Alkalinity / Calcium / pH

[rdub62]

Hmm I was reading some of the informational threads here after searching for my answer I was unable to determine what's wrong with my system...
Just tested water several times....I use the API individual tests.
Alkalinity 250 ppm
Calcium 800 ppm (ridiculously high?) I just keep reading as long as alkalinity is "ideal" not to put too much fet into calcium.
pH 8.3
Nitrites 0 ppm
Nitrates 0-5 ppm
This was mostly a fowlr tank, had a good amount of the "shaving brush" plants swf.com sells. Nothing really other than that, tried a couple sponges at one time was proving unsuccessful.
Never used buffers of any kind.
Never treated my tank chemically.
I did use :

&

Curious if those possibly contributed?

 

[flower]

The first one..I don't know
The second one is harmless except it makes the tank stink and really isn't very good.
Fresh garlic juice will serve you better. The calcium will go down on it's own and do your water changes. For fish only and 0.5 nitrates...that's not bad.
The shaving brush would keep phosphates low...a good thing. Sponges like it dirty and heavy water flow, very low to no light at all. I actually made a canopy to shade mine from the lights.

 

[mr btldreef]

hey... couple questions for you.
how old are those test kits?
i think they are bad.
normal conditions....
if your using the api reef test kits (drip ones)
nitrate 0-5 is good
phosphate 0
kh alkalinity 9-12 i keep ours at 10
ca calcium 440 ppm
ph 8.2 is the goal
now i keep my tanks at 1.025 sg
i would bring a water sample to a local fish store.

 

[btldreef]

I never trust alkalinity readings or calcium readings from the API kits. I've seen API read in the "acceptable range" and then double check with Elos or Salifert and it's completely off.
I would definitely recommend getting these tests double checked at the LFS. With Ca and Alk that high, I would suspect your pH to be reading different than it is and for some sort of precipitation occurring in the tank. Also, you should check your Magnesium level as well.
Also, if you have Shaving Brush plants in your tank, your Ca shouldn't be reading that high! Shaving brush plants suck up a lot of Calcium out of the water, so if your Ca is still reading high after having a few of these guys for a while, this is a red flag that your kit is probably not reading correctly anymore.
Just curious,
how old is this tank?
what size is this tank?
What else is in it?
Do you dose?
What type of salt do you use and how often do you do water changes?

 

[bang guy]

Next time you do a water change test the new water before using it.
And get some Salifert test kits (just a suggestion).