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Thread: algea problems refuguim,kalk reactor or calcium reactor

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    algea problems refuguim,kalk reactor or calcium reactor

    I have had my 40 gal tank for over a year now with tek 5 lights, a few of each frag coral types sps, lps, leather with on 2" fish 2 urchines about 1/3 full with prem. rock, hang on skimmer and filter with 3 power heads. I have been having probs. throughout the entire time it seems with red algea. been running my tank lights 10 hours per day. I get evaporation and top it off every three days or so and I due 25% water changes a week. I am continuously put the max. amount of calcium every day and with this being done can not keep up with both calcium and KH. I can only afford one of these three things at the current time: A refuguim, a kalk. reactor or a calcium reactor. I believe my best option would be to buy a kalk reactor due to the top of abilities with it as well as keeping both calcium and kh level but on the other hand I'm not sure if thats going to solve my algea prob. Knowning that a refuguim is a must for any sps tank I don't want to fight cleaning another tank ie the refugium because of fluctuations in calcium and salinity making the algea. Like I mentioned above there isn't that much of biological load with the few things in my tank now. What should I get for the time being to help with as many problems as posssible for the least amount of money be it used equipment or new.

    Thanks.

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    Curious Reefer Afishianado's Avatar
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    What kind of water do you use for your water changes and top off? Where does it come from?

    What is your Ca level?

    What is your Alk level?

    What do you use to supplement Ca and Alk?

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    the norm

    thanks for the reply. My alk is reef builder powder form by seachem usually around 8or 9. My calcium is a battle to get up to the norm of 400. I add 10g. the max for my size tank every day ofreef advantage powder form by seachem. I have also been trying tropical marine powder with the outcome being the same fight to get my tank water up to atleast the norm. My water is RO water right from water store. I checked the water myself and is pure ro.

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    I top my water off with RO water only

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    Curious Reefer Afishianado's Avatar
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    What kind of test kits are you using?

    Are you measuring Alk in DKH or in Meq/l?

    What is your Ca level?

    Do you mix these with water before you add them to your tank or do you put the powder right in?

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    I measure my alk in DKH cause I don't know how to measure it the other way. I have all the basic test kits by tetra as well phosphate and calcium tests. The tropical marine formula of calcuim is to be placed derictly in as for thats what the label says i figure it to better to mix first but was following instructions. The seachem I mix with straight RO first. my calcium is at 400 usually but for right now its at 380

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    Curious Reefer Afishianado's Avatar
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    380-400 Ca is not that bad. 8-9 DkH of Alkalinity could be a little better but isn't horrible either, in fact it is right about equal to natural sea water. Don't panic....it doesn't sound like you have a high demand for Ca/Alk in your system right now. One of the things that is known to cause problems with this balance is your Mg level, which should be about 1250-1350ppm or so.

    25% per week is a lot of water changing. When you do water changes do you check the Ca and Alk of the new water before you do the water change? What kind of salt do you use?

    Your system is over a year old, are your lights also over a year old? You may be due for replacement bulbs. Some people report Algae problems when their bulbs get old, and also report those problems improve with new bulbs.

    Your Ca and Alk situation is not causing your algae problem. Algae is usually a result of Phosphate and/or Nitrate. You have a PO4 test kit and you did not mention high PO4 so I will assume that PO4 is not high, unless you mention it after this post.

    Have you tested your Nitrate(NO3)?

    How many fish do you have?

    how much do you feed?

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    My PO4 is fine. Ive been using phoseguard in my hang on filter. Ive bought my tek lights about 6 months ago. Check with reef store were I purchased them and they said I had a couple more months before I had to start replacing bulbs. Mg must be magnesium right? haven't tested or messed with it at all. I think that may be a good start to pinpointing a problem. Thanks for reminding me, But I geuss what I'm asking over all is would it be that due to the evaporation of water in my tank and with nothing to keep the water at a steady level and/or salt salinity fluctuating with the evaporation as well as the fluctuation of calcium be perhaps the reason for the algea. Ihave one 2" fish I feed 4 pellets aday, One sun burst frag coral I feed 2 mysis shrimp every 3 days, One aussie acan frag I feed 2 mysis shrimp every 3 days and every other day I feed the other sps and lps a 3/4 of a tablespoon of photo feast every other day. keep in mind a seperate the amounts to basicly feeding them on oposite days of eachother as much as possible. I would like to buy a new piece of hardware with these problems Ive mentioned what do you think what be the most benifical.

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    Grand Master Reefer CarmieJo's Avatar
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    Hi Chris and to TR!

    Salt@Reefer, I agree with all Afishiando has said. Mg (yes magnesium), Ca and alk are all interrelated. If your Mg is low you are not able to keep your Ca up. On the other hand, you should have a relatively low Ca demand so your levels are probably at the bottom of OK.

    Personally, I drip kalk. It also precipitates out phosphate and that helps limit nutrients.
    Carmie


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    Curious Reefer Afishianado's Avatar
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    Thanks for the welcome Carmie.

    Quote Originally Posted by Salt@reefer View Post
    But I geuss what I'm asking over all is would it be that due to the evaporation of water in my tank and with nothing to keep the water at a steady level and/or salt salinity fluctuating with the evaporation as well as the fluctuation of calcium be perhaps the reason for the algea.
    To answer your question, no. The algae would not be caused by the water fluctuating like that. A Ca reactor or a Nilsen(Kalk) reactor will not directly impact the algae in your tank.

    The Calcium though does fluctuate when your water level changes so you should be taking your Ca and Alk measurements when you tank is topped off, every time. At the very least you should be making your measurements with the tank at the same level, every time. Here's why...

    In Theory....If you have 380 ppm of Ca in 40 gallons of seawater then your tank water is holding 57380 milligrams of Ca. Milligrams per liter is equal to ppm since there are 1 million milligrams in a liter. There are about 151 liters in 40 gallons, so ... 380 multiplied by 151 is 57380. When evaporation occurs, only the water evaporates. Salts and minerals, like calcium, do not. IF there was no consumption of Ca occurring within your system but you evaporated out say... 10% of that water (4gallons which is about 15 liters) then you would have that same 57380 milligrams of Calcium that is now held in only 36 gallons of water(136 liters). Do the same calculation backwards...57380 milligrams of Ca in 136 liters of water is equal to 422 mg/l or 422 PPM.

    In Practice... your 40 Gallon tank probably does not hold 40 gallons of water. The rock and sand take up a decent portion of that volume. If you had a sump and other such equipment you might be getting close to 40 again. I would also guess that you are not letting your tank lose 10% through evaporation before topping it off. So the difference you would experience would not be as drastic as the example above.... but depending on the resolution of your test kit, you might see the measurements that you describe if you took one at high water and one at low water. Some test kits can only measure out in increments of 20ppm. If your is one of those and you measure at different water levels then I would not be surprised to see your reading go from 400 to 380.


    You should also be making sure that the Ca and Alk of the new water for your water changes is where you want it to be before you add it to the tank, if not ....you would be diluting every time you do a water change.


    Quote Originally Posted by Salt@reefer View Post
    have one 2" fish I feed 4 pellets aday, One sun burst frag coral I feed 2 mysis shrimp every 3 days, One aussie acan frag I feed 2 mysis shrimp every 3 days and every other day I feed the other sps and lps a 3/4 of a tablespoon of photo feast every other day. keep in mind a seperate the amounts to basicly feeding them on oposite days of eachother as much as possible.

    It doesn't sound like you are feeding too much. I still wonder what your NO3 level is.

    Quote Originally Posted by Salt@reefer View Post
    I would like to buy a new piece of hardware with these problems Ive mentioned what do you think what be the most benifical.
    If you have decided to buy a piece of equipment to help with your problem, I recommend starting with one of the following instead. An auto top off, a Kalk drip doser, or add a sump. An auto top off would help to keep the tank more stable in general. A Kalk drip doser, as Carmie said, would add Ca and Alk to your system while helping to control your evaporation rate. Adding a sump will help stabilize the tank in general as well and give you a place to put a better skimmer. A sump would also make it easier and/or possible to add the other equipment that you were thinking of. Generally speaking a tank of 40 gallons with your bioload should not require a Ca reactor or a Kalk reactor. These are fine pieces of equipment but might be overkill for your situation right now.

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