New Tank Syndrome?

[ScottB]

@Jason Partridge we are glad you are in the hobby! Your OCD will be rewarded (when moderated with patience) later once your 425 has found some biological equilibrium. Going painfully SLOW is critical now and even after your tank has found its sea legs. I am glad many shared this sentiment with me.

I don't have even respectable speculation about your pH challenge, sorry. I have dealt with the opposite before, but never seen those lows in my tanks. Not to add to your worry about pH as I agree with the consensus you are hearing. Process that later. I test for it maybe every 6 months just for giggles.

Given the amount of WC you've been doing, I am surprised to see Ca and Mg at those (lowish) levels with ALK climbing. I can see why you are dosing Mg.

I use bulk ESV Ionic for two part (Calc and ALK), but BRS for Mg -- which I dose to my ATO water.

So, aside from your LFS salt water which tests OK, maybe the ALK rise is coming from the B Ionic Mg solution? That would be weird, but put your OCD to good use: Test ALK before/after dosing the B Ionic Mg so as to rule it in/out for adding ALK. No animals will be harmed in this test.

PO4 at .17ppm we can come back to later; it ain't bad for most and good for many.

Again, welcome to the reefer community.

 

[Jason Partridge]

@Jason Partridge we are glad you are in the hobby! Your OCD will be rewarded (when moderated with patience) later once your 425 has found some biological equilibrium. Going painfully SLOW is critical now and even after your tank has found its sea legs. I am glad many shared this sentiment with me.

I don't have even respectable speculation about your pH challenge, sorry. I have dealt with the opposite before, but never seen those lows in my tanks. Not to add to your worry about pH as I agree with the consensus you are hearing. Process that later. I test for it maybe every 6 months just for giggles.

Given the amount of WC you've been doing, I am surprised to see Ca and Mg at those (lowish) levels with ALK climbing. I can see why you are dosing Mg.

I use bulk ESV Ionic for two part (Calc and ALK), but BRS for Mg -- which I dose to my ATO water.

So, aside from your LFS salt water which tests OK, maybe the ALK rise is coming from the B Ionic Mg solution? That would be weird, but put your OCD to good use: Test ALK before/after dosing the B Ionic Mg so as to rule it in/out for adding ALK. No animals will be harmed in this test.

PO4 at .17ppm we can come back to later; it ain't bad for most and good for many.

Again, welcome to the reefer community.

So just a quick update, here are my last 2 water tests and I cannot understand why there is little to no absorbtion of calcium, alk (still rising without dosing) and mag. Coral livestock is lps dominent and I am running the Pirates program for lighting. Is it possible the lightening program is insufficient for the coral, which may explain the lack of absorbtion? I also passed on the weekly water change, as per suggestions listed above.

[ATTACH=ful

 

[ScottB]

Maybe come back to pH later, the ALK is still tracking a bit high -- at least according to current consensus thinking.

Your Mag is now fine. You can probably drop that dose if you haven't already. Were you able to confirm that the Mag dose did not contribute to higher ALK? I am still at a loss to explain.

Lastly, going off the Randy Holmes Farley article linked before, he suggests adding calcium supplement. In absolute terms, your Calcium level is fine. But it is not in balance with your ALK. Aside from a little more buildup on your heaters, it won't harm anything if it creeps up a bit.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Just tested the top off water and got 0.1 dkh on my Hanna checker. Is it safe to assume that +/- .1 is an acceptable range for error?

Probably.

 

[Jason Partridge]

So I spoke with yet another reefer and they said that possibly the rock I am using (Real Reef) could be buffering the PH in the wrong direction and to use a CO2 scrubber. I placed an order with BRS with high hopes. Has anyone else ever heard of this?

 

[dwest]

So I spoke with yet another reefer and they said that possibly the rock I am using (Real Reef) could be buffering the PH in the wrong direction and to use a CO2 scrubber. I placed an order with BRS with high hopes. Has anyone else ever heard of this?

I’ve been doing this a long time. If I were you I would do 10% weekly water changes and not worry about the numbers ATM.