Calcium out of control

[Engloid]

I have the Korallin 1502 reactor with CO2 bottle...and this thing does WAY more than it's rated for (up to 400 gal)!!! I have the reactor running at 7.5pH, and my calcium is still at 540. I guess I'm going to have to just shut this thing off for a few days. Maybe I'll have to put a timer on it or something.

My live rock looks incredible though, with a lot of coralline algae. My back glass is about 70% covered, enough to hide most of the cords and such. THe front and sides have to be cleaned with a magfloat every 1-2 days and that doesn't even get the coralline that has to be scraped about every 3-4 days.

Anyway...I don't think I want to do a waterchange to lower it, since salt costs about $0.23/gallon. I'll just see how long it takes for it to start dropping.


On another note...anybody here got experience with LSM (Liver Sulpher Media)? I added some to my phosphate reactor and didn't have any problems while running it about2-3hrs a day, but when I turned it on all day, my skimmer flipped out. I had foam about a foot high out of my collection can, and my water got cloudy in less than 24hrs.

 

[JackoChang]

Sounds like you had a bacterial bloom. However, I was watching LA Fish Guys and he had the same issue with too much calcium, which led to cloudy water. Think he explains it, it's the episode where the guy wants to replace the american motor iwaki with the japanese motor iwaki.

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[Engloid]

I'm thinking that the cloudy water is due to the LSM though...cause my calcium has always been 460 or higher. I haven't checked it in weeks, and since I just made changes to the LSM/phosphate reactor last night, I'm hoping that was it. I've backed it down to just a couple hours a day and will see what that does. If that's not it, then I'll start suspecting the calcium is the cause. Make sense, or am I nuts?

 

[Paul_N]

Very high Calcium will cause it to precipitate out in the water but 540 should not do it.

I would put money on the sulfur. You should take the sulfur media out of the phosphate reactor. It requires very very slow flow and is designed for sulfur reactors. They recommend initially a flow of 1 litre per hour and up to 5 per hour so that is from .26 gallons per hour to like a 1 1/2 gallons per hour. I ran one for a little while and it literally dripped out.

 

[Engloid]

Very high Calcium will cause it to precipitate out in the water but 540 should not do it.

I would put money on the sulfur. You should take the sulfur media out of the phosphate reactor. It requires very very slow flow and is designed for sulfur reactors. They recommend initially a flow of 1 litre per hour and up to 5 per hour so that is from .26 gallons per hour to like a 1 1/2 gallons per hour. I ran one for a little while and it literally dripped out.

I have it, and the phosphate (GFO), both in an old canister filter. I'm thinking I can choke it down a bit with valves for now. In the next few days, I can move my calcium reactor downstairs with the rest of the mechanical stuff, and run it inline with the nitrate reactor. From what I'm reading, that's the reccomended method. What were your other experiences with using LSM? Wasted time?

 

[Paul_N]

I made a DIY reactor a few years back when I first switched from FOWLR to a reef tank. My nitrates were through the roof since I didn't use RO/DI water. They were literally around 180...lol. Even with massive water changes they would not go down since the rocks and sand were leaching N and P like crazy. The reactor got my nitrates down to 50 in no time. It took a couple of weeks for the reactor to kick in but when it did, it worked well. I seemed to hit a wall around 50 with the nitrates. I had to keep adjusting the reactor and degassing it and messing with the drip rate and then it would get clogged. I was getting really frustrated and then I found vodka so I put the reactor away....lol

 

[Engloid]

I got home from work today, and the tank looks fine again. I guess I was just running the LSM too much. I actually put it in (separated) with my GFO. I may separate it at some point, so I can run the GFO more than the LSM, or just take the LSM out. Nitrates aren't a problem for me anyway. I got the LSM when I bought a setup and figured I'd give it a shot.

I've done some reading on vodka dosing, and done a little, but nothing long term. Does it do anything other than help with nitrates?

 

[Paul_N]

I got home from work today, and the tank looks fine again. I guess I was just running the LSM too much. I actually put it in (separated) with my GFO. I may separate it at some point, so I can run the GFO more than the LSM, or just take the LSM out. Nitrates aren't a problem for me anyway. I got the LSM when I bought a setup and figured I'd give it a shot.

I've done some reading on vodka dosing, and done a little, but nothing long term. Does it do anything other than help with nitrates?

It also helps with the reduction of phosphates. I haven't run GFO in over 9 months. Every tank is different though so not a guarantee on the GFO.

Also if nitrates are not an issue then ditch the sulfur.