Calcium, wierd readings

[robalv]

good stuff ballardjr

[ballardjr2000]

not my writes but i do love ask.com lol

[recoiljpr]

Thanks for the links ballardjr2000! Last night I went test crazy and if anyones interested, here is what I found out. (This is all water taken from my house in New Braunfels we take our water from the Guadalupe river)

Normal Un-softened non RO/DI tap water - 80 PPM
Softened non RO/DI water - 20 PPM
Softened RO/DI water - Less then 20 PPM, turned blue first drop

Calcium with Saltwater

Normal Un-softened non RO/DI saltwater - 480 PPM
Softened non RO/DI saltwater - 400 PPM
Softened RO/DI saltwater - 380 PPM

I did another 5 gallon water change and now my levels are at 480 ppm. So it seems the tapwater changes I had been doing before using RO/DI water were the reason why I had such high calcium levels.

[cbianco]

Thanks for the links ballardjr2000! Last night I went test crazy and if anyones interested, here is what I found out. (This is all water taken from my house in New Braunfels we take our water from the Guadalupe river)

Normal Un-softened non RO/DI tap water - 80 PPM
Softened non RO/DI water - 20 PPM
Softened RO/DI water - Less then 20 PPM, turned blue first drop

Calcium with Saltwater

Normal Un-softened non RO/DI saltwater - 480 PPM
Softened non RO/DI saltwater - 400 PPM
Softened RO/DI saltwater - 380 PPM

I did another 5 gallon water change and now my levels are at 480 ppm. So it seems the tapwater changes I had been doing before using RO/DI water were the reason why I had such high calcium levels.

Good little investigation there. Glad you found your culprit.

Christopher

[jpond83]

i use tap i have ricordea, shrooms, and zoanthids, everything in my tank looks great!

[recoiljpr]

i use tap i have ricordea, shrooms, and zoanthids, everything in my tank looks great!

I ran fairly good for almost 3 months on tap water too. But, my personality is the kind that I don't like knowing why levels are outside of "normal". Call it being anal if you want.

That's one of the main reasons I decided on RO/DI was to limit the amount of random chemicals in my tank.

Look at the link from NBU water testing http://www.nbutexas.com/PDF_files/NB...0for%20web.pdf

Chloride 17 PPM
Calcium 60.2 PPM (The testing I did showed 80, although I'd trust their numbers more as they use a much better test and better procedures)
Bicarbonates 167 PPM
Copper .008 PPM
Nickel .002 PPM
Sulfates 23 PPM
Chloramine 2.6 PPM