What am I?

[Teeka01]

While looking at the tank today my hubby found this hitchhiker. He is a little speedy demon zip all around the glass. We also found a little feather duster. I am still having a major alkalinity problem, 15.7. The Calcium is being raised slowly. Mr Bubbles is not doing good at all.

[Teeka01]

Okay I found these on Melev's site they are reef safe flatworms. He has a much better picture of them.

http://www.melevsreef.com/id/

scroll down you will see it.

[FragOutpost]

Glad to see that you found out what it is. Luckily I've never seen flatworms of any kind in my tank, good or bad. A wrasse would eat most critters like worms, pods, etc. What are you current alkalinity and calcium measurments? How much calcium are you dosing daily?

[Teeka01]

My alkalinity was 15.7 and Calicum is up to 340. These was yerterdays results I don't take them until 3 today. I have increased the calicum to 8 caps a day because it was only going up by 5 a day. After 3 I will post todays values.

[Teeka01]

I am going crazy first my calicum was going up by 5 so I add 2 more capfuls now it went up by 30. So my calicum now says 370 and my alakalinity is 14.4.

[Teeka01]

This is so fustrating. I am trying so hard to keep these in check. How many newbie mistakes can I make? For all the reading I did it did not prepare me enough. All my softies are doing great. My green mushroom has grown to almost 2". Blushy is extending more and more each day. The green zoos have given me a couple babies. The red zoos are doing great. And last but not least the other mushrooms are growing too.

[FragOutpost]

Not to worry Teeka. :)
It sounds like things are begining to balance out. Keep dosing the calcium and aim for a target of 420-430. At that point your alkalinity should become much more manageable. After your parameters balance out you will want to dose calcium and alkalinity equally. Since you have such a low bioload you will probably not have to dose very much at all once your params are stable. If you can raise your calcium by 15ppm each day then you should reach your target before the end of the week. Let us know how things go.

[Teeka01]

Okay, I have to add 5 gallons of ro water every 3 days due to evoration is this enough to keep my alkalinity stable? Or should I still dose?

[FragOutpost]

Adding RO top off water will not affect alkalinity. There are basically two ways to reduce alkalinity. One way is to wait for the organisms in your tank to consume it (coraline, sps, clams, lps, and other calcaerous skeleton building creatures) and the other way is through precipitation which is basically what you are doing by adding calcium. Water can only hold so many dissolved solids. Adding only calcium will force out some of the alk. Caution should be taken though as doing this too fast will cause too much precipitation. Are you adding all 5 gallons of top off water at the same time? Top off should be added daily to reduce the swing in salinity. Dripping top off water is best but not necessary, although small frequent amounts are much better than large amounts every few days. I usually add half of my top off water in the morning and half in the evening.

[Teeka01]

Okay I did not know this. I can start doing a gallon a day.

[FragOutpost]

For example - it takes around 1-1.5 gallons of evaporation to increase my specific gravity by .001 in about 100 gallons of water. My tank evaporates almost 1.5 gallons per day in the summer. If I was to not add any top off for three days then my SG would rise from 1.025 to 1.028. I try to keep it between 1.024 and 1.025. Another thing to remember is that RO water has a low ph and adding it in large quantities could cause a swift drop in your tanks ph by 0.1 or 0.2 or even possibly more.

[Teeka01]

Thank you, I always learn so much from you.

[FragOutpost]

Glad to help in anyway that I can. :)

[Teeka01]

Frag I have a question. First let me tell you todays results Calicum 410. Alkalinity is still 14.4. Do you think part of my problem maybe gas exchange? I have a 29 tall tank. Someone at the LFS said that I may need to add a couple air stones to my tank. I also have my skimmer on max air.

[FragOutpost]

Is your PH low? Do you get a lot of surface agitation? Gas exchange is the solution to low PH caused by excess carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide turns into carbonic acid in water. The way to tell if this is your problem is to take a cup full of water and place it outside with an air pump aerating it for at least 12 hours and test your PH. If your PH is higher in the sample that was aerated outside then your tank has too much carbon dioxide. You can try aerating your tank with an airstone but this will only equalize your tank with the air in your house. Sometimes people who live in more modern airtight homes can experience a buildup of carbon dioxide in the air inside.

[Teeka01]

My PH is another problem, It goes from about 8.09 to about 8.15 depends on the time of day. It seems to be lower in the mornings.

[Teeka01]

I would say I get good surface agitation because the water going back in the tank on the surface of the water.

[FragOutpost]

PH is always going to be lower in the morning than in the evening. This is normal. This is why some people will run the lighting on their refugiums on a schedule that is opposite the main tank in order to balance the PH. A drop in PH during the evening is part of the respiration process. Your PH should swing less than .2 during a 24 hour period otherwise your animals can become stressed. 8.15 is a little on the low side but not by much. 8.2-8.3 is recommended.

[FragOutpost]

Most people who run calcium reactors have problems keeping their PH above 8.0-8.1 and a PH of 7.9 is not uncommon when using a calcium reactor.

[Teeka01]

Boy and I have problems without the calicum reactor. A caliculm reactor is on my wish list.

[FragOutpost]

Dripping some calcium hydroxide will help to bring your PH up as well as decrease the amount of carbon dioxide in your water column. Calcium hydroxide can be found at Rowes grocery stores in the home canning department and is sold as pickling lime. The downside to dripping calcium hydroxide is that it will slightly increase your alk, which normally would be a good thing. :)

How is bubbles doing?

[Teeka01]

With all the stuff today I still haven't tested the water today. I just started the air bubbles so I will let you you everything tommorrow.