calcium really high??

[fedukeford]

i just went to my LFS and he checked my water for me.... he said that my calcium at 480 is this good or bad?

 

[saltyguy]

Thats good as long as alkalinity is good. Test it to see what it reads and post results. 480 I think is a perfect reading.

 

[fedukeford]

my alk isright in the middle of the "normal " section

 

[fedukeford]

also i got a little bottle of "marine sucess buff" with the test kit... what does it do??

 

[saltyguy]

What kind of tank do you have FO or reef? One more question what is your PH at. If it is normal I would not do a thing. If you have a reef or are thinking of starting one I would get a test kit for alkalinity that reads a number and not low, normal, and high.

 

[fedukeford]

well someone is giving me my first 2 corals tommarow so it will be a reef tommarow my PH is at 8.3

 

[fishieness]

8.3 is a fine pH. 420 is an ideal Ca level, but if your ALK is good then it is not too much to worry about. what brand of salt are you using? My oceanic is giving me like 650 readings...... much too night for calcification to occur. I need to change

 

[mudplayerx]

Put that bottle of "buffer" in the garbage. Your calcium/ph/alkalinity should stay relatively stable just with regular water changes. If your calcium starts dipping a little, get yourself some kalkwasser mix and mix it with a days topoff water. Let it sit 24 hours and add it as topoff

 

[fedukeford]

i use instant ocean salt.... sry im a newbie whats a topoff?

 

[airforceb2]

As your tank goes throughout the day, water will evaporate so every day you need to top off the tank so the salinity doesn't get outta wack.

 

[fedukeford]

so i have to add water every day!?!?!? i thought i was only supposed to do water changes weekly?

 

[airforceb2]

Maybe not now as you aren't generating much heat with your lights. When you upgrade your lights, you will have a lot more evaporation. But you should be making sure your water is at the same level all the time.

 

[fedukeford]

ok thx for the help

 

[fishieness]

Originally Posted by fedukeford
so i have to add water every day!?!?!? i thought i was only supposed to do water changes weekly?

no no no no no, a topoff is not the same as a water change. as was said, water evaporates. and only water. You just need to add some fresh water, RO-DI-distilled-Ect to your tank to get it up to the right level. This water should contain NO SALT!! The salt does not evaporate, so if you keep adding salt, your salinity will rise a heck of a lot, and if you let all the water evaporate, the same thing will happen.

 

[fedukeford]

ok thanks for the help but how do i know how much water evaporated .. do i just put some tape on the tank then see how much it dropped from that mark??

 

[fishieness]

well dont you fill your tank up to the top? Just fill the fresh water up to the top also. Make sure you dont want like 2 weeks and for the water to get down like 3 inches and then add tons of water all at once. This will raise the salinity too fast. This is why it is best to add a little bit every day or so.

 

[fedukeford]

o i was told to fill my tank to about 1" from the top should i fill it all the way to the top?

 

[fishieness]

no, it doesnt matter realy. 1" from it is better. I didnt mean all the way to the top. so if you fill it one inch form the top, then put your top off water one inch form the top. lol

 

[airforceb2]

Mine is all the way up. I think it is ugly if it isn't. Plus, you will get a water line over time and I'm sure you don't want to look at that all the time.

 

[fishieness]

well in my tanks, an inch fromt he top is stillcovered by the black stuff surounding the top.