Calcium Level Too High?

[beanpole12]

I have a 55g that I have recently converted to reef. I just did a calcium test because I had never done on before and according to it my calcium level is high, I think around 560-580 ppm. Is there something I can do to lower it or is it not a big deal? I think the test said the parameters for a reef should be between 400 - 500 ppm. I don't add calcium to it, I guess it's just my water. Thanks.

 

[worshrag]

what kind of substrate do you have in it? that crushed coral claims to add trace elements such as calcium.I would think the calcium would be used up in time by the corals, so as long as your PH is ok you should be good

 

[teen]

it was probably your salt mix. id leave it and just let it naturally come down.

 

[beanpole12]

The substrate is aragonite live sand I believe, and the water has been established for over two years so I doubt it's the salt mix, I haven't added any. It's not a new tank I just started putting corals in a few months ago and decided to check the calcium level because someone mentioned it to me and i noticed it seemed high according to the test. Everything is doing well though so I guess I'll jsut check again maybe once a week or so and see what happens. Thanks.

 

[scsinet]

Have an LFS double check your results of verify that you are using your test kit correctly.
In normal reef environments, calcium will precipitate and literally fall out of the water as a white "dust" in levels above about 550ppm. It simply can't stay in solution at concentrations that high.
That's why they say 500ppm max. If it's not precipitating out, then your level is fine, just don't add any more calcium supplements until it comes back down. Beware if you are doing a 2 part (A&B product), one of the bottles is calcium supplement.

 

[jerthunter]

Originally Posted by beanpole12
The substrate is aragonite live sand I believe, and the water has been established for over two years so I doubt it's the salt mix, I haven't added any. It's not a new tank I just started putting corals in a few months ago and decided to check the calcium level because someone mentioned it to me and i noticed it seemed high according to the test. Everything is doing well though so I guess I'll jsut check again maybe once a week or so and see what happens. Thanks.
Have you not done any water changes in 2 years? I'm sorry if that is a dumb question but it sounded like that was what you were saying. If you do normal water changes it can easily be due to your salt mix. I used kent sea salt for quite awhile and suddenly noticed my calcium went extremely high from just doing regular water changes. It turned out when I got a new bucket of kent salt the mix was off and calcium was high and alk was low.
Another thing to check is your alk, if calcium is extremely high I would imagine your alk would be low...

 

[beanpole12]

I have a feeling I may get fussed at for this but I don't do regular water changes. I take measurements weekly and if anything is off I will do one but I can't tell you the last time I did. I generally add water to make up for evaporation once a week but that's about it. I looked at the water and it's very clear, there's no white stuff in it, I'll do another test and see how it comes out. It is a high possiblity it is operator error.

 

[fallnhorse]

Originally Posted by beanpole12
I have a feeling I may get fussed at for this but I don't do regular water changes. I take measurements weekly and if anything is off I will do one but I can't tell you the last time I did. I generally add water to make up for evaporation once a week but that's about it. I looked at the water and it's very clear, there's no white stuff in it, I'll do another test and see how it comes out. It is a high possiblity it is operator error.

Long as you watch your nitrates, it's up to you. In theory you can add trace elements. But lot potential algae. I accidentally over dosed on calcium using purple up. I precipitated and then went down. Not much you can do.