blakki73
Community Member
Hello fellow reefers,
Since the end of April I have now been experiencing an issues with Calcium rising on its own, no (conscious) dosing, while KH is being used normally.
Here's an overview of my measurings, using Salifert reagent tests for the Triad, Hanna Phosporus ULR for PO4, Elos for NO3.
Calcium Alcalinity PO4 Nitrate
For dosing, I use ASF Alcalinity and PH booster in powder, 15g mixed in 1.5l RODI (0 TDS at all times). I dose it manually:
Apr 9 60ml
Apr 18 80ml
Apr 20 60ml
Apr 23 60ml
Apr 24 80ml
Apr 29 80ml
May 2 80ml
May 3 250ml
May 7 80ml
May 11 100ml
May 13 120 ml
May 18 100ml
The only other thing that I dose sometimes is NO3 from Aquaforest, but not so often, in small quantity to avoid NO3 bottoming out (it did for the whole January and February), and two drops of Coral Vitalizer every other day.
For salt, I use Tropic Marin Pro Reef, I've been using the same bucket for the whole time; freshly mixed calcium measures 440ppm with the same test, tried multiple times an hour after mixing as well as a few days later, it has been consistent. Here's an overview of my water changes:
The hammer corals in the tank are doing fine, as are Ricordeas (no surprise eheheh), and the Goniastrea; some of the Zoa colonies are closing up, one of them has been closed for 2 weeks now, but that could also be because if the explosion of Amphipods I am experiencing due to the really heavy feeding to keep po4 from bottoming out (I have a skimmer, but it's off, and I change my filter floss once a month). I have a pink streaked wrasse in QT right now, which hopefully will deal with the Amphipods.
What's really suffering now are the Candy Cane coral, which kind of shrivels during the day, and the Stylophora, which is starting to lose some skin.
I am just at a loss about what might be causing this Calcium spike, and I am really demotivated on bringing it down through water changes, I'd need to change a lot of water and I feel it would just rise again if I don't find the cause.
I read somewhere that lack of areation could cause rocks or sand to release calcium in the water, and I did have potentially something like that in my sump, where I use a plastic container with holes to rise the skimmer, with a bunch of rocks under it, so two weeks ago I took it out and drilled way more holes, but that didn't change the trend. I have two tiger conchs and lots of dwarf ceriths in my sandbed (it's the first thing that bred for me), so that should not be the issue.
I am in need of your precious help, does anyone have any idea? Thank you in advance.
Since the end of April I have now been experiencing an issues with Calcium rising on its own, no (conscious) dosing, while KH is being used normally.
Here's an overview of my measurings, using Salifert reagent tests for the Triad, Hanna Phosporus ULR for PO4, Elos for NO3.
Calcium Alcalinity PO4 Nitrate
For dosing, I use ASF Alcalinity and PH booster in powder, 15g mixed in 1.5l RODI (0 TDS at all times). I dose it manually:
Apr 9 60ml
Apr 18 80ml
Apr 20 60ml
Apr 23 60ml
Apr 24 80ml
Apr 29 80ml
May 2 80ml
May 3 250ml
May 7 80ml
May 11 100ml
May 13 120 ml
May 18 100ml
The only other thing that I dose sometimes is NO3 from Aquaforest, but not so often, in small quantity to avoid NO3 bottoming out (it did for the whole January and February), and two drops of Coral Vitalizer every other day.
For salt, I use Tropic Marin Pro Reef, I've been using the same bucket for the whole time; freshly mixed calcium measures 440ppm with the same test, tried multiple times an hour after mixing as well as a few days later, it has been consistent. Here's an overview of my water changes:
The hammer corals in the tank are doing fine, as are Ricordeas (no surprise eheheh), and the Goniastrea; some of the Zoa colonies are closing up, one of them has been closed for 2 weeks now, but that could also be because if the explosion of Amphipods I am experiencing due to the really heavy feeding to keep po4 from bottoming out (I have a skimmer, but it's off, and I change my filter floss once a month). I have a pink streaked wrasse in QT right now, which hopefully will deal with the Amphipods.
What's really suffering now are the Candy Cane coral, which kind of shrivels during the day, and the Stylophora, which is starting to lose some skin.
I am just at a loss about what might be causing this Calcium spike, and I am really demotivated on bringing it down through water changes, I'd need to change a lot of water and I feel it would just rise again if I don't find the cause.
I read somewhere that lack of areation could cause rocks or sand to release calcium in the water, and I did have potentially something like that in my sump, where I use a plastic container with holes to rise the skimmer, with a bunch of rocks under it, so two weeks ago I took it out and drilled way more holes, but that didn't change the trend. I have two tiger conchs and lots of dwarf ceriths in my sandbed (it's the first thing that bred for me), so that should not be the issue.
I am in need of your precious help, does anyone have any idea? Thank you in advance.
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