kalk dosing what went wrong???

[spscrazy]

I just started dosing kalk 3 days ago I put 1 teaspoon of Mrs Wages in 1 gallon of water
let set for 24 hrs & stared the slow drip just enough to keep up with evaporation
this AM I thought the corals looked a little less colorful especially anything with purple on them yesterday test were calcium 450 (red sea) ph 8.2 (red sea) alk 2.8 (red sea) and mag. 1550 salifert a few minutes ago calcium is over 600 ph is 8.6 mag. is 1670 and alk is the same 2.8 what am I doing wrong & how can I fix this? I only have maybe 3 g of r/o water aerated but no saltwater mixed up I did stop the drip but don't know what to do now or what went wrong with the dosing please help!

 

[Just Clownin Around]

what do you have in the tank. might not of needed such a strong mixture of kalc . also what size tank. have to be very careful dosing tank with kalc. i would get the salt mixed up and do a water change

 

[spscrazy]

its a 95 g mixed reef I had been adding 1/4 teaspoon alkaline 8.3 (brightwell) plus 1 capful kent tech CB plus 1 capfull kent liquid calcium to 4 qts of r/o water I have somehow misunderstood how to dose this kalk & would like to do it I am mixing the saltwater to do a change tomorrow would still like to understand the kalk better

 

[spscrazy]

bump for some help please

 

[Just Clownin Around]

what you are doing is fine. how long after the drip did you check the ph and calcium.

 

[Just Clownin Around]

if it was right away then the ph will be thru the roof. one side effect of using kalc. also its starnge that the calcium is that high and not your alc. usually raises both by alc more than cal

 

[Just Clownin Around]

are you still dosing the other products? that may also effect the ph and calcium levels. also when was the last time you compared the test you are using to someone elses

 

[caudill187]

I assume you double checked your calcium. It seems to me it would be next to impossible to raise your ca that much with kalk. I used to drip about 4 gallons a day in my 120 and never had that issue. My tank had a few big acro colonies but....

 

[Troylee]

Something don't seem right I would say your test kits or something... Or you grabbed water directly from where you dripping maybe??? Take the water from the display and test it..

 

[spscrazy]

:squigglemouth: well ya'll I'm just plain not thinking anymore!! yeah note to self don't test while you are still dripping & don't get test water right where the flow just directed it . thanks all I'm telling ya if you wouldn't have mentioned it I would never have thought of it & would still be freaking out (don't laugh too much on this one)

 

[Troylee]

Hey I have done similar things... Glad we could help..

 

[Reef UP]

Done it as well ^ lol live and learn that's have the fun/headache in this hobby

 

[beaslbob]

if the alk is meg/l those values sound about right. If dkh (degree) you alk is too low.

 

[vnon]

Just checking, but even though your tests were misleading, what is the cause of the poor coloration of the corals? Was it too much kalk?

thanks,
Vance

 

[spscrazy]

I forgot to take into allowance that the coral with the purple that I was worried about had recently been broken off a rock by my maroon clown & thrown upside down against another coral I didn't know what had happened at first so I put it back just to catch the clown doing it again had to move it & it's just a bit lower in the light than before & I think that was why it lost a bit of "color punch" j ust a chain reaction of freaking out over nothing! all is well now thanks for asking