Is this calcium precipitation?

[sfloridasalty]

I've got a cloudy tank and I'm wondering if it could be calcium precipitation. At first I though it might be a bacterial bloom, but given that I've been trying to stabalize Ca, Alk, & pH I would tend to think that its not. Here's the skinny on the tank:

75 gal, sumped with a Sea Life Sys 75 Skimmer, Lights are 4 X 96 PC (2 10K, 2 03) & about 50 lbs LR 3" live SB

Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - 0
Nitrates - 0
Alk - 3.6
pH - 8.4
Calcium - 420
SG - 1.024
Temp - 80 F


Critters:

1 Jeweled Wrasse
3 damsels
2 Large tube anemone
25 blue leg hermits
10 Astra
Coral Banded Shrimp
Blood Shrimp
Brittle Star



Calcium was really high a couple of weeks ago (I was adding to get coraline to grow) and alk was really low (about 2.2). My pH was off as well, about 7.9. Did a couple 10% water changes and stopped dosing calcium and starting using Kent Super-Buffer dKH to raise alk, lower Ca, and stabilize pH. Water was clear up today. I dosed with Super-Buffer this morning and as of this afternoon I saw that alk had gone up to 3.6 and pH was up around 8.4 and Ca had dropped from 440 to 420.

Like I said the tank is cloudy... not bad mind you as I can see fine through the front, I just can't see the far side when I look in from one of the sides. Does this sound like a calcium precipitation event? I'm going to do a 10% water change in the AM to see if this helps.

Thanks!

 

[Len]

Sounds plausible to me, but then again, I'm no chemist. Another possibility is mass spawning. Your snail population is highly suspect to me. Skimmer going nuts, or is the tank smelling a little foul?

 

[Carpentersreef]

I'd be surprised if CA precipitated out at 420 ppm. If the tank is cloudy with particles that you cannot see, I would also say it is probably the snails. CA precip is made up of "chunkier" pieces, from what I remember.

I have done water changes in the past that triggered snail spawns.

Mitch

 

[sfloridasalty]

Sounds plausible to me, but then again, I'm no chemist. Another possibility is mass spawning. Your snail population is highly suspect to me. Skimmer going nuts, or is the tank smelling a little foul?

Actually the skimmer is running normally... i.e. not an excessive amount of skimate. There is also not a foul odor. If it is indeed some kind of spawing, is it safe to assume that water changes will help this?

 

[Len]

If it's a spawn, a water change and polyfilters will do the trick.

 

[randy holmes-farley]

Normally, precipitation oif calcium carbonate in reef tanks goes on unnoticed on warm objects like heaters, even when the calcium, alkalinity, and pH are quite elevated.

To get a water column precipitation event, you typically need to do something sudden and drastic, like add a lot of limewater, or especially solid lime, all at once.

So I don't think it is calcium carbonate in this situation, though I don't know what it is.

 

[O P Ing]

hi.
Does not sound like you are using a calcium reactor.. but do you have one? If you do, then it is possible that the reactor just "burped" on you, and dumped large amount of minute aragonite into the water column, making it very milky. It is normal for someone who use a reactor, and does not change the media periodically, which turned mushy. Nothing harmful.