Low Alkalinity & High Calcium Issue

[MangoSentinels]

Hey reefers,

I recently started a new tank which is about 2 months old now. I spoke with a trusted reefer about introducing coral to the tank and I was told that I could add some as soon as my cycle was over. I picked up a hammer coral frag & long story short it hasn't been doing very well at all in my tank. It had its mouth agape the other day and it's been almost completely closed ever since. I did some testing and realized that my levels were out of whack.

Here are my parameters from my most recent test:

Salinity 1.025
Ammonia 0.00
Nitrite 0.00
Nitrate 0.2
Magnesium 1400
Alkalinity 6.2 dKH (!!!)
Calcium 573 (!!!)

Light: Kessil A160WE Tuna Blue
Wavemaker: 2 Jebao RW4
ATO: Tunze 3152 Osmolator
Protein Skimmer: SCA-301
Macro algae: Sea Lettuce + Chaetomorpha
Mechanical filtration: Chemipure Elite, Seachem Purigen, MarinePure ceramic cubes, phosphate reducing pad, filter floss

Tank size is 50 Gal with a 20 gallon sump. 50 lbs dry rock, 40 lbs live sand. Currently have an Ocellaris Clownfish, Carpenter Flashing Wrasse & Hammer coral frag.

Any input or guidance regarding stabilizing Alk/Cal would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you all

 

[Bryn]

Your Alkalinity is low, and the Calcium is high, which can be indicative of low Alkalinity.

I would slowly bring your Alkalinity up to a level of 9.0, making maybe only 0.5 increments per day, leaving your Ca alone for now, and just keep testing you water maybe every 5 days and watching you Alk.

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Those numbers are off, but I wouldn't consider either an emergency. Make any changes slowly over a few days.

Fixing chemistry issues is pretty simple. Your calcium is high, so stop dosing it if you are. Your alkalinity is low, so use a calculator and determine how much you need to dose to get it where you want. Dose that amount slowly over the next few days. After the levels are where you want them, measure daily for a while to make sure your dose is on track.