I am getting confused and concerned by how much calc and alk I am dosing since dumping 4 bottles of Coralline spores from Atlantic Reef Conservatory last month. Looking for some input and thoughts please.
Here's the story. I started a new 400 gal tank on May 7th. Felt it was fairly well cycled by mid June. During that time calc was going nowhere and alk and PH were not difficult to maintain with regular dosing of Sodium Carbonate. Not all my equipment and setup is complete so I've decided to keep livestock out of the tank for now and just keep the cycle going with daily ammonia doses. But I bought and dumped 4 bottles of coralline spores from ARC about 3 weeks ago to get that started. I'm using dry Marco rock. Immediately, the next day, my calc and alk uptake took off. About 30ppm drop per day of calcium, and alk needs proportionately increased.
At first I thought it was great and a good sign that these live spores were growing. But its been about 3 weeks and the calc and alk uptake is increasing to seemingly unbelievable numbers. I am now dosing about a gallon of pre measured bags of BRS Sodium Carbonate and Calcium Chloride pretty much every third day. With that I am still struggling to keep my Alk above 7dKH and my calc above 400ppm. PH is around 8.1. Calcium is precipitating out of the water and settling on things a bit but its not a dust storm. A quick hand swipe across the bottom of the sump shows there is some grit there but nothing significant. I have a crushed coral bed and stirring that up DOES create dust storm. But that is also calcium carbonate and is generally dusty itself.
I am measuring levels with a Neptune Trident, and checking it with a Hanna Colorimeter. I even went and got a Salifert tester to triple check. All are reasonably in line with each other so it seems like the levels are correct. I've had aquariums my whole life and my last one was a 140 reef. But that was 20 years ago. There's been a large gap for me in this hobby and I'm thinking I am ignorant to something important.
Can anyone offer any insight or advice ? BTW, I don't see any signs of Coralline algae yet.
Here's the story. I started a new 400 gal tank on May 7th. Felt it was fairly well cycled by mid June. During that time calc was going nowhere and alk and PH were not difficult to maintain with regular dosing of Sodium Carbonate. Not all my equipment and setup is complete so I've decided to keep livestock out of the tank for now and just keep the cycle going with daily ammonia doses. But I bought and dumped 4 bottles of coralline spores from ARC about 3 weeks ago to get that started. I'm using dry Marco rock. Immediately, the next day, my calc and alk uptake took off. About 30ppm drop per day of calcium, and alk needs proportionately increased.
At first I thought it was great and a good sign that these live spores were growing. But its been about 3 weeks and the calc and alk uptake is increasing to seemingly unbelievable numbers. I am now dosing about a gallon of pre measured bags of BRS Sodium Carbonate and Calcium Chloride pretty much every third day. With that I am still struggling to keep my Alk above 7dKH and my calc above 400ppm. PH is around 8.1. Calcium is precipitating out of the water and settling on things a bit but its not a dust storm. A quick hand swipe across the bottom of the sump shows there is some grit there but nothing significant. I have a crushed coral bed and stirring that up DOES create dust storm. But that is also calcium carbonate and is generally dusty itself.
I am measuring levels with a Neptune Trident, and checking it with a Hanna Colorimeter. I even went and got a Salifert tester to triple check. All are reasonably in line with each other so it seems like the levels are correct. I've had aquariums my whole life and my last one was a 140 reef. But that was 20 years ago. There's been a large gap for me in this hobby and I'm thinking I am ignorant to something important.
Can anyone offer any insight or advice ? BTW, I don't see any signs of Coralline algae yet.