specialk
Valuable Member
So I work for FEMA and have been traveling like mad all late summer and into fall. Finally got back for good. I was having some issues with my tank due to unstable water parameters and constant swings due to travel and having people take care of my tank for me while I was gone ..
My issue is now, in an effort to get things back on track I went out and got a doser and wanted to get things level and on a constant all the time .. The issue I had, is when doing a water change, I tested a day after the change, in an effort to begin to test and see how much calcium and alk my tank was using a day then dose accordingly, is that I got a bad batch of salt mix -- my salt was testing at 760!!
Now I know many on here told me not to worry and let it fall naturally .. but I went ahead and did another water change, (with the good salt reef crystals sent me as a replacement) and it only brought the calcium down to about 710! So I know I can just let it fall naturally, but again my goal here is to set and establish solid, consistent water parameters ... how can I now do that when I am waiting for it to fall to around the 450 range?
* Do I wait ... and wait... and wait .. and wait .. until it falls down to where I want it (450) then start dosing and watching how much my tank uses?
* Do I simply monitor alk from here on out?
* I am certainly not going to keep doing water changes to bring the calcium back down ... how do I get the calcium down?
What should my approach be here to get things constant and stable ?
( oh by the way .. 145 gallon system, primarily sps frags and min colonies. Some softies as well, but mainly 85% sps)
My issue is now, in an effort to get things back on track I went out and got a doser and wanted to get things level and on a constant all the time .. The issue I had, is when doing a water change, I tested a day after the change, in an effort to begin to test and see how much calcium and alk my tank was using a day then dose accordingly, is that I got a bad batch of salt mix -- my salt was testing at 760!!
Now I know many on here told me not to worry and let it fall naturally .. but I went ahead and did another water change, (with the good salt reef crystals sent me as a replacement) and it only brought the calcium down to about 710! So I know I can just let it fall naturally, but again my goal here is to set and establish solid, consistent water parameters ... how can I now do that when I am waiting for it to fall to around the 450 range?
* Do I wait ... and wait... and wait .. and wait .. until it falls down to where I want it (450) then start dosing and watching how much my tank uses?
* Do I simply monitor alk from here on out?
* I am certainly not going to keep doing water changes to bring the calcium back down ... how do I get the calcium down?
What should my approach be here to get things constant and stable ?
( oh by the way .. 145 gallon system, primarily sps frags and min colonies. Some softies as well, but mainly 85% sps)
