Calcium issues!

[MizTanks]

Reef Crystals. 1 cup per 2 gallons give me an sg of 1.030 a ph of 8.4 and an cal level of 460. Am I maybe not changing enough of the water to raise my levels? Leaving to much of the old water in the tank? I thought a kh level between 10-12 was ok, no?

[Tom@HaslettMI]

Reef Crystals. 1 cup per 2 gallons give me an sg of 1.030 a ph of 8.4 and an cal level of 460. Am I maybe not changing enough of the water to raise my levels? Leaving to much of the old water in the tank? I thought a kh level between 10-12 was ok, no?

Ca and alk influence each other. If one is high the other is low. 10-12 alk is fine but you will have a tough time getting Ca levels up. I'm not familiar with the product you're using but are you sure that you're dosing more of the Ca part and not more on the alk part?

Here's a link to some info and a dosing calculator to help with Ca/alk balance: http://reef.diesyst.com/flashcalc/flashcalc.html

and another on a DIY two part system that many people (myself included) use: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php

HTH,
Tom

[MizTanks]

I'm using Kent CB Parts A&B and guess what, it doesn't say which is what? I do know that when added to the water part B turns cloudy, does that help?

[BeakerBob]

A would be the calcium and B would be the Alkalinity (turns water cloudy).

[MizTanks]

NO FREAKING WONDER!!!! 2ml of A and 3ml of B sure aint gonna raise my cal now is it? Jeeeeeeeez, well now I know Thank you guys, concider yourselves kissed!!! I'm changing almost 2g's a week. I measure!!!

p.s.

Ok, I just tested my Kh and it's at 10, good right? I also did a cal test after adding 4ml of Kent CB part A only and my reading is now 400. Do I still need to add part B?

[Tom@HaslettMI]

10 and 400 seem pretty good. I wouldn't worry about it.

I may have missed it, but I don't know how many gallons your tank is. That's why I hedged on how much a 2 gallon water change represented for your tank. So, what size tank were/are we talking about?

[MizTanks]

It's an 8g biocube. I change no more then 2g's every friday. I start the water thursday night, test the sg/cal/ph before I add it to the tank. I've got 5 and 1/2lbs of LR in the tank, with about 1lb of LR rubble in 2nd chamber along with 16oz bag of Chemipure Elite. 1st chamber is factory made filter. I switch up between that and just floss. To much info? LOL.