Over Dosing Help

[KenB]

So I've been having issues with my 2 part manual dosing and I'm to the point that I'm thinking of a calcium reactor (thanks for those who gave advice to my reactor post last week) but want to make sure it's not a bigger problem.

 

Tank 125 gal

Sump feed tub approx 30 gal of water half full 

Refugium 20 gal

Lightly stocked coral

Kalk reactor running lightly

 

So I've manually dosed BRS 2 part for years without many problems and hadn't been checking levels for awhile and went away for a few days and the person taking care of it confused my directions and under dosed but didn't think that should be a big deal.  When I checked my levels were all very low (probably already low before I left)  Mag 1000, Alk 6, Cal 290.  So I started increasing my doses from 200 ml of alk and cal to 400 and some days 600 (over dosing I think??) for several weeks and cant get the cal over 375 +/- and the alk over 7.5 +/-.  Not terrible but can't seem to get to Cal 400-450 and alk 8-9.  Mag is at 1200, little low.  Also tank glass is turning white and pumps require much more maintenance.  Switched from dumping in my sump to gradually adding high flow area of main tank.  Not much difference. 

 

So I was hoping maybe a calcium reactor would solve my problem but would like to know what's going before I make that investment. Any thoughts/suggerstions would be greatly appreciated.

 

thanks ken

[ReefAddict]

Sounds like you are over dosing.  There is a BRStv video that describes it in length, but I can't access Youtube at the moment for the link.  I would stop dosing everything for 2 days and recheck the levels.  I have a 125 gallon with about a 30gallon sump as well,  with a fair amount of SPS (frags mainly) and some larger LPS corals.  For comparison, currently I am dosing between 35ml and 45ml of BRS Two Part daily to keep my ALK at 8.3  I am using a GHL 2 doser.  The white build up I believe is the calcium which is an indication of over dosing. 

[GraffitiSpotCorals]

Have you double checked your test kits against something else to make sure they aren't reading wrong? I would definatly do this before making any changes to dosing. Also if magnesium is low like that it can cause trouble when trying to bring up the other two levels.

[John Ford]

You also do not want to dose at the same time. I'm not sure if you do or not but wait at least a half hour or so between alk and calcium.

[Origami]

Have you double checked your test kits against something else to make sure they aren't reading wrong? I would definatly do this before making any changes to dosing. Also if magnesium is low like that it can cause trouble when trying to bring up the other two levels.

+1. I'd cross-check your test kits with other, quality kits to ensure that you're getting good readings. The white precipitate and the "pumps need more maintenance" observables indicate that calcium carbonate is easily precipitated abiotically. It could be low magnesium, however a level of 1200, if accurate, is fairly reasonable. However, the symptoms your describing are classic for low magnesium. If not that, this would leave things open to your having overdosed the tank with high levels of calcium/alkalinity that, because the water can't hold so much, is precipitating out as calcium carbonate and, basically, driving your levels down. 

[KenB]

+1. I'd cross-check your test kits with other, quality kits to ensure that you're getting good readings. The white precipitate and the "pumps need more maintenance" observables indicate that calcium carbonate is easily precipitated abiotically. It could be low magnesium, however a level of 1200, if accurate, is fairly reasonable. However, the symptoms your describing are classic for low magnesium. If not that, this would leave things open to your having overdosed the tank with high levels of calcium/alkalinity that, because the water can't hold so much, is precipitating out as calcium carbonate and, basically, driving your levels down. 

Thanks for the info.  I have an extra set of test kits I'll try but pretty sure the ones I have (Red Sea) are at least close.  Your explanation of participating out as calcium carbonate seems to fit my symptoms. I think I'll back off the dosing and bring the mag up to 1400 or so and see what happens but this is making feel like a calcium reactor might actually be simpler.  One constant dose takes care of all three.  Doing research on Lifereef and Vertex reactors.  Lot of money but if I can get good stable levels and not have to mess with it too much or when I'm away one less thing for the tank sitter to worry about might be worth it.

[zygote2k]

I'm currently dosing about 40ml/day of 2 part into a 500g tank with heavy coralline algae and a fair amount of SPS. Calcium is around 375ppm +/- 20ppm, Alk around 3.30-3.65 meq/l, and 1275 +/- 50ppm of Mg. This is where it seems to run best.

I've never been able to get the calcium higher than 400 in the past 5 years and have since given up trying to run a pre-determined level.

I also adjust the ratio of 2 part to water and have 5 years of test results to study. Sometimes I'm using 2 cups of Soda ash to a gallon and sometimes it gets down to 1.25 cups/gal.  Cal stays pretty much at 2c/g. Mg gets dosed 1/2gallon at a time, once a week.

2-part does seem rather bulky/tedious, but it seems much safer and much more variable than a Calcium Reactor. Way cheaper too.

[KenB]

Wow seems like I'm way overdosing.  Going to do a 30 gal water change tomorrow with no dosing except mag for a few days and see  what happens.  I'm also going to check my ro/di reef crystals mix to see what I'm adding.