how do I fix it?

well tested everything today and here are the levels

KH= 107.4
Cal= 660
PH= 7.8
N02= 0
N03= 0
ammonia= 0 (hard to read the test its either 0 or .25 but pretty sure its 0)
P03= 0

so how do I fix the cal, KH, and PH?

not to bad concidering that its only been running almost a month ;D

 

Wow.I would say you definitely have a bad test kit or are not using it properly.Not sure if that Calcium level would even stay in solution.Your PH is low(not terrible) because your Alk. is low.Are there any corals in the tank?If so what kind?What kind of salt are you using? Whats the Magnesium level?How often are you doing wc's?I assume you are using a Hanna Alk. checker?That 107 number is actually 107ppm CaCO3.You need to multiply that number by .056 to get your DKH which in your case is 5.992 very low.

 

yes to corals 1 sps pice, 1 frog spawn, some rics, a few zoas and 1 clown fish.

as far as the salt I have coralife, and reef crystals bought both in bulk and used both when filling the tank up.

dont know what the mag is I dont have a test kit for it.

havent changed it yet tank is fairly new so havent done one yet am planing to do one tonight to try and see if it helps with the levels

 

You will definitely need a Mag. test kit as it is very important to keep your levels stable.Mag. levels should be approximately three times the Calcium level.Ideally 450 Cal 1350 Mag.I edited my first response a little.

 

sadly no API is my test kit according to the drop chart thats what it registers, and I compleatly agree on the mag kit just havent had the money lol

salinity is at 1.026

 

Vinnyboombatz has you pointed in the right direction, here is some settings I keep for referencing that may help.

Table 1 shows important water parameters for reef aquarists to control for various reasons. Table 2 shows less important parameters, or those too complicated to carefully control, but about which many aquarists have concerns or questions.

*see the attachment for the original document and tables.

Table 1.� Parameters critical to control in reef aquaria.

Parameter: Reef Aquaria Recommendation:
Calcium 380-450 ppm
Alkalinity 2.5-4 meq/L
7-11 dKH
125-200 ppm CaCO3 equivalents
Salinity 35 ppt
sg = 1.026
Temperature 76-83° F
pH 7.8-8.5 OK 8.1-8.3 is better
Magnesium 1250-1350 ppm
Phosphate < 0.03 ppm
Ammonia <0.1 ppm


Table 2.� Other parameters in reef aquaria.

Parameter: Reef Aquaria Recommendation:
Silica < 2 ppm, much lower if diatoms are a problem
Iodine Control not recommended
Nitrate < 0.2 ppm
Nitrite < 0.2 ppm typically
Strontium 5-15 ppm
ORP Control not recommended
Boron < 10 ppm
Iron Below Kit Detection Limits (additions OK)

 

since it's a newer tank and you are using decent salt I would suspect your mag is fine. I beleive your calcium test is wrong or you're reading it wrong or something. Mag takes alot longer to deplete then ca/alk. If you are doing normal water changes you are probably fine. Just get your alk up and you should be fine. I had alk issues when I first set up my tank, until I started running a auto doser. Made my life so much easier.

 

the cal test could be but I will test aginst the fresh mixed RC salt to see if it helps and will mix a small batch of the coralife stuff for a third test to see the diffrence just to be on th esafe side.

 

that's a good idea so as to see if you are coming out with what the salt is reported to be or not. I really don't see how your ca could be that high though. Let us know

 

me either and the funy part is that the test only goes to 25 dropd on the chart but it says that it goes up in increments of 20 so there is that to but if the cal is that high and nothing else is really that low then I might be doing great LOL