Cant keep cal or alk up

I just cant seem to keep my alk and cal up???? Anyone know why? It seems like i constantly have to dose to keep lvls up

 

These are kept stable by Magnesium.

You need your Mg stable at ~1400 before your Ca/Alk will be stable.

Stop dosing for Ca and Alk immediately; test your Mg and report back. It probably needs raised.

Raise Mg no more than 100 points per day.

Once that's stable, you'll have an easier time with Ca and Alk.

Good luck.

P

 

Have you checked your magnesium level lately?If your mag is low it is almost impossible to to get the balancing act right.

 

Beat me to it.Nice work.

 

trust me - Pered is right about this- unless you have no critters- a water only tank?

 

One thing I should also mention- bio laod has a lot to do with alk. this also has an effect on both ca and mag, ph is effected by alk. and the same in reverse- to a certain point, a ditrty tank will ca up quickly but your alk will be low because it is being buffered by low ph which in turn effects mag. and carbonates.

 

bio load is low. my mag is low also.

 

Plase see here-

http://www.3reef.com/forums/water-chemistry/water-whats-good-bad-107546.html

 

How old is your tank? What salt do you use? What is your s.g? And are you using a calibrated refractometer? Generally mg is a good guess. It can also be that your salt is low in ca or alk, or your s.g. is low. Also testing error should be ruled out. What test kit are you using and how old is it? Did you repeat the test? What does your fresh saltwater test before you add it for a water change? and what is your tank at?

Stony corals and coralline algae can also pull ca and alk down quickly, but you said you don't have much bioload. Does this include coralline?

Magnesium is used very slowly. Bioload is almost completely unrelated to magnesium levels, it is consumed so slow the consumption is probably not detectable. However, as others have mentioned it binds to fresh calcium carbonate. So, in a new tank, with fresh sand and rocks etc.. it can decline quite quickly. It tends to stabilize a bit after that.

Most likely this is the case and this is why your ca and alk are low. However, the other questions should also be addressed to dot all the i's and cross all the t's...

 

Some what true but if ca/alk is low then what happens to mag? That is to say, what does it do if it cant bind- hence the instability of such- consider phosphate?