calcium levels are high and Alkalinity low

[MNFish]

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[homer1475]

Ok now were getting to the meat of the subject.....

I realize you bought the trident to avoid manual testing(only reason I would buy one, but would still verify the test with a manual test), but have you run a manual test to see if the trident isn't out of wack?

I do not own a trident(don't trust auto testing, sorry), but have read many a thread where the CAL was off by a lot with the trident, when in fact it really wasn't.

Respectfully disagree that this is the meat of the subject.

So have you verified the tridents reading with a secondary test?

Like I said, I have read many a threads about trident calibration, and/or testing errors. Specially calcium going up, when nothing is being dosed.

 

[Acros]

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Lou from tropic marine talks about this scenario. You can listen to it here
@nycfishy it is odd that calcium is going up even with automated water changes.

 

[nereefpat]

I’m not talking about dosing kalk (but might reluctantly consider it as alternative to AFR). Though the kalk might help pH.
Just alK component of 2 part.

I realize that you aren't talking about kalk. I was explaining that kalk and carbocalcium-only systems will always have calcium drift up on you and the mechanism as to why that happens.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Just to sum up, the values seem OK to me, but if you want calcium to decline, use a normal alk supplement for part of the alk needs. Baking soda or sodium carbonate, for example.

 

[Hooz]

I had the same issue with calcium and AFR. My proposed solution (still testing the theory) was to switch salts. Regular old Instant Ocean at 1.024sg mixes around 9dkh for alk, 1280-ish for mag and, most importantly, 380-ish for cal. So I can do water changes and keep most of my parameters right where I want them, all while REMOVING excess calcium.

I have a 6 pack of ICP tests arriving Friday, then I'll really get rolling and see if my theory pans out.

 

[nycfishy]

I aim for 8.8-9 Yes about once a week. I use the Hanna checker and when it gets down to 8.3-8.5 I will mix up some RODI and appropriate amount of bicarbonate to get me back to around 9. I then add this in increments over the course of a day. Currently dosing 30ml/day AFR into my approx. 50gal frag tank setup.

how must have great growth , that's double was I dose for about 120 gallons

 

[nycfishy]

Just to sum up, the values seem OK to me, but if you want calcium to decline, use a normal alk supplement for part of the alk needs. Baking soda or sodium carbonate, for example.

thank you Randy, appreciate you taking the time to provide your expertise.

I have increased my AFR dosing by 20% 4 days ago and ALK is creeping up a bit with calcium holding steady, don't think it will get my ALk past 8 but will wait a week and then if needed I can use my other dos head for sodium carbonate.

Do you have any thoughts on dosing AFR vs Kalk?

 

[nycfishy]

I had the same issue with calcium and AFR. My proposed solution (still testing the theory) was to switch salts. Regular old Instant Ocean at 1.024sg mixes around 9dkh for alk, 1280-ish for mag and, most importantly, 380-ish for cal. So I can do water changes and keep most of my parameters right where I want them, all while REMOVING excess calcium.

I have a 6 pack of ICP tests arriving Friday, then I'll really get rolling and see if my theory pans out.

not a bad idea and something to consider, let me know how it works out.
I've got 3 buckets of tropic marine pro salt I need to use up first so will be a bit before I do any that kind of experimenting. (not that things are going badly jut think they could be a little better so not looking to make any big changes)

 

[nycfishy]

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www.tropic-marin-smartinfo.com

yea I saw that as well, was hoping to understand why my consumption levels might not be in balance (concerned there might be an underlying issue and curious). I will wait another week as I have increased AFR dosing 20% and will then dose just sodium carbonate with my other dos head.
thanks for taking time to look this up and post.

 

[nycfishy]

I do auto water changes, any reason I can't add ALK to the salt water mix and have it dose that way?

 

[Shirak]

I do auto water changes, any reason I can't add ALK to the salt water mix and have it dose that way?

What kind of Alk? When I was using TM Pro I would add bicarbonate to bump it up to my tank level Alk level before doing a water change.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Adding more than a tiny amount of alkalinity to new salt water will end in precipitating calcium carbonate and be a failure.

Let's take a case example:

Suppose you change 1% of the tank water daily, and want to add 1 dKH total to the tank via that water change each day.

The new change water then needs to be 100 dKH higher than the tank water and will, obviously, fail.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

thank you Randy, appreciate you taking the time to provide your expertise.

I have increased my AFR dosing by 20% 4 days ago and ALK is creeping up a bit with calcium holding steady, don't think it will get my ALk past 8 but will wait a week and then if needed I can use my other dos head for sodium carbonate.

Do you have any thoughts on dosing AFR vs Kalk?

I would not mix AFR with calcium hydroxide.

Magnesium hydroxide will preciptiate, and the calcium in the AFR will reduce the calcium hydroxide solubility.

 

[nycfishy]

Adding more than a tiny amount of alkalinity to new salt water will end in precipitating calcium carbonate and be a failure.

Let's take a case example:

Suppose you change 1% of the tank water daily, and want to add 1 dKH total to the tank via that water change each day.

The new change water then needs to be 100 dKH higher than the tank water and will, obviously, fail.

Makes sense thank you.

 

[nycfishy]

I would not mix AFR with calcium hydroxide.

Magnesium hydroxide will preciptiate, and the calcium in the AFR will reduce the calcium hydroxide solubility.

Any issues/concerns if I dose soda ash to get ALK up a bit while also dosing AFR (my pH could use the bump)?
Or is sodium bicarbonate my best option w/ AFR to increase ALK?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Any issues/concerns if I dose soda ash to get ALK up a bit while also dosing AFR (my pH could use the bump)?
Or is sodium bicarbonate my best option w/ AFR to increase ALK?

Both are fine. Sodium carbonate (soda ash) gives a pH boost which, more often than not, is useful as well.