Super high calcium and mag help

[Rogergolf66]

i have a very heavy stock sps system over 500gal.

I was dosing triton core 7. About 300ml per day. As you may know triton has supply issues and I couldn’t rely on them so I changed to ATI elements 3 part. Problem ended up being that I had to dose 1,150ml per day to keep up with demand since it is not a strong as triton. I didn’t want to refill my 1 gal containers every 2 days. So I doubled the strength of the cal and mag by using 2 bottles of the product in the same amount of water. The alk portion wouldn’t desolve so I had to double the water for 2 bottles of the product. Now I did cut the dosing quantity for cal and mag in half so it was now at 575ml per day and alk is still at 1,150. It’s been about 3 weeks like this. I test alk every night it has been good. I don’t test cal and mag as often. I tested last night and my alk was 8.4 cal 495 mag 1580.

Goal level
Alk 8.0
Cal 440
Mag 1370

I realize now that pouring two 1000ml bottles of concentrated product into the same amount of water as directed for 1 bottle means that the cal and mag is now stronger then the alk potion and no longer balanced. Opps. I was thinking it would be just double the strength and I was going to just dose exactly half. since alk was mixed into 18 litters of water and 2 litters of product to make 20 litters of alk mix as directed, but mag and cal was only mixed into 8 litters or water and 2 litters of product making 10 litters of cal and mag mix.

So in short alk was diluted 9 to 1
And cal and mag was diluted 4 to 1 but I dose these at 1/2 quantity so it’s like 8 to 1 I guess? Does that work?

Unfortunately I already mixed the next Bach the same way. What is the best thing to do?

Actions I took.
I turned off dosing of cal and mag.
I left alk dosing on.
I will test each day to see the drop in mag and calcium.
I will then turn cal and mag back on when needed, and test more regular till product is used up. Then will mix as directed.

Concern? I know higher mag and calcium never seems to bother tanks in the past. Is letting it go down naturally with the actions I took the best way to go or should I do a few largish water changes to fix it faster? Should I look out for any negative signs? If so what signs?

Thx for all your help and info in advance.

Roger

 

[mta_morrow]

Your Ca and Mg levels should not be harmful at those levels.

Do you have any sps that is growing in the tank?

any coraline algae?

if so, these will bring down the Ca and Mg.

Its really good that you caught what happened! good job!

I personally wouldn't sweat it at those levels and do WC's.

Just be careful when you DO start dosing again to be sure your math was correct!

 

[Rogergolf66]

Your Ca and Mg levels should not be harmful at those levels.

Do you have any sps that is growing in the tank?

any coraline algae?

if so, these will bring down the Ca and Mg.

Its really good that you caught what happened! good job!

I personally wouldn't sweat it at those levels and do WC's.

Just be careful when you DO start dosing again to be sure your math was correct!

Yes I have lots of growth of sps a day. If levels are safe I will let it drop maturing with demand. I will just keep alk on.

Thx for info. If any other opinions as to why this is not the way to go let me know.

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

@mta_morrow is spot on. The big issue is going to be when you start using the supplements in the concentration they were supposed to be used. Double, triple, and quadruple check your math to make sure you're dosing the proper amounts.

In the future, I personally would not attempt to dilute or concentrate two-part supplements the way you did. There may be areas where this makes sense, but with a standard two/three part system, this is almost ever necessary.

 

[Amoo]

ATI specifically state sin their directions that you can dose Cal and Mag at equal but different amounts then the ALK portion. Just adjust the amount you dose for the next batch.