Please help with parameters

BC1906 · Aug 24, 2016

So I have a 29 gallon biocube and I have some questions regarding my CA, alk and mag. I tested my water for these 3 using the red sea foundation kit. When I tested my water this is what it came to:

Ca-480/490
Alk-completely off the chart. Would not change to the second color. Tested 3 times.
Mag-1200

What can I do about my alk? Is my CA and mag alright?

What are some of the side affects of having such a high alk? My tank is LPS dominant and I do not have any sps.

Light:
Hydra twenty-six HD

Skimmer:
Aquamaxx HOB-1

Corals:
Scoly
Frogspawn
Acans
Torch
Sun coral
Duncan
Zoa
GSP
Some other small frags

Fish/inverts:
Pair of clown fish
Yellow watchmen goby
Pistol shrimp
Peppermint shrimp
Few hermit crabs
Few snails

The tank has been running since December. I have been dealing with a cyano outbreak but treated it with chemiclean twice. Still seems to be coming back though. I tested the water before using the chemiclean.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

cromag27 · Aug 24, 2016

What salt are you using? your ca is fine,, Mag is fine but on the low side. your alk isn't off the chart, you're just not performing the test correctly. not your fault though because those red sea alk tests are a pain to read. the color chart shows the end color as red, in reality you're supposed to stop when it turns orange/peach-ish.

MCFish23 · Aug 24, 2016

I would start small doing water changes to try and to get it down. What type of salt do you use?

How do corals look?

Make sure to go slow.

BC1906 · Aug 24, 2016

cromag08 said:
What salt are you using? your ca is fine,, Mag is fine but on the low side. your alk isn't off the chart, you're just not performing the test correctly. not your fault though because those red sea alk tests are a pain to read. the color chart shows the end color as red, in reality you're supposed to stop when it turns orange/peach-ish.

I'll try testing the alk again. I may have misread the chart. I believe my LFS uses red sea coral pro salt. My corals are alright but they are not growing much and I have lost some. My scoly has started to shrink and I can now see the skeleton more on the sides. I am not sure if this is because of the cyano I had or my chemistry. I usually change around 5 gallons a week for my water changes. I was running chemipure and deep blue phosphate pad to try to help the cyano but it didn't work so I started the chemiclean and I am using seachem matrix instead of the bio balls.