cal. high and alk low???? please help!!!

my cal is at 520 or so and my ph is 8.3 alk is 4.0 mg is at 1120. im raising my mg to around 1450-1550 with brightwell aqua. mag powder and i am raising my alk to around 8 with reef builder. i have had my tank running for about 8months now and have no coraline growing at all. i am running a kalkwasser mixer and i just shut it off since my cal was a little to high. i need some input if i have the right idea on what i said above or what i need to do? please help

 

Get the Mag up and the Ca should come down. Having low mag is why you don't have much Coraline growing in the tank.

 

what do you use for an mg supplement?

 

You can use a commercial Mag supplement, many people like Tech M by Kent as it is easy to use...
Some will use Epsom Salt (MgSO4) or they will follow RHF's advice and make a MgCl2/MgSO4 mix and use that.

Just read the label when buying a commercial additive as many companies cheat and sell you Epsom and rip you off, MgSO4 can be had at a pharmacy for like $2 for 4#s

Some tanks coralline grows faster than others. How much did you start with in the tank?
How much liverock do you have?
What type of lights do you have and what is the photoperiod?

Coralline is exponential, more you have faster it grows, its like the wildfires out west.

Some swear by Purple Up and now the new Purple Tech... But that is YOUR call, you will hear MANY posts going both ways about that particular type of supplement.

Happy reefing!

 

i would fix you mag but dont get too excited about coraline, it is a nusciance algae, its fun until it starts covering the front glass, and theres no way to inhibit its growth like the other algaes since its more coral like.


ps:well there are ways to inhibit its growth but they sound like there bad for your corals since they involve parameter swings

 

Unless you introduce the coraline algae spores into the tank you will not get any, place some live rock with coraline on it inside your tank and scrape some of the algae off the rock, then given the right parameters, just watch it take off...

 

Could also get a sea urchin which will take care of the process for you by eating the corraline off one rock, defecating the corraline algae spores which float around the tank and land on other pieces of rock and before you know it, you'll have the purple plague! (Yes, it DOES get to that level).

PS: sea urchins are not recommended for every biohabitat, as they are not always reef safe and sometimes do not mesh well with others. Use caution, as with any addition to a tank.

 

there is coraline on the rocks it just looks like it died and if im understanding right i just bought some pumps that had a ton of coraline on them even though they have been out of the water for a long time would that work or no?

 

Maybe,

but, as said above, you need to put your Mg, Ca and Alk in line.

You can find the recipes here:

Do-It-Yourself Magnesium Supplements for the Reef Aquarium by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com - for mg

Use a calculator for the Ca and Alk.




You´re running a Ca reactor or balling?
You have SPSs?



Hug

 

I just forgot, for high Ca, do water changes.

Hug