need help on clams and alk/ca balance

[nvert]

i have been dosing about 10ml of each component for about a month, keeping my alk at 3.5-4 meq/l and ca around 425. my overall bio load is light but i am beginning to see growth with everybody. last week when i checked my alk and ca i was very suprised to find it was 3.0 and 375 respectively. i have slowly been increasing the dosage to raise these values over the last week and now i'm adding 30ml of each. the alk is back up to 3.5-4 but the ca is still around 375. what's going on here? i thought the components were to be in sync. ph has been around 8.0-8.2 but with the slow increase in b-ionic it is climbing to around 8.4 after i add the increased dosage in the morning. please, please offer adivce. i know clams do not like too high of a ph but i really need to get my ca up and my alk/ca in balance. thanks.

brad

[Barry N.]

Hi Brad,

Have you checked you magnesium? You should be over 1300 or you will alway have trouble getting them way you want them.

Found that out after I did some reading and now all is well. My alk ranges from 9.2 dKh - 10.2 dKh and ca. 420 - 440 ppm with mag. up to 1400.

Hope this helps. thanks for stopping by

Barry

[nvert]

thanks barry. more strange stuff....after posting i went to my lfs to have them check out the water. their tests (seachem) read 450 for ca and 2.5 for alk (aquarium systems). i'm using salifert for ca and aquarium systems for alk. i can't believe the differences in numbers. they didn't have a mag test kit but i have one on order. my tank looks great but the numbers seem out of whack. maybe i'm being too anal retentive about this. it's just strange that i'm getting dif numbers.

brad

[Barry N.]

Brad,

I am also bad about chasing numbers sometimes but I test 3 times a week on my clam tanks.

Since I brought the mag. up I am now stable.

[Reefland]

Making a recommendation after 2 different readings is tough. You need to determine what the readings are exactly and go from there.

If the CA is in fact low, try some turbo calcium to bring it up. Do you have a friend that can test your parameters too? My opinion would be to get a 3rd opinion and go with the closets matching readings and act accordingly from there.

Scott Z.

[Barry N.]

Scott, I knew you were good Great suggestion

[Steve H.]

When ever I get some funky readings it's always been because my test kits got too old, every time. I'm not saying that's the solution in this case, but I would replace your ca and alk test kits wth new Salifert kits. And be sure they're new ... I bought one from a LFS once that I later found out was a year old!

As for adding the two components in sync, I have several full bottles of the alk component left over because for whatever reason it always stayed stable at an acceptable range. So I would just use the ca component and keep an eye on my alk. Later I switched to Turbo Calcium since I was just wastng money on the B-Ionic parts I wasn't using.

[Barry N.]

Steve, I was doing the samething with the B-Ionic. I always had more left in one of them.

[Reefland]

It seems I recall that there was a problem with dosing only 1 part of the system but I am not sure. I just sent an e-mail to Bob Stark at ESV for his comment on that.

I'm not sure but it seems there wouldn't be a problem, I just seem to recall something in the past that it could pose one. I'll be sure to post the feedback I get from Mr. Stark.

Scott Z.

[Steve H.]

It very well could cause a problem Scott. I don't dose over a long period, I was only dosing to get my levels up for the reactor to take over. And I had to dose a few more times after that due to taking the reactor offline in a few situations. I just thought the calcium part of B-Ionic was the same as any other calcium supplement.

[nvert]

thanks guys for your input. i will continue to test...this time with brand new kits. i'm running low anyhow!

[aquaholic]

Brad, Just might help by dosing kalkwasser after you get everything back in line. I've found it has reduced amount of B-ionic needed to keep cal./alk in line. I evaporate about gal/day in my 58 and using a automatic liter meter has made it go alot easier. Good luck, Rob.

[nvert]

reefland, barry, and steve....
you all have mentioned using more of the ca component from esv if the alk is high and the ca is low. wouldn't this put everything else out of balance? i'm still testing high alk compared to my low ca and am thinking of boosting the ca with turbo ca. i just hate having to add more stuff to the tank. it's about 6mos old now and everything is growing nicely so i understand my ca is getting used up. i don't want to dose kalk right now. looking forward to more input....

brad

[Reefland]

Your ALK is low and the CA is fine right? If that is the case, continue to dose your regualr amounts of B-Ionic and see if they balance out over the next few days. Continue to keep them dosing equally, do not dose more of either. If the low ALK continues to be a problem you will want to try some brand of buffer to bring it up slowly, or you may try this homemade recipe:
http://www.hawkfish.org/infoctr/homebuffer.htm

Additionally, your levels are not as bad off as you may think (in my opinion). Here is a link to a conversion tool that scubadude posted recently. This calculator says if your alk is 2.5 meq/L, a balanced CA level would be 410ppm.
http://www.andy-hipkiss.co.uk/index..../caalkcalc.htm

Scott Z.

[Steve H.]

Well, it didn't throw anything off in my tank. It was recommended by others that I keep dumping in the B-Ionic ca component, or Turbo Calcium, at three times the recommended dose and hold off on the alk as long as it was staying stable. But I mean, every tank is different, this is just my experience FWIW. And it did work, two weeks later my ca came up to 450 and alk stayed in check the whole way there without using any of the B-Ionic alk component. All the livestock seemed just fine as well.

[nvert]

hi scott-
my alk is ok...around 3.5 and approaching 4 with the increase in b-ionic. but my ca has not moved from 375. last night i checed everything again, same results, except my ph was around 8.4 and i've been trying to keep it at 8.0-8.2. 8.4 isn't bad for the corals but for the clams, i read it is. so.....how would i raise the ca without increasing my alk or my ph? should i do a water change tonight to bring my ph back to 8.2?

also, once i get my ca/alk/ph where i want it (preferably 450/4/8.2) will the b-ionic just keep it there? from my calculations from numbers on the lable it will take A LOT of the ca component to raise it to where i would like.

thanks!

[Reefland]

Ok, let's take a deep breath and review.

CA is low, ALK is fine. Use some turbo CA to bring it up to your preferred level and continue to dose the B-Ionic to maintain.

A water change might not be a bad idea (especially if you haven't done one this week) and may help the ph. One note of importance, when you see any levels off after testing, don't over react trying to get everything perfect. Make slow adjustments to get them to your preferred level. ;)

Scott Z.

[nvert]

ok....new test kits came in today and i finally have peace of mind. 11.6dkh and 410 ca. going to buy a 9volt for the ph monitor. thanks for your help guys and happy clamming.

[Reefland]

Great! Did you pick up Saliferts?

Kind Regards,
Scott Z.

[nvert]

yup...saliferts and a pinpoint probe. peace of mind!