Too MUCH CALCIUM?

[BioCube14]

I was doing a calcium test on my tank for the first time using a AP calcium test kit and its saying my calcium levels are double what they should be anyone know how I can fix this?

[JimD]

umm, Need specific numbers...

[BioCube14]

well calcium should be around 400-500 mine are more like 700

[BioCube14]

Im thinking I should stop using the bionic 2 part ? Maybe do less frequent water changes? I do 1 or 2 gal or so every 4 days I have a 14 gal tank. No fish just coral.

[Troy Valentine]

What is your ALK level? If you don't know don't add any buffer, or you could see a snow storm in South Texas. I think I would get a new CA kit first, try Salifert

[Texreefer]

If you are following a dosing schedule but do not have enough demand to use all that,, you will start to build up an unhealthy amount of calcium,, if you haven't seen any ill affects at this point just do as the others suggested with the ALK test and water changes,, and also try a different test kit for Ca,, I really don't think it is that high,, or you would see some bad things happening to your corals

[BioCube14]

well some of my zoos are not opened up all the way and some corals dont look their best. I have a salifert kit but its like a science project i think it takes about 3 days to complete the test. hehe. My readings are screwed up so I want to get it in range then use my salifert kit to get a better reading the AP kit is simple compared to the salifert . I also have a salifert ALK test I will try that and see what i get. I dont think I should dose bionic everyday I remembered when i first set this tank up i never dosed and my corals grew like crazy. Im guessing just simple water changes every week will be fine for now until i get my tank back to normal.

[erikharrison]

If it's a dropper style kit, you should drop one drop, shake it, drop another, shake it etc. Since you are rigid on your maintainence, water changes alone should do you well without having to dose. Still mostly softies right?

[BioCube14]

yea mostly softies slowly getting into the more harder stuff LPS SPS but before i go all out I need to get my water correct. Im going to cut back on the bionic and also the water changes and test every 2 or 3 days until i get better readings. I am obviously still learning how to balance my tank.

[caferacermike]

I do not trust the API kits. I had the same problem with them saying I always had around 800ppm. I'd see my Alk up around 11 or 12 and CA at 800, my understanding is that would be impossible. You'd have to be mega dosing MG, ALK and CA like a crazy Italian to pull it off. You might find someone with a Salifert or Seachem test to compare your readings with.

[tony]

If you are following a dosing schedule but do not have enough demand to use all that,, you will start to build up an unhealthy amount of calcium,, if you haven't seen any ill affects at this point just do as the others suggested with the ALK test and water changes,, and also try a different test kit for Ca,, I really don't think it is that high,, or you would see some bad things happening to your corals


exactly

how much have you been dosing and how did you come up with that number? iirc you said once that you dose b-ionic every day. that seems extremely high to me for a 14g with only softies. i have tons of sps in my 30g and dose every other day to keep my calcium in the 450-500 range.

search for a post by ping in the not too distant past. he made a great post about testing for a week or two and then dosing and continuing to test to see what demands your tank has vs dosing amounts and then set a schedule to meet those demands and mentioned even keeping a spreadsheet.

[BioCube14]

thanks for the info tony I will keep my eye on my calcium levels before i dose again

[caferacermike]

Any chance you use a low budget salt? I know a lot of the manufacturers brag about having tons of CA in the mix while lacking in the MG department. Having a high CA, low ALK and MG in the salt mix and then dosing B Ionic might be causing the shift. Just a thought.

I've heard stories that unless you know how to "push" your levels (IE:crazy Italians) and have a wonky high CA reading, your CA begins to chelate and reform as another Ion of CA (chime in if you know what version of calcium I'm thinking of here) and it becomes toxic as it binds with other elements in your water.

[BioCube14]

i did a test of my calcium levels with a salifert test kit I got over 500ppm looks to be about 550ppm. I use salt from wolf reef they use red sea reef salt i think.

[BioCube14]

my KH is .64
my ALK is 2.284
not sure if i did the test right but thats what i got this is from a salifert kit as well

[matt]

Your alk, if its 6.4 on the dkh scale and 2.3 on the meq/l scale, is a little low. You might try SLOWLY adding some baking soda. There's a calculator online to help you determine how much for your size tank. Get the alk up to 7-8 on the dkh scale using baking soda only (or possibly the alk art of the b-ionic, but I think baking soda would be better in this case) and let your Ca deplete down to 400. It could take a week or so, during which you can test for alk and only dose enough baking soda daily to keep the alk at 7-8 on the dkh scale. When your Ca is at 400, you can dose some more alk supplement (baking soda or b-ionic) to bring it to 9-10 on the dkh scale. Then it should be pretty well balanced with your Ca and you can go back to the two part b-ionic.

The reason I would use baking soda rather than the b-ionic alk part is that the b-ionic is sodium carbonate, rather than sodium bicarbonate, and so will raise your tank ph. The higher your ph, the more likely you will have a calcium precipitation when you raise the alk. If your tank ph is really low, like under 8.0 in the afternoon, you can skip the baking soda and just raise your alk with the b-ionic.