Matt's 225g Build Thread
- Thread starter meschaefer
- Start date
Doctor heal thy self.
I have recently been having problems keeping my ALk up. No matter what dosing regime I have tried, It slowly falls. I have been beating myself up trying to figure it out. It falls from about 9.5 to 7 -7.5 over a two week period (using a salifert test kit). It could be happening faster, and just leveling out at 7.0-7.5 and I am just not testing as frequently as needed.
I originally thought that it might be due to my aggressive use of GFO, but I am not to sure anymore. Not that I have tried discontinuing GFO, but because I would expect that I would see the biggest drop when the GFO was fresh and less of an effect as the GFO was near the end of it life. While I haven't completely ruled out GFO as the culprit, I thought I should look for other problems. (didn't want to stop GFO as I was battling my algae problem)
Posting in another thread about the interconnection of Alk, Ca and Mg it occurred to me that I haven't tested my magnesium levels recently, and as admitted to above I have been pretty pitiful on keeping up with my water changes. I tested my Mg (Salifert), and found it to be at 1150, about 200ppm lower than I normally aim for. Anyone think that this is enough off balance to be causing my problems?
I wonder if this could be the culprit. I have been working on raising it yesterday and today and will see where it stands tonight. Let me tell you this, it takes a lot of supplement to bring Mg up 200 ppm on 300 gallons of total volume. (About a 1 1/3 gallons of Randy mixture)
I got more salt on the way... with the intention of keeping up on my water changes.
Other than that everything else seems to keep in line.
PH 8.2 -8.5 (meter)
Ca 450 (salifert)
Nitrate less than 5 (salifert)
Phosphate .03-.05 (hanna)
Salinity 1.024 (refractometer)
I have recently been having problems keeping my ALk up. No matter what dosing regime I have tried, It slowly falls. I have been beating myself up trying to figure it out. It falls from about 9.5 to 7 -7.5 over a two week period (using a salifert test kit). It could be happening faster, and just leveling out at 7.0-7.5 and I am just not testing as frequently as needed.
I originally thought that it might be due to my aggressive use of GFO, but I am not to sure anymore. Not that I have tried discontinuing GFO, but because I would expect that I would see the biggest drop when the GFO was fresh and less of an effect as the GFO was near the end of it life. While I haven't completely ruled out GFO as the culprit, I thought I should look for other problems. (didn't want to stop GFO as I was battling my algae problem)
Posting in another thread about the interconnection of Alk, Ca and Mg it occurred to me that I haven't tested my magnesium levels recently, and as admitted to above I have been pretty pitiful on keeping up with my water changes. I tested my Mg (Salifert), and found it to be at 1150, about 200ppm lower than I normally aim for. Anyone think that this is enough off balance to be causing my problems?
I wonder if this could be the culprit. I have been working on raising it yesterday and today and will see where it stands tonight. Let me tell you this, it takes a lot of supplement to bring Mg up 200 ppm on 300 gallons of total volume. (About a 1 1/3 gallons of Randy mixture)
I got more salt on the way... with the intention of keeping up on my water changes.
Other than that everything else seems to keep in line.
PH 8.2 -8.5 (meter)
Ca 450 (salifert)
Nitrate less than 5 (salifert)
Phosphate .03-.05 (hanna)
Salinity 1.024 (refractometer)
- Location
- Staten Island
When was the last time Matt was on line???
- Location
- Philadelphia
Very jealous of your tank bro, I really like it.
Bruce
Bruce
- Location
- Jefferson City, MO
Cool fish, what is that? I just sat and read entire thread, great stuff. Anyone know of a thread that goes into detail on how to build a stand for an in-wall tank?
ryangrieder
Advanced Reefer
- Location
- Northern Jersey
goldspot rabbit fish
and this tank thread started in 2007, and his last thread i believe was selling a 220g tank soooo... lol
and this tank thread started in 2007, and his last thread i believe was selling a 220g tank soooo... lol
Last edited:
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