Calcium and Alk consumptions always changing

Travis Stewart · Nov 2, 2019

Scorpius said:
If your system is 1yr or less old things are gonna swing.

It’s about 1 year 6 months

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 3, 2019

Travis Stewart said:
thanks for your reply. Having very stable alk as I have been testing almost daily since I noticed low calcium. I also dose esv and have never had low calcium. Tank looks solid and would never have guessed totest calcium except it was due as I try to test every 2 weeks or so and like you also said test alk 1-2 times a week.

a big drop in calcium in 2 weeks with steady alk and B-ionic dosing is either test error, or the calcium part is not going in as you expect. If using a doser, check the volume coming out.

Travis Stewart · Nov 3, 2019

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
a big drop in calcium in 2 weeks with steady alk and B-ionic dosing is either test error, or the calcium part is not going in as you expect. If using a doser, check the volume coming out.

thanks Randy. I had a thought that calcium buildup inside the airline tubing could be causing an error in amount dosed. May try clipping the end of the hose

Travis Stewart · Nov 6, 2019

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
a big drop in calcium in 2 weeks with steady alk and B-ionic dosing is either test error, or the calcium part is not going in as you expect. If using a doser, check the volume coming out.

all looked good. I even manually dosed a bunch more and I still can’t get it to come up. I also tested my new batch and got 450+ on it so I know it’s not the test kit. Constantly between 330-350

Travis Stewart · Nov 10, 2019

Got mag up, alk stable at 8.3 dkh and increased calcium dosing amount by 12mL. Still can’t get my calcium to rise.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 10, 2019

Travis Stewart said:
all looked good. I even manually dosed a bunch more and I still can’t get it to come up. I also tested my new batch and got 450+ on it so I know it’s not the test kit. Constantly between 330-350

there’s never a reason that dosing enough calcium can’t get you to whatever level you want. Just dose more.

Travis Stewart · Nov 10, 2019

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
there’s never a reason that dosing enough calcium can’t get you to whatever level you want. Just dose more.

map all the reading about dosing too much and it precipitates out is false? I’m thinking I need to dose a bunch to get where I need to be and then the amount set on doser should be near my daily consumption since it was stable for over a year. Just really shocked that it randomly got this low.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 10, 2019

Travis Stewart said:
map all the reading about dosing too much and it precipitates out is false? I’m thinking I need to dose a bunch to get where I need to be and then the amount set on doser should be near my daily consumption since it was stable for over a year. Just really shocked that it randomly got this low.

it’s not false, but your interpretation of it might be. There is never, ever any situation where adding enough calcium chloride won’t raise calcium as high as you want (even 5,000 ppm), even if that means precipitating all the alk out of the water.

You are correct about making the correction. add more and it will rise. You are adding it too slowly if it won’t rise.

Forget a doser. Add all you need to boost it 50 ppm per day manually. It won’t disappear from precipitation at any rate that is important to this boost.

Travis Stewart · Nov 10, 2019

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
it’s not false, but your interpretation of it might be. There is never, ever any situation where adding enough calcium chloride won’t raise calcium as high as you want (even 5,000 ppm), even if that means precipitating all the alk out of the water.

You are correct about making the correction. add more and it will rise. You are adding it too slowly if it won’t rise.

Forget a doser. Add all you need to boost it 50 ppm per day manually. It won’t disappear from precipitation at any rate that is important to this boost.

thanks just added 5 oz and have three doses to get to desired level. That’s is randy

Travis Stewart · Nov 11, 2019

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
it’s not false, but your interpretation of it might be. There is never, ever any situation where adding enough calcium chloride won’t raise calcium as high as you want (even 5,000 ppm), even if that means precipitating all the alk out of the water.

You are correct about making the correction. add more and it will rise. You are adding it too slowly if it won’t rise.

Forget a doser. Add all you need to boost it 50 ppm per day manually. It won’t disappear from precipitation at any rate that is important to this boost.

randy, I added close to 14 oz (recommended amount to get to desired level) over three doses and a days time. Got no movement on calcium with alk stable. Like mentioned above, tested kit on new saltwater batch...

Greybeard · Nov 11, 2019

Testing at the same time each day? That, along with a Hanna tester, made a big difference in how 'stable' my Alk testing was.

spidercrab · Nov 11, 2019

Depending on the size of your system it is normal to fluctuate weekly. Sometimes the coral are very happy and take up a lot and sometimes they are *****.