need advise

[stephen]

my reef tank has been neglected for a little while now and i knew it wasn't doing well because i have been losing some corals so i did a 20 % water change on saturday but i didnt have a test kit until today. Now that i have results i wanted to share them so maybe i could get some advise on how to fix my problem areas.

PH = 8.4-8.8

Amonia = .25ppm - .50ppm

Nitrite = 0ppm

Nitrate = 5 - 10ppm

Calcium = 160ppm

KH = 24dhk 429.6ppm

Phosphate = .25 ppm

as i posted in an earlier thread i added some new lights because i was unable to use my old ones and around the same time I added several new fish so i had an algae bloom which led me to belive that i caused my tank to start a new cycle. My intension is to get back on top of my weekly water changes which im certain will help with my ammonia and nitrate problems but the calcium and alk problems are what have me stumped. I do not dose my water mainly because i do not understand how all that works.

so I need to bring the calcium up and the kh down and im not sure what to use. if you can tell me what to use and where to get it i would really appreciate it.

should i consider a reactor?

I am running a 150 reef with a 55g refugium pm bullet2 skimmer I have a phosban reactor but haven't put it to use yet. should I? and i am running off of rodi water but the filters are robably due for a change.

[allysangels]

well, i don't know much about salt, but i know any ammonia is bad...

[CRUSHER]

did you use city water or RO water?

[stephen]

im on a community well system but i do run it through an ro system

[rage]

There are something wrong here and I would start with your RO water first.
1) Typically pH and kH from well water shouldn't be that high.
2) There shouldn't be any Ammonia if your RO/ DI does its job.
3) After you mix your salt water, there is no way that Calcium would be that low.

I would
1) Measure the Ammonia and the TDS of the water coming from your RO/ DI system. NH3 should be 0. TDS should be 0 or close to 0.
2) Mix salt water and measure the salinity, should be ~1.025 more or less.

After that measure all the other things you measure again.

If you do it right, the calcium should be around 400 ppm, kH ~13 or so I think.
If calcium drops after that because you have SPS that aborb a lot, water changes will replenish it or you can dose with baking soda very cheaply between water changes. DO NOT dose until you fix the source of your problem.

[stephen]

i dont have a tds meter but just as an experiment i tested the kh coming out of my ro sytem and its sitting at 15 dkh i added the proper amount of salt to a gallon of my ro water and i was sitting at 19 dkh

[CRUSHER]

ok, i was just wondering about the ammonia level... my tap water comes out at .25 and was freaking out for a while because I didnt know why the levels were so high

[stephen]

my amonia is coming out of the ro at 0ppm

[stephen]

salinity is 1.022

[stephen]

There are something wrong here and I would start with your RO water first.
1) Typically pH and kH from well water shouldn't be that high.
2) There shouldn't be any Ammonia if your RO/ DI does its job.
3) After you mix your salt water, there is no way that Calcium would be that low.

I would
1) Measure the Ammonia and the TDS of the water coming from your RO/ DI system. NH3 should be 0. TDS should be 0 or close to 0.
2) Mix salt water and measure the salinity, should be ~1.025 more or less.

After that measure all the other things you measure again.

If you do it right, the calcium should be around 400 ppm, kH ~13 or so I think.
If calcium drops after that because you have SPS that aborb a lot, water changes will replenish it or you can dose with baking soda very cheaply between water changes. DO NOT dose until you fix the source of your problem.

if I am correct from what i have been reading my calcium level cannot be normal until I find a way to bring the dkh down

[CRUSHER]

best of luck to you

[rage]

if I am correct from what i have been reading my calcium level cannot be normal until I find a way to bring the dkh down

I think you are right and the source of your problem is your well water.

Read up and see if using a water softener on your well water will help to lower the KH or you have to make a large water change with RO/ DI water from the LFS to restore your tank to an acceptable level.

After that you can use LFS water or your own water and RO/ DI system for water change.

[stephen]

need advise

I read something about using carbonated water to bring down the ph and the kh I'm thinking about trying it out

[stephen]

The directions I read said to use one ounce for every 20 gal not to exceed 4 oz and then check it in one hour and repeat as many times as necessary. After one hour my dkh dropped from 24 to 21 and my ph is still high so I'm trying it again.