High alk. Low cal and mag. Dosing order?

[kearstin.nelson]

Hi all. Newb with these parameters. Been researching for the last 4 hours trying to make sense of this jazz. Ive been spinning round and round trying to understand how these molecules or what not, bond and blah blah blah. I'll get it but, at this point I ask for help.
Current testing,
Cal-300
Mag-840
Alk-13.4 dkh !
Ph- 8.2

I read high alk= low cal. And low mag tends to cause low cal. Which makes perfect sense given my test. I really need to balance these numbers out.

My question is, where do I start? Mag? Cal? I think eventually my alk should come down but I'm afraid of raising it anymore trying to fix the others. Grrrrr can I get some help? It appears my cal is staying right around 300 and for the last 2 months my alk has been rising and, I'm assuming dropping my mag. My concern is my cal at this point but, I cant have it really drop mag more. I've been using instant ocean basic salt mix ( I just have a condy nem but recently got a chalice colony at a great price, rushing my concerns). Looking into the reef crystals I think it is, for the mag help per the bag.

Thanks guys!

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[campge]

What test kit are you using?


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[kearstin.nelson]

Ph done with api (I no I no ) others done with red sea reef kit

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[kearstin.nelson]

Best I have at this point

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[kearstin.nelson]

No reactors as of now. 125 gal tank. Skimmer good for 200 gal. No sump nor refugium at this point. Fluval cannister with lil foam carbon and chemi pure elite

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[xmas_one]

I'd suggest you start by bringing your Ca and Mg up by ~50ppm each day (dose them at different times) until you get to ~400ppm Ca and 1300ppm Mg. Bringing these to back up to speed should eat up some of the excess alk, it's somewhat of a seesaw. What's your salt mix and water change schedule like, an Mg reading that low is unusual for a system that has been maintained with regular water changes.

 

[kearstin.nelson]

I've been changing 25 gal a week for the last month or so. I can't see its an even 7 day it goes depending on my job but at least once a week. Before that I was changing 15 gal or so a week. Then, once my no3 started climbing I went up to 25 gal. (I'm currently cycling live rock. I don't have much in tank now. Rock should be done in a couple weeks. What should I dose with no sump or reactor? For cal and mag?

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[kearstin.nelson]

Salt mix- purple box instant ocean sea salt. (Was looking into io reef crystals. Bag says helps mag) and I have been using ro water for a lil more than a month now

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[dorkymk3]

Use a different test kit or have your local fish store test your parameters with their kit. I suggest testing your tank water and your new mix water. I never seen Mag and Cal test that low.

 

[kearstin.nelson]

Lfs uses api ; ( so I'm stuck till I get my new testers. I'm picking up the crystal mix tomorrow. We'll see how much that helps.

 

[kearstin.nelson]

What could deplete the cal and mag? Since I'm a newb I haven't put anything in except lil sugar months ago for nitrate which helped that but, now thinking of it they may have been the root. I can't even say I had the lvls correct before. What I've mentioned is the only times ive tested and did nothing to correct yet. Im doing a lot of changes with thr tank as far as flow and rock so I'm trying to not rush it all at once. Now that alk is scaring m3

 

[Jayuh]

I went thru a similar thing a little while ago, what I would suggest is start dosing cal and mag to get to the levels you need to be first, and that'll help stabilize everything. When I was raising my levels, my mag was getting depleted by 100 every 2 days, but once I got my levels consistent for a good amount of time, it started slowing down, and it's much more manageable now.

Water changes won't do you any good right now, it won't raise your levels substantially, and whatever the water change is adding to it, probably is getting used up too quickly to make a difference. Dose those two and test frequently until things calm down.

 

[kearstin.nelson]

Thanks! I appreciate it should I Start with 1 in particular? Cal or mag? Based on the chemistry bonds I'm reading about I wanna make sure I'm not defeating the purpose of dosing one or the other. can I do both at the same time? Or like 1 1 day and the other the 2nd so at the same time but giving time? If that makes sense