Alk supp precipitating?
 

Recently ive had a rough time maintaining cal and alk just to find my mag was low. I mixed up a batch of Randy's 2 part solution (#1 recipe,) got my mag where it needed to be, and used the online calculator to see how much I needed to bring all levels within range. Dosing the calcium part seems ok, but when I drip the alk portion, it looks to precipitate out of the water? Im assuming this is the calcium carbonate (if im reading and understanding correctly?)

Not exactly sure where I went wrong, I've used this method of dosing about a year ago but I don't remember running into this problem. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated!

Thanks

pH could be high or you might have overdid the calcium. Have you tested the pH?

There is always a transient precipitate (magnesium hydroxide) that forms in the water, but it will redissolve. If you are not seeing solids deposited on surfaces, there is no concern.

This is normal:

What is that Precipitate in My Reef Aquarium?
[url]http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-07/rhf/index.htm[/url]

from it:

[img]http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-07/rhf/images/Figure_3.jpg[/img]

yep, ph is always 8.2. Thanks randy, that is exactly it, i just didn't remember seeing that in years past. Thanks for the clarification.

:thumbsup:

Happy reefing. :)

Great read Randy, i thought i was doing something wrong when that was happening.