drumlizardo
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Hi there, reefers!
I've had a 28-gallon nano going for about nine months, and have been slowly adding new frags to it (plus a new 2-inch maxima!). Recently I've been having a LOT of trouble keeping my calcium, magnesium, and alkalinity levels up. I use B-Ionic, and I'm now dosing 50 milliliters a DAY of each component, and my levels are still low: 340 for Ca, 1200 for Mg, and 10.8 for alk. (The alkalinity seems to stay a bit closer to normal than the Ca and the Mg, usually. Also, these measurements are right before daily dosing, so the levels probably increase a bit after I dose.) Any idea how this could be happening? This is my first reef aquarium, but 50 mL a day seems ridiculous for a 28-gallon tank. I've only got about 10 frags in there, and I'm doing 5-gallon water changes weekly. Any advice would be hugely appreciated!
James
More information:
28-gallon JBJ Nano Cube
150 watts of LEDs—10,000 K white and royal blue
Two 425 GPH powerheads (malfunctioning as of a few weeks ago, getting more like 200 GPH each)
Two 280 GPH return pumps
Protein skimmer
5-gallon water change every week
Feed mysis shrimp, hard pellets, Phyto-Feast, other treats
Salinity: 1.025
Calcium: 340
Alkalinity: 10.8
Magnesium:1200
Phosphate: near 0
Temperature: 79 degrees F
Inhabitants:
2 clownfish
1 melanurus wrasse
1 2-inch maxima clam (aquacultured, baby!)
1 red fire shrimp
1 red starfish
Turban, turbo, nassarius, and nerite snails
Acropora, montipora, birdsnest, zoanthids, blastomussa, ricordea, lithophyllum, leptoseris, pulsing Xenia, galaxea
I've had a 28-gallon nano going for about nine months, and have been slowly adding new frags to it (plus a new 2-inch maxima!). Recently I've been having a LOT of trouble keeping my calcium, magnesium, and alkalinity levels up. I use B-Ionic, and I'm now dosing 50 milliliters a DAY of each component, and my levels are still low: 340 for Ca, 1200 for Mg, and 10.8 for alk. (The alkalinity seems to stay a bit closer to normal than the Ca and the Mg, usually. Also, these measurements are right before daily dosing, so the levels probably increase a bit after I dose.) Any idea how this could be happening? This is my first reef aquarium, but 50 mL a day seems ridiculous for a 28-gallon tank. I've only got about 10 frags in there, and I'm doing 5-gallon water changes weekly. Any advice would be hugely appreciated!
James
More information:
28-gallon JBJ Nano Cube
150 watts of LEDs—10,000 K white and royal blue
Two 425 GPH powerheads (malfunctioning as of a few weeks ago, getting more like 200 GPH each)
Two 280 GPH return pumps
Protein skimmer
5-gallon water change every week
Feed mysis shrimp, hard pellets, Phyto-Feast, other treats
Salinity: 1.025
Calcium: 340
Alkalinity: 10.8
Magnesium:1200
Phosphate: near 0
Temperature: 79 degrees F
Inhabitants:
2 clownfish
1 melanurus wrasse
1 2-inch maxima clam (aquacultured, baby!)
1 red fire shrimp
1 red starfish
Turban, turbo, nassarius, and nerite snails
Acropora, montipora, birdsnest, zoanthids, blastomussa, ricordea, lithophyllum, leptoseris, pulsing Xenia, galaxea