Dosing Calcium and ph Buff-Skimmer going Crazy

Hi everyone been reading a long time and finally joined--would have been lost without snooping around your forums. Have 150 Reef tank FOWLR and will eventually be adding corals--all parameters are perfect except calcium is about 320 I have started dosing Turbo Calcium and Seachem 8.3 to ATO. My Skimmer has gone crazy (Producing Full cup of weak Skimmate in 2 days) Used to produce about 1/4 cup very Dark skimmate in same 2 days. Is this normal???

 

Well, things like that will happen with skimmers. By the way....Welcome! Glad to have you. Do you have the skimmer adjusted all the way down? I have learned when I do certain things to adjust the water level all the way down and once things settle down then tweak it back up. What type skimmer is it?

 

Thanks--it is a coralife super skimmer--been very very happy with its performance--I lowered the level this morning--will see when I get home what we got

 

I have the coral life as well. When the water evaporates in the sump the skimmer will skim less and if you add water for your top off it will skimm really fast. Find out where your skimmer runs well when your water is at average height and put a mark on the adjustment knob and you then know where to keep it at when you top it off and it allows for a constant good skim. My skimmer runs fine when addind ca and ph. Just a thought if it is a new skimmer and you haven't figured it out yet. Some people think its a difficult skimmer to figure out, I think it works great.

 

The Total Two Part Package Bulk Reef Supply

Nuff said...

 

Water level in the sump stays constant (has a float on auto top off) the skimmer has been running for about 3 months at the same level--same skimmate production. Only changed when added calcium--btw i have been dosing for 4 days as directions say and calcium has only come up from 300-320. Just got home from work and checked skimmer after lowering level--seems ok but more foam than normal

 

If you are having trouble raising the Calcium level it is probably due to inadequate Magnesium level. What is you Mag at? And, more dry foam it what we are shooting for unless using a wet foam for a particular purpose.

 

Thanks unclejed, I will be honest I do not have a Mag test kit, I do however do a 20% water change bi-weekly with IO salt mix. I do not want to start adding a whole bunch of stuff to my water. There is a great article here on 3reef about just that. Does the IO mix not contain enough Mag? Just do not want chemical soup and be married to a bunch of supplements if you know what I mean.

 

Good link thanks! I'll get some uh dat when I run out.

 

That soup is where the corals have to live. I dont meaure my mag. I keep track of my calcium and add a little mag to my fresh top off 2x a week. Its cheaper to add a little mag than adding a lot of cal that is doing nothing.