wat precaution n preparation should i take as

[hamannbmw]

hi ,

I wont be in town for 4days, therefore no feeding of fishes, corals etc. Any special precaution should i take ? FYI, i had jus fired up my CR 2 weeks ago, tank reading still low at 320ppm. Shall I leave it running, as i'm afraid when i'm away the CA will shoot up...

[desbug13]

if ur LS eats pellets, perhaps can get a timer feeder. i've been using mine whenever i'm away. as for the corals, feed them b4 u go.

[lightningstrike]

if murphy decides to come knocking at ur door, there's no stopping him. i'm one good example.

[typrobin]

ask your buddy to help u look after it loh...

[jd_n]

Bro...Ur calcium will not juz shoot up with the aid of CR.

As an example, for each 1 mEq/L alkalinity (2.8 dKH) the calcium reactor adds 20ppm calcium. If your tank starts out with 3 mEq/L alkalinity (8.4 dKH) and 320 ppm calcium, and you raise the alkalinity to 4 mEq (11.2 dKH) using the calcium reactor, then the calcium level will only increase to 340 ppm!

So dun worry abt ur calcium shootin up over the nxt 4days and hav a safe trip.

But u will nd to use an addictive [eg..increase calcium (reefez, seachem..)] to increase the Ca to the leve u wan and the CR will help u maintain the desired level.

[hamannbmw]

ask your buddy to help u look after it loh...

my buddy will be a FW freak... know nuts about marine...

[hamannbmw]

Bro...Ur calcium will not juz shoot up with the aid of CR.

As an example, for each 1 mEq/L alkalinity (2.8 dKH) the calcium reactor adds 20ppm calcium. If your tank starts out with 3 mEq/L alkalinity (8.4 dKH) and 320 ppm calcium, and you raise the alkalinity to 4 mEq (11.2 dKH) using the calcium reactor, then the calcium level will only increase to 340 ppm!

So dun worry abt ur calcium shootin up over the nxt 4days and hav a safe trip.

But u will nd to use an addictive [eg..increase calcium (reefez, seachem..)] to increase the Ca to the leve u wan and the CR will help u maintain the desired level.

bro thanks for yr explanation... but its too chim for me lar...

ok my current reading from tank :

KH - 10/11

PH - 8

CA - 320

MG - 1300ppm

from effluent

KH - 30

PH - 6.5

CA - 470

MG - didnt test

do u think i need to off my CR for the nest 4 days ??

[terryansimon]

no you don't need to.

from what I interpret from jd_n's answer, the level will not rise astronomically.

correct me if I'm wrong, but according to his posting, you need to dose calcium to raise the calcium to a specific level, then rely on the Ca Reactor to maintain that level. so with your current level of Ca, there is no chance that it can raise that much. the most also by 20ppm. *to 340ppm*

the addition of 20ppm worth of Ca in the tank is co-related to 1mEq or 2.8dKH worth of hardness....so if you increase hardness by 2 times, you increase Ca by 40ppm. increase hardness by six times, and you increase Ca by 120ppm. or at least that is what I gather from what he typed.

just a summary of what jd_n typed! (=

[jd_n]

no you don't need to.

from what I interpret from jd_n's answer, the level will not rise astronomically.

correct me if I'm wrong, but according to his posting, you need to dose calcium to raise the calcium to a specific level, then rely on the Ca Reactor to maintain that level. so with your current level of Ca, there is no chance that it can raise that much. the most also by 20ppm. *to 340ppm*

the addition of 20ppm worth of Ca in the tank is co-related to 1mEq or 2.8dKH worth of hardness....so if you increase hardness by 2 times, you increase Ca by 40ppm. increase hardness by six times, and you increase Ca by 120ppm. or at least that is what I gather from what he typed.

just a summary of what jd_n typed! (=

Bravo....tks bro.

terryansimon has simplifed the content.

To make it easier ....adjustin the CR to make ur calcium up to 400++ would resuted in ur carbonate hardness to be way off the chart.

So use addictive to up ur calcium if u wan or they will juz hoverin ard the 300++ region.

catch the ball????

if still can't find the ball, buzz me lah

[untouchables]

juz dun tune ur CR now cos u may accidentally move the Ca reading higher.

when im away, i onli fear power trips! wah no water movement, etc sure very stressful and if one fish or invert or even lps die off, the water will be bad and the rest will follow.

i normally juz ask someone to check on my power once a day but if not convenient, hook up a fax machine and u dial in daily or whenever u r free. if fax dun pick up, activate ur appointed person to come and restore power.

[hamannbmw]

thank god, i jus came back tonight, everything was fine... did a test immediately,

PH - 8.1

KH - 8

CA - 320ppm (wonder how come still 320ppm, thought it will increase ??? )

meaning, i need to dose calcium to increase it to eg. 450ppm and use CR to maintain it ? wouldnt increase bubble count helps ?

[reefer guy]

using ca reactor n still not pumping calcium.... bro, must be something really wrong, the other nite to my shock my ca dropped 320ppm, manually dosed calcium marine plus and supplemented w salifert kh+ph buffer to make sure everything balanced.... today reading is 400ppm

[lightningstrike]

ur KH not high enuf, pump up ur KH first.

[jd_n]

thank god, i jus came back tonight, everything was fine... did a test immediately,

PH - 8.1

KH - 8

CA - 320ppm (wonder how come still 320ppm, thought it will increase ??? )

meaning, i need to dose calcium to increase it to eg. 450ppm and use CR to maintain it ? wouldnt increase bubble count helps ?

U r nt readin bro.....

From ur readin, ur CR r not completely tune yet to hold ur carbonate hardness constant. A properly tune CR, ur dkh readin shd be the same or very minimal difference as of the last test.

And yes....ur calcium will not increase w/o usin addictives. If u plannin to use CR to raise ur calcium level to 450 and above. Be prepared to have ur dkh shootin way high. The end, u may get Ca at 450 but dkh at 20!

[lightningstrike]

U r nt readin bro.....

From ur readin, ur CR r not completely tune yet to hold ur carbonate hardness constant. A properly tune CR, ur dkh readin shd be the same or very minimal difference as of the last test.

And yes....ur calcium will not increase w/o usin addictives. If u plannin to use CR to raise ur calcium level to 450 and above. Be prepared to have ur dkh shootin way high. The end, u may get Ca at 450 but dkh at 20!

my CR output used to read 30++ dkh wif calcium at ard 450ppm.

[jd_n]

I hav nvr measured the dkh of my effluent. Only the ph is measured.

I believed my effluent dkh would be ard ur range too with i m runnin my CR.

The high of 30++ dkh in the effluent will get diluted with the main tank water to give u the acceptable range of dkh for main tank.

[lightningstrike]

ph of effluent 6.7.

[hamannbmw]

thanks Jd_n for yr explanation.

my readings from effluent

DKH - 31

CA - 460

PH - 6.5