Calcium off the chart!

[murph145]

i recently read another post about someones calcium levels being to high...
i never measured mine but i decided to get a measuring kit for the tank and test it out.... note the LFS store i go to told me i needed some calcium additives so she sold me some of it and said to put a cap full in everyday i did this 3 times then i thought its probably best to know what my base reading is to c if i even need to be adding any at all....
so i go the test and did exactly what it says to do...
waited for the color to turn exactly blue added the drops times it by 15 and i came to the results that my tank has 850-870ppm of calcium... i tested 4 different times and all the same results it was a brand new test kit so i dont think its wrong...
what do i do??? is this harmful to my inhabitants???

 

[bang guy]

It can be very harmful.
If it were me I would do a 20% water change every other day until Ca was below 500ppm.
I would also test my ALK and Magnesium.
For future reference, Calcifying animals like corals, clams and snails use bicarbonate and Calcium to form calcium carbonate. These two elements need to be added in a balanced manner. Adding just Calcium will quickly cause ALK to drop to useless levels. At that point, the animals are unable to use the Calcium in the water no matter how high the level is.

 

[murph145]

what the lady gave me was a two part alkalitnity and calcium combo that u add in equal incraments....
im going to the store right now to get water and an alkalinity test kit ....
anything else i can do to lower it??
thanks!

 

[bang guy]

That's the safest way IMO.

 

[ophiura]

Bang - sorry if this is a stupid question Can some of these test kits be "fooled" based on when you added the supplement versus when you tested the water...to give you a false reading?

 

[bang guy]

That is a great question!
If the tank is unstable to start with like really high ALK or really high PH, or the additive isn't dosed properly then a mini-precipitation event can occur.
If you pull your water sample and some of this precipitate finds its way into your testing vial then it can really throw off the results during the titration. The same thing could happen if a sand bed was stirred up by a fish and some sand gets in the vial. The sand will dissolve during the testing and show a really high calcium level.

 

[murph145]

well i just changed 20g and the readings are still the same can there be something else in the tank that is causing my calcium level to be so high?? something from the rocks the sand ??
im confused and dont want any of my animals to die!!!
ill change some more water tomorrow and try again i guess but i dont know what else i can do....
any recommendations would be appreciated

 

[jamnman]

What kind of salt are you using?

 

[murph145]

im not using salt im using real ocean water .... so thats what im trying to figure out y its soooo high....
i put a couple doses of B-Ionic calcium buffer system in the tank thinking it had to be low then got a test and seen how high it really was....
i did a water change and still is the same ill do another change tomorrow if i have time its kind of a pain going to the LFS and gettin water everyday...

 

[bang guy]

I'd also suggest testing the ocean water. Even though the test is new it's still possible that it's defective.

 

[jamnman]

Test the level of the water you are getting before you put it in the tank.
Maybe the water you are getting has had alot of evaporation which would leave you with higher levels.

 

[jamnman]

Oops Bang beat me to it.

 

[murph145]

lol thanks for the comments ill have to check out the water im getting.... however they get it every week in a huge 500gallon container thats sealed so i dont know how it would evaporate to that extent but ill check the new water 2 c if the test kit itself is defective good ideas guys thanks!!!!

 

[xnikki118x]

Bang and ophiura--
Exactly how harmful is high calcium? What can it do to your tank inhabitants?
I haven't added any calcium addititves in months, except the few drops I add to my liquid invert supplement. My test kit shows about 710ppm in calcium though. Should I keep doing water changes to try to lower it?
Tank inhabitants are as follows:
1 yellow tang (who needs a new home!)
1 blue velvet damsel (who also needs a new home!)
1 coral beauty
1 oscillaris
20 or so turbo snails
about 15 blue-legged and scarlet hermits
1 purple tree leather
3 mushrooms
some misc feather dusters
1 long-spined urchin
1 blue and yellow nudibranch (the one that's starving to death

)
1 haitian anemone
some live rock, crushed coral substrate, PC lighting
I test my specific gravity daily, and it's at 1.022, and my temp varies from 79-80 degrees F.
The rest of my parameters tested on Sunday:
ammonia = 0
nirtite = 0
nitrate = 0
pH = 8.35
alk = "normal/high"
calcium ~ 710ppm
Am I in big trouble here? I don't have phosphate or magnesium test kits...should I have my LFS test my water for those?
Thanks guys.

 

[ophiura]

I suspect a lot of this is also testing error - titrations are not always easy to do and there can be errors involved at a lot of steps. The first place I would start (before doing anything - and certainly ADDING anything) is at a store with a different person and different kinds of tests. Some test kits I reckon are not all that accurate to begin with (eg an alkalinity that just gives a "normal/high" reading is suspicious to me).
Out of balance alkalinity and calcium can cause calcification issues with those animals that do it (corals, clams, etc) and potential precipitation events. Furthermore, drops in alkalinity can result in an increased fluctuation in pH...often a drop in pH, which can cause serious issues as well. Failing to keep these in balance can cause major issues - but so can trying to correct them without knowing exact values.

 

[xnikki118x]

Thanks, ophiura. I'll take a water sample to a few different LFS's in my area and compare the results. Hopefully once I get an accurate reading, I'll have a place to start.