Magnesium & Calcium Plummeted!!!

[joejdsn]

Magnesium & Calcium Plummeted!!!
hello,
my 60 gal has been running smoothly for last 3 1/2 months.
everything looks great, all the params check out.
some info on my tank:

60 gal
s.g. =1.24
amm. =0
nitrite = 0
nitrate = 0
ph = 7.9 to 8.2

i have 4-5 inch dsb
70lb live rock
nice patch of caluerpa

inhabitants are:
hermits, snails, 1 tomato clown, 2 firefish
1 hammer coral
1 frogspawn

I know, the corals should have waited but my father in law just bought them and brought them over... couldn't resist.
but they are doing great.

now here's my problem.
i went through my algae bloom about a month ago and now it is under control. however, i've noticed about the same time that my coralline algae that were beggining to show signs of growth just stopped. i had checked the calcium level a couple of weeks before that and it was around 430. when i checked it again, it had plummeted to 40! i've been dosing with kalk at night and esv in the morning religiously for past month with no improvement what so ever. last week i thought my mag. might be low so i checked it and it is so low i can't even register it...
what's going on? i've added kent's mag all week and it is still very, very low. how can i bring up my mag & calc. levels? please help!

 

[SteveP]

The only crucial level you haven't tested for is alkalinity. You should check that for a better picture of your problem. also, how are you dosing your kalkwasser?

Steve
8{I

 

[Chucker]

Before panicking, I'd check your tests again. There's pretty much no way in heck that you could still keep a pH of around 8.0 with a Ca reading that low.

 

[liquid]

In the event that your calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium are all out of whack, the best and easiest way to get them back in line is to do a series of waterchanges. Salt's cheap and it's the easiest way to get all three back in line at once. I'd rather do waterchanges than dump buffer, calcium chloride, and magnesium sulfate in to the tank to balance things back out.

I agree w/ Chucker, double check your calcium, magnesium, and alkalinity again just to make sure something didn't go fubar while you were testing it.

Shane