Sooo.....

[bluwtr]

Okay, so I noticed that a couple of my corals were looking a bit wonky; Monti caps had bleached spots, Acros stopped growing etc.
I tested my water and (I'm typing from work so I don't remember all of my numbers) but this is what I found:

Alk is very high--over 4.5 meq/L (Hanna)
Mg a little low--just over 1300 ppm (Red Sea Pro)
Temp-- 82
pH--8.1
NO3--0.00ppm (Hanna)
PO4--0.00 (Hanna)
S.G.--1.026

but..........

Ca+--low 330's ppm (Hanna)

So my overall question is two-fold.

Would my corals take a huge dive due to the low Ca+, and why would my Ca+ be low with the Alk and Mg being high to normal?

This morning I noticed that the two Monti caps have very large dead spots, most of my Acros but one in particular has bleached a lot, and one of my Psammocpra has either completely bleached or is dead. Have also lost one of my Goniopora.

Help?!?!?

[Shadow1]

combo of high alk and low ca is getting you slowly6 raise ca Alk should begin to fall

ALK is what got me.

[bluwtr]

Yeah, I did a couple of overnight drip doses to raise it "kind of" quickly but not so fast that it would precipitate out. I also just got a dosing pump and started it. I'm adding only 1ml of alk per day and 50ml of ca++. I will test my water tonight and see where I am and go from there. No more corals are bleaching so that is a good thing so I believe I caught it in time--whew!

[Heniochus57+]

Agree with Shadow1. Slowly raise Ca. Stop dosing Alk buffer until it falls to within parameters. 8-12 dKH. Acros should start growing again. once Ca is increased. My Gonioporas liked alkalinity on the low side.

[JimmyZ19]

4.5 meq/l is really not "high." You could let it fall to 3.5 but I would just increase your calcium dosage.

[bluwtr]

Actually it IS very high. That is in meq/L which equals 225 ppm. Natural seawater is 125 ppm.

I lowered my dosing of Alk to a very small amount per day and did a couple of slow heavy doses of Ca+ over several days. I also added a dosing pump and now everything is done by it. Tank and corals are all happy now.

[JimmyZ19]

5 dkh/l is acceptable, but on the higher end. 12 dkh is 4.3 dkh/l.

[bluwtr]

That is degrees of hardness not ppm or meq/L. Three different measurements. 4.5 meq/L=12.6 dKH=225ppm. Here is the conversion 1 meq/L = 28dKH; 1 meq/L - 50 ppm.

Check out this website. http://www.saltyzoo.com/SaltyCalcs/AlkConv.php

[JimmyZ19]

I know they are three different measurements. Acceptable is what I said. Let's just agree to disagree. Didn't post to help you for you to argue back. Do it how you want.

[bluwtr]

Wow, and you don't have to get butt-hurt. I was pointing out that you seemed to maybe have misunderstood what I put as my units. Regardless, you are wrong in that two times natural seawater is "acceptable". Same to you though; run your tank as you see fit.

[JimmyZ19]

Bluwtr, sorry about this. You were right. And sorry for getting defensive. I know it's been a while but reading this over, I was being a real a-hole...

[bluwtr]

No worries.