calcium high

[harley1965]

hi all i have recently set up a reef tank (about 2 months old) calcium is about 620-640 ph is 8.2-8.3 nitrate is 0 nitite is 0 amonia is 0 posfates are 0 alk is 7-8 lfs keeps telling me that it is okay but not for long term sould i lower it first before i add and corals thanks in advance for the help

 

[bang guy]

It's not necessarily detrimental to the corals, it's the low alkalinity that will affect them the most.
Do you know how it got so high?
My suggestion would be to attempt to slowly raise Alkalinity and let the Calcium level fall naturally. This isn't the fast way to do it.
The fast way is to just do a very large water change.

 

[harley1965]

thanks for quick response i think it came from my salt i am using coralife salt last time i made up a batch calcium tested at 640 you said that my alkalinity is low what should it be at i thought it should be betwwen 8 and 12 by the way there no corals in the tank yet been trying to get this calcium thing solved thanks again

 

[bang guy]

If it's the salt (sounds like it is) then the best remedy is to find a salt that's not so high in Calcium. If you can get your Alkalinity up to around 9 or 10 dKH then you may be able to get away with Calcium at that level.
How large is you tank? In general, the smaller the tank, the higher you should maintain Alkalinity.

 

[harley1965]

it's a 40 breeder thanks again for the fas responses

 

[bang guy]

For a 40 gal I would encourage you to keep Alkalinity near 10dKH once you begin to add corals. The reasoning is that Alk drops rapidly as corals build their skeletons in the smaller-medium sized tanks. A loaded up 40 gallon reef could easily drop 1 or 2 dKH per day. If it gets below 5dKH the corals may begin to dissolve and that can be fatal for hard corals. If you're maintaining 7 or 8dKH it can drop below 5dKH in just a couple days.

 

[harley1965]

thanks for all of your help bang guy what would you use to raise my alkalinity

 

[cjsiii]

When I first set up my take a little over 2 months ago I was sing Coralife also and my calcium was up at 640 also.
I even mixed a fresh batch with RO water and got a 640 reading.
I since have started using Tropic Marin and have seen my levels come back down to 450.
So as far as I see it is the salt your using.

 

[harley1965]

thanks for the suggestion cj i have some instant ocean would that be okay to use i've heard mixed results about it

 

[bang guy]

Originally Posted by harley1965
http:///forum/post/2968139
thanks for all of your help bang guy what would you use to raise my alkalinity

If it were me I would use baking soda.

 

[bang guy]

I suppose I should add an appropriate dosage.
While you are trying to raise Alkalinity you should attempt to bump it up a little everyday. Add the baking soda to your topoff water. 1 tsp of baking soda will raise the ALK of 40 gallons of water 1.4dKH. That's about the dosage I would suggest, 1 tsp per day added with your topoff water. Dissolve the baking soda completely and add the water slowly to a high flow area. It may cloud, this is Magnesium carbonate and should quickly redissolve.

 

[harley1965]

thanks bang guyshould i just use it straight or do i need to do anything to it thanks again

 

[bang guy]

Originally Posted by harley1965
http:///forum/post/2968775
thanks bang guyshould i just use it straight or do i need to do anything to it thanks again
Dissolve it in your topoff water (freshwater).

 

[harley1965]

okay thanks bang guy for all the help that is what i am going to do

 

[woody189]

Bang guy suggested the same thing to me.
I stirred up some baking soda in a small cup of Freshwater. I tried to get it as dissolved as possible, then dumped the mixture into a bucket of freshwater w/ a powerhead.
I tried putting the baking soda in the bucket w/ the powerhead, but it wouldn't dissolve, that's why i recommend putting it in cup 1st.

 

[bang guy]

Originally Posted by woody189
http:///forum/post/2971009
Bang guy suggested the same thing to me.
I stirred up some baking soda in a small cup of Freshwater. I tried to get it as dissolved as possible, then dumped the mixture into a bucket of freshwater w/ a powerhead.
I tried putting the baking soda in the bucket w/ the powerhead, but it wouldn't dissolve, that's why i recommend putting it in cup 1st.

Was this RO water? It should have easily dissolved in a bucket of fresh water.

 

[woody189]

Originally Posted by Bang Guy
http:///forum/post/2971043
Was this RO water? It should have easily dissolved in a bucket of fresh water.
Yeah, it was RO. Maybe I added too much, but I don't think that was the problem.
Maybe it was just me, but I found mixing it in a cup to be better.

 

[bang guy]

Originally Posted by woody189
http:///forum/post/2971167
Yeah, it was RO. Maybe I added too much, but I don't think that was the problem.
Maybe it was just me, but I found mixing it in a cup to be better.

If it works better for you then it's a good thing

 

[thehorndaddy]

I too have seen my calcium shoot up to over 600 and alk drop to 8 after switching to a different salt.
Once the baking soda stabilizes both the calcium and alk levels, will they stay that way until the next saltwater change or do you constantly have to add baking soda to maintain the levels?
Thanks!

 

[bang guy]

Originally Posted by TheHorndaddy
http:///forum/post/2972987
I too have seen my calcium shoot up to over 600 and alk drop to 8 after switching to a different salt.
Once the baking soda stabilizes both the calcium and alk levels, will they stay that way until the next saltwater change or do you constantly have to add baking soda to maintain the levels?
Thanks!

It varies depending on livestock load. Clams, Corals, Snails, etc. consume Carbonate (Alkalinity) and Calcium in equal parts. So, a high load of calcifying animals will require the dosing of Carbonate.