It's Snowing, It's Snowing! In my tank ??? (1 Viewer)

[Rusalka]

The other day I was dripping buffer into the tank to get the pH back up. Lately it has been running around 7.66. I know this because.. thats a story in it's self.

Ok, so i was paying bills and my wife yells at me, "Is the tank suppose to look like that?" I go check and the tank has a faint milky look to it. So, i stop the buffer drip and Kalk doser. 5 minutes later and the tank goes complete white. I put in a carbon filter and add some filter floss to the sump. The pH at this point is 8.18, and starts dropping steadly. Two hours later the tank is almost back to "clear" and the pH is back down to ~7.7.

The water peramaters before this happening was:
pH: 8.01, Alk = 4 meq, and carbonity = 360

The next morning is was 7.76 pH, Alk = 3, (did not even both with carbonity).

My Mentor tells me to keep dosing the kalkwasser and keep using the two part buffer mix. I was told today to add crushed coral or a sand bed to help buffer the system.

I wonder what the tank is going to do next??
:?

 

[Guest]

If its clear already, then maybe you didnt mix your kalk right. make sure you dont drip in the powder part. That should settle at the bottom and not be introduced into the tank.

At first, I thought you were having a coral spawn effect.. hahah. oh well. And if not that, then a bacteria outbreak.

 

[Cakepro]

Your sounds to me like your calcium precipitated out of solution, but that usually lasts more than 2 hours to settle out unless you have great filtration. Mine did that the other day in my soft coral tank...I was dripping a saturated limewater solution and it was too much. It looks horrible, and it knocks your chemistry out of whack, but using the two-part calcium/buffer will bring it back up to correct the imbalance. It sounds as if your tank is not taking up enough calcium to warrant using the additives and kalkwasser together. You'd need to test daily for four or five days and chart your tank's usage to enable you to tailor your additives to your tank's uptake.

 

[Guest]

Buffer and Kalk at same time???

 

[djreef]

U can't do that.

DJ
= 8-->{I>

 

[Guest]

That was the part that stood out in my mind too, I wasn't sure I read it right until I saw reefcreeper's post.

 

[Rusalka]

Kalk is added to the tank via a dosing pump that also keeps the sump topped off.

I was dripping the Buffer with an IV bag.

pH is still hanging in the 7.7 range.

 

[Guest]

Am I going to need all these dosing pumps and IV bags to keep softies and leathers or is this something I can avoid by staying away from SPS?

 

[incysor]

Am I going to need all these dosing pumps and IV bags to keep softies and leathers or is this something I can avoid by staying away from SPS?

Nope you don't NEED them. For the first year I didn't even have an auto top off set up. I just added my calcium/buffer/iodine/strontium, etc... to a glass of DI water and poured it in my sump near the return line. After I set up my auto top off I just added it in there instead which gradually replaces it as the top off water is added. However a good argument can be made for using things like calcium reactors, kalk reactors, etc... to maximize your stability with all levels. But even using all this equipment things can still get outta whack. It's basically a low-tech-low-budget approach vs. hi-tech-hi-budget approach to things.