DIY question

scottsreef · Dec 17, 2016

Hi Randy I have a question for you. About 2 months ago i started doing the DIY recipe 1 for my alk and calcium. Since then my corals have been slowly going down hill. All my parameters are at NSW, phos .03 nitrates at 5 (salifert kits). My corals have started loosing color and my gonipora that was very healthy is now a 1/4 of what it was. It has pealed right off the rock. Do you think it could be something in the products i am using. Im thinking of turning off dosing pumps and manually dosing a known product(warner marine or brightwell) for the time being to see if that is whats wrong. The products that i have for the diy is calcium chloride flake 83-87% and sodium bicarbonate USP powdered #1. A side note to this is at around the same time i put in new t5 ati bulbs. Its a 180 gallon mixed reef tank and the light fixture is a 48" 6 bulb fixture that is 16" above water. Any direction you can give me would be very appreciated

Scott

Randy Holmes-Farley · Dec 18, 2016

What brand calcium chloride?

scottsreef · Dec 18, 2016

Hi Randy its called Panther Industries. Its a local company here in Alberta. The ingredients says, calcium chloride-potassium chloride-sodium chloride-water. It says on back of bag its dow flakes. When i came home today i noticed that a lot of my trachy was missing aswell. I have a bunch of new corals that i bought a month ago and they are in a frag tank that is plumbed off of main tank and uses the same water. They are all growing and looking great, no sign of damage or dieing.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Dec 19, 2016

If it is Dow material, my expectation is that there was some other cause, but I cannot be certain.

redfishbluefish · Dec 19, 2016

scottsreef said:
........ I have a bunch of new corals that i bought a month ago and they are in a frag tank that is plumbed off of main tank and uses the same water. They are all growing and looking great, no sign of damage or dieing.

You might have answered your own question with this statement. What light do you have over the frag tank (and what light did you have over the DT before going to T5s?)

scottsreef · Dec 22, 2016

redfishbluefish said:
You might have answered your own question with this statement. What light do you have over the frag tank (and what light did you have over the DT before going to T5s?)

I am really leaning towards lighting aswell. So when i changed my lights on display tank i went from 4 blue plus and 2 coral plus and when i swapped out for new bulbs i went with 4 blue plus 2 aquablue special. Do you think the switch from coral plus to aquablue could have caused this? I have some dinoflagellates growing now in tank that wasnt showing before.

Techie_ · Dec 22, 2016

H2o2 dosing can help with the dino.

scottsreef · Jan 22, 2017

Hi Randy I just received the MSDS sheet for the Sodium Chloride that i purchased from Panther. Are you able to look at the link to MSDS and let me know if looks ok?

scottsreef · Jan 22, 2017

ooops i meant calcium chloride

redfishbluefish · Jan 22, 2017

Yep! It's calcium chloride. Unfortunately an MSDS doesn't show low level contaminants. If you look up any and all calcium chloride MSDS's, they will all look similar....maybe slight differences in bound water and other salts.....but it doesn't include lower level stuff. As an example, a while back a particular brand had been claimed to be high in bromine....but the MSDS didn't show the presence of bromine.

EDIT TO ADD:

I just went back and re-read all posts and see that you posted:

scottsreef said:
.........It says on back of bag its dow flakes. ........

Interestingly the MSDS for Dow looks very similar to the one from Panther. Now I'm one to take chances.....I'd use it! But that's me. Let's see what Randy says. FYI, I've been using Prestone Driveway Heat since 2008.