AHmmm... must have been closed out, here is the answer to the last post made by filly:
Quote:
Originally posted by filly
I keep having problems with the Alk being too high... ...My Ca levels are also low ... ...I tried putting in the SeaChem Reef builder and Buffer when the Alk went sky high. Didn't seem to help much...
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sorry, I must be totally misunderstanding this post, you say that you were adding the buffer and reef builder when the levels were already high?
As to the imbalance with Ca and alk, you will need to use a Calcium Chloride based additive to bring your Ca levels up, then use a balanced supplement like kalk or one of the 2 part additives in equal portions to maintain your alkalinity and Calcium once the desired levels are attained. The two go hand-in-hand to provide the substances needed for skeletalization/calcification in
hermatypic corals. They are used up in equal portions to build skeletons. If you supply too much alkalinity, it can, under the right conditions, take your Calcium out of the water column. The particulars will depend on your top off water quality, the rate of addition of the alkalinity/buffer builder, and the method and rate of calcium additions as well. If you add too much alkalinity at once, you stand the chance of making the carbonate level very high in a very small volume, which will then react with the available calcium ions to precipitate as very finely divided CaCO3. CaCO3 has only about a 500PPM solubility in NSW, possibly lower under certain conditions (i.e. high pH, temp fluctuations, Phosphate presence, low magnesium, etc...). If it is very quickly dispersed (as in a quickly flowing current), it will go back into solution, otherwise, it ends up as freshly made aragonite/calcite. Net effect on the water column parameters is very high alkalinity but dropping Ca levels. Many circumstances may prevail to do the same thing in microenvironments in a closed system. Search the archives for a breakdown on the chemistry behind these phenomena.
Hope this helps.
