calcium is 350 what should I do?

fishphreak

fishphreak

Member
I just tested my calcium and it is only 350 what should I do?
Some info on my tank:
Temp: 78
Ph: 8.1
Specific Gravity: 1.024
Nitrite: 0
Ammonia: 0
Calcium: 350
Those are the only tests that I have.
I don't use any additives or anything. All I put in the tank is RO water and Instant Ocean salt.
Is there anything I can do short of getting a calcium reactor?
I would like to have one but it is just not in my budget right now.
I don't know if it matters what the inhabitants of my tank are but here they are just in case.
29 gallon tank
Fish: clown goby
black cap damsel
yellow tail blue damsel
domino damsel
cleaner shrimp
Coral: Green open brain coral
pipe organ coral
frogspawn
ricordeas
Thanks,
Jessica
 
viper_930

viper_930

Active Member
Just add some liquid calcium in there. I use Kent's "Liquid Reactor". Supposedly it has similar effects as a calcium reactor, but in an additive bottle. Wether this is true or not, I'v had nothing but good results from it.
 
squidd

squidd

Active Member
You may want to (need to) pick up an Alkalinity Test kit and check your levels "before" dosing anything....
Alk/Ca/pH/Mag are all in kind of a "balancing act" and you really need to know where your "at" to decide the best way to get where you want to "go"...
 
squidd

squidd

Active Member
Yep...350 is not extremly low and according to your list, you don't have much in the way of calcium demand..
You may not have to do much of anything...
 
fishphreak

fishphreak

Member
Thanks for the help. I should have done more research and should have had additives on hand. I just didn't think that with only 4 corals I would have this problem.
Thanks again for all the help,
Jessica
 
fishphreak

fishphreak

Member
here are my results on the KH test.
I am not sure which number is right.
The total amount of drops added were 10. If you go by that then my KH is 10.
It is supposed to turn blue and then yellow. If you don't count the 3 drops that it took to turn the water blue and only count the 7 drops it took to make it turn from blue to yellow then it is 7.
I am sorry for this. The phrasing of the directions is a little confusing.
Don't know if it matters but it is a TetraTest KH.
Thanks,
Jessica
 
dburr

dburr

Active Member
The total amount of drops added were 10. If you go by that then my KH is 10.
It is supposed to turn blue and then yellow. If you don't count the 3 drops that it took to turn the water blue and only count the 7 drops it took to make it turn from blue to yellow then it is 7.
My guess is you mutiply the 7 or 10 by 10. And your output reading is in ppm CaCO3. Assuming that your dKH is 3.9 to 5.6. Which is low. Your PH is fine. You need some alk and calcium in equel proporsions. I would drip lime water at night like I said in the other thread.:yes:
HTH
 
fishphreak

fishphreak

Member
I appologize I did not mean to be redundant. I have not had this problem before and I didn't want to do anything without getting several opinions.
I have the stuff to do the lime drip. I will give that a try.
Thanks,
Jessica
 
dburr

dburr

Active Member
No by all means ask all the people you can. I didn't mean my word is last if it sounded like that. Good luck with it, just don't drip more than a couple drops per second.
 
fishphreak

fishphreak

Member
do I need to be testing dkh too? and what is that?
This test doesn't say anything about multiplying.
All it says is that "Seawater fish require higher values between 8 degrees - 10 degrees" I assume that little circle is degrees but there isn't a symbol for it on the keyboard.
Kh is alk right?? Please tell me I did not get the wrong test.
Thanks again for all the help,
Jessica
 
900dublr

900dublr

Member
How long has it been since u did a water change? If im not mistaken some people get away with just doing water changes instead of adding addatives. So u might try that. :happyfish
 
tony detroit

tony detroit

Active Member
Agreed. Before you confuse things with additives, perhaps you may want to try doing waterchanges weekly with ReefCrystals.
Be very careful with the limewater drip on that tank, things can get out of hand very quick on smaller tanks.
 
fishphreak

fishphreak

Member
Thank you for the reply.
I just did 10% on the the 10th and 20% Friday. I got those readings yesterday.
Thanks,
Jessica
 
fishphreak

fishphreak

Member
I started the Limewater drip last night at 1 drop every 8 seconds. I just tested the PH and it is 8.0
That is where it normally is when I don't use PH buffer, I just can't keep my PH up.
I was really hoping that the lime water would help raise my PH to 8.2-8.3. I guess I am not dripping fast enough to make a difference?
I also don't use the PH buffer anymore because it only seems to raise the PH for a while but it doesn't stay there.
Thanks,
Jessica
 
fastmarc

fastmarc

Member
With that size tank, I wouldn't go with kalk (lime), but I would go with a 2 part (like bionic) as needed.
Based on what is in the tank, the consumtion rate would be low, so just monitoring the cal/alk periodically with a good test kits (e.g. Salifert) and add both parts equally as needed.
This should be a much safer and easier option.
Also, if you stick with kalk, keep a close eye on your ph.
 
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