High MG and CA

[Jameshong]

Hi reefer,

I alway have problem to stepdown the CA and MG in my 2.5' tank and currently,the Mg @1450~1500 and CA @550~600 for 6 months liao.

I 'll like to know that Is there any impact/downside if the MG and Ca at the high side? or do i need to bring down the MG to 1350ppm and CA to 450ppm ?

Good or bad???

Water (DI) Change 20% bi-weekly or monthly

Salt Oceanic

Salinity Gravity 1.023

Temperature 27°C

pH 8.2

Alkalinity (dkH) 9 dKH

Ammonia (NH3) 0

Nitrite (NO2) 0

Nitrate (NO3) 20 ppm

Phosphate (PO4) 0

Calcium (Ca) 600

Magnesium (Mg) 1500 ppm

[Tigger]

wat test kit u used?

[Jameshong]

wat test kit u used?

Hi bro Tigger,

I used Salifert Mg Profi Test for MG and Red Sea Calcium Prof for CA test .

Any wrong?

[iantoh]

hi there bro,

what method are you using to maintain your alk and ca levels? a reactor? and are you using some form of dolomite like grotech mag pro or zeo mag in your reactor?

[Rocks]

hi there bro,

what method are you using to maintain your alk and ca levels? a reactor? and are you using some form of dolomite like grotech mag pro or zeo mag in your reactor?

Hi Ian,

How does dolomite being deployed in a CA reactor? just place it at the top or bottom layer of the CA media? and let the CO2 react with the dolomite?

Do you have good info on dolimite application I would like to read about it?

Thanks !

CHEERS!

Rocks

[Jameshong]

hi there bro,

what method are you using to maintain your alk and ca levels? a reactor? and are you using some form of dolomite like grotech mag pro or zeo mag in your reactor?

Hi ian,

No CR yet but intend to purchase one

I use Reefmax Part A for Alkaline Buffer once a week to maintain PH and KH, due to high MG & CA so seldom use Part B & C lor .

Part B ;Bio-Magnesium Part C ; Calcium+ .

So any negative effect on coral with such problem?

TQ

[iantoh]

hi there james,

two part additives are good, just that perhaps chlorides will rise improportionately over time due to the calcium chloride used in the Part B, but with water changes occasionally, it should be perfectly fine. looks like youve got your parameters top notch already. perhaps you might like to try raising your kh to around 11dkh. you see, calcifying corals consume ca and alk at a specific ratio, of around 1meq alk to 20ppm calcium, so for every 2.8dkh alk consumed, only 20ppm of calcium is proportionately used, so inorder to bring down your calcium, youd need to supply more alk. or you could just maintain it around 8dkh, and supplement just the alk portion till the calcium decreases over time.

try checking out this article by holmes-farley ya. its pretty good:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2002/chem.htm

cheers,

ian

ps: dont worry too much about your parameters ya. they sound fine to me, and should level out with time.

[happy]

Heard that red sea salt has around Ca at 300ppm.

Maybe you can do water change with this salt and lower down your Ca.

[Jameshong]

Hi bro ian,

Thanks for you info and link ! Very good lei .

[Jameshong]

Heard that red sea salt has around Ca at 300ppm.

Maybe you can do water change with this salt and lower down your Ca.

Hi bro Happy,

Thanks you 2 . I'll try out this Sat and let see how it go lor!

[w3ish3ng]

so by dosing kalk will actually put calcium lower?

[bawater]

nope its alk- short for alkalinity or kh or Dkh or carbonate hardness

very different -kalk is kalkwasser (calcium hydroxide)

which will raise pH,Kh(alkalinity) and calcium all in one go.

[w3ish3ng]

so is there any other method to pull calcium down? mine is abit over 500ppm

[iantoh]

hi there bro w3ish3ng,

ca at slightly over 500ppm shouldnt give you any problems ya. it will slowly come down if you do not continue to add any ca additives. kalkwasser and ca reactor effluent are balanced additives so they will raise both alk and ca proportionately in the ratio that they are consumed by corals, so if you already have high ca at 500+ppm, and a normal alk level of say around 8dkh, then adding such balanced additives will only keep the status quo by maintaining both parameters at their present levels should supplementation match consumption levels.

if you wish to lower ca, what youll need to do is let your corals and coralline algae consume both ca and alk, but only add alk additives so that youre maintaining your alk whilst allowing your ca to drop. do try checking out the article link as posted above. its really very good.

cheers,

ian