High calcium killing my corals?

doodle1800

doodle1800

Active Member
Originally Posted by Bang Guy
In my humble opinion I wouldn't use a salt that mixes up at over 500ppm of calcium at normal salinity. That's just asking for trouble.

I agree... So.... I want to do a test of calcium on new batches using different brands.
So far Oceanic gives me well over 700.
I need to do a water change soon. I'll purchase Instant Ocean and test the water before I do the change. If anyone else has other brands please do the same and post their reading as before in this post.
I'm guessing though that constant high calcium levels will slowly kill my soft corals. Anyone agree or have a thought?
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
Originally Posted by doodle1800
I agree... So.... I want to do a test of calcium on new batches using different brands.
So far Oceanic gives me well over 700.
Bear with me for being feeble minded at the moment. I just can't comprehend mixing up salt and ending up with 700ppm dissolved calcium.
Please try this easy experiment. Take some of your freshly mixed up saltwater that is ready to add to your tank. Place it in a seperate sealed container and let it settle for a few hours and test the Calcium again.
 
the reef

the reef

Member
Originally Posted by doodle1800
What kind of water Rick? - RO, tap?...
wait - you said 350 fresh and salt? That doesn't seem right.
hey maybe the watter you are using is already high in calcium that could be to many minerals in it so test the watter that you are using before putting the salt in it maybe this is why you are getting higher readings than every one else
I also agree with bang guy if your testing only slightly after mixing this could be inacurate readings mix it really good then put an air pump in it and let it airate for 24 hours then test it for calcium
 
doodle1800

doodle1800

Active Member
Will do Bang
btw - measured calcium on fresh - less than 100..
and - the measurements I take are well after ... like the next day... or even later. When I measure my tank its over 650 and I add no supplements... this is weeks after a water change....
 
perchpsk

perchpsk

Member
How is it that high calcium is bad for corals? I always thought that most corals needed some higher calcium content. How much is too much?
 
shnabbles

shnabbles

Member
Calcium should be around 450...
Iv been using OCEANIC for the life of the tank. 9 months
I have had high calcium and high alk and dangerously low PH.
If just started using IO and iv been doing some major water changes to hopefully get my readings down.
Iv lost many inverts and corals and hopefully i have finally found out why!
 
neoreef

neoreef

Member
High calcium in your saltmix is a common problem with Oceanic and some other brands, too. That is why you should test your saltwater a day after you mix it up, and before you do that water change on your tank.
When you say you think that high calcium will kill your soft corals, I wonder if you are confusing high calcium with kalkwasser paste injections to kill aiptasia anemones. Kalk paste does have high calcium, but it is the oxide part of the kalk molecule (calcium oxide) that is doing the killing. The oxide part is a very strong base, very high pH, and will dissolve cells in contact with high concentrations of it.
Having high calcium in our tank water may be dangerous for causing precipitation events, depleting alkalinity and magnesium, decreasing water quality in a big way, but it will not be directly poisonous to your corals. Unless of course I am wrong, which won't be the first time.
 
fishieness

fishieness

Active Member
im pretty sure you are right on the money for that nanoreef. this was actualy explained by someone earlier in the thread i think.
Wont it precipitate if it’s that high? I read this:If calcium levels get too high (over 500ppm), there is a tendency for alkalinity to drop. This affects the buffering capacity of aquarium water and without adequate buffering, pH levels are susceptible to fluctuations. Conversely, if alkalinity gets too high, calcium levels tend to drop as calcium precipitates out of solution.
there we go, that was a copy and past from RICKD.
there is a chemistry teacher in my school (her class wasnt the smartest class if you know what i mean and this story says why) but she sniffed a strong base so she cant smell anything anymore. and taht story popped into my head when the kalkwasser was mentioned for killing aiptasia.
 
the reef

the reef

Member
Originally Posted by doodle1800
Will do Bang
btw - measured calcium on fresh - less than 100..
and - the measurements I take are well after ... like the next day... or even later. When I measure my tank its over 650 and I add no supplements... this is weeks after a water change....
maybe should use pure ro watter and that should bring it down 100 like you said your freash watter is 100 then adding the salt makes it very high
the salt mixes that are made are more for the purpose of using ro watter when using the pure ro watter should have normal levels you could also raise your alkalinity to 13 to 14 dkh for a while and this should alow a natrual decline in the calcium but dont go way high on your alkalinity only keeping it slightly higher is safe going to high will stress out the corals
also how is your magnisum level I hear that if you want to lower your calcium keep it just a little lower than 1300 ppm say 1200 ppm then when your calcium is in range raise your magnisum back up to 1300 ppm I noticed when my magnisum was at 1200 my calcium declined by 20-30 ppm a week
 
doodle1800

doodle1800

Active Member
I didn't think that high calcium levels would kill soft corals either - until I went to the Shedd Aquarium one day and had a chat with a keeper. She told me that very high calclium levels over long periods of time will do damage or even kill soft corals. She used the example of "thats how we kill unwanted aptasia and mojanos anemones".
my belief is that we kill aptasia for instance with a super charged dose of calcium, killing it almost instantly. So my question in this whole thread is if we have high levels, between 500 and 800, will this cause damage over a long time to our soft corals. I'd like to have my soft corals over a year or 2, or even longer, and I'm trying to maintain my calcium levels at 450-500. But with Oceanic mix, I'm getting well over 650 - 700 levels. Maybe its my the water, maybe its the mix, maybe its both.
So... my goal here is to use only RO, and test Oceanic, Instant Ocean, and a few more mixes and see what results I get.
I'm convinced that these high levels are not good, in fact fatal, over a period of 6 months.
pootie tang - lol...
 
neoreef

neoreef

Member
I guarantee you she did not kill the aptasia with high calcium in the fish tank water. She killed aptasia with CaO paste injections, and its the oxide, not the calcium that killed the pest.
Keepers know alot about keeping, but that does not make them chemistry experts! I am not dissing keepers. And I'm no chemistry expert either, even though I hold a bachelor's degree. But I do understand some!
We need everybody's skills to keep things working!
 
the reef

the reef

Member
Originally Posted by doodle1800
I didn't think that high calcium levels would kill soft corals either - until I went to the Shedd Aquarium one day and had a chat with a keeper. She told me that very high calclium levels over long periods of time will do damage or even kill soft corals. She used the example of "thats how we kill unwanted aptasia and mojanos anemones".
my belief is that we kill aptasia for instance with a super charged dose of calcium, killing it almost instantly. So my question in this whole thread is if we have high levels, between 500 and 800, will this cause damage over a long time to our soft corals. I'd like to have my soft corals over a year or 2, or even longer, and I'm trying to maintain my calcium levels at 450-500. But with Oceanic mix, I'm getting well over 650 - 700 levels. Maybe its my the water, maybe its the mix, maybe its both.
So... my goal here is to use only RO, and test Oceanic, Instant Ocean, and a few more mixes and see what results I get.
I'm convinced that these high levels are not good, in fact fatal, over a period of 6 months.
pootie tang - lol...
any test results using the ro watter to mix the salt in ?
 
the reef

the reef

Member
Originally Posted by doodle1800
Not yet.... been busy with "life".... ha..
Will later this week...
I tested the ro pluss the salt mix for you doodle
I used ro watter with a calcium of zero and a dkh of zero
after adding the instant ocan salt mix to a sg of 1.025 my calcium was at 400 ppm and my dkh was at 7.2
make shure before adding the salt your calcium and alkalinity is at zero and you should get the same results
 
doodle1800

doodle1800

Active Member
Originally Posted by The reef
I tested the ro pluss the salt mix for you doodle

gotcha.. thanks... I'll test oceanic this weekend...
 
fishieness

fishieness

Active Member
i just tested oceanic with a salinity of 1.023 (for my FOWLR tank) and got a reading of 500-520. Not nearly as bad as 700. But i have heard people say oceanic is very inconsistant....
has anyone tried Kent or Coralife salts? not only for calium, but in general?
 
rickd

rickd

Member
Originally Posted by doodle1800
What kind of water Rick? - RO, tap?...
wait - you said 350 fresh and salt? That doesn't seem right.

Sorry i ment just RO-DI mixed salt water not fresh water :thinking:
 
doodle1800

doodle1800

Active Member
I just mixed a batch of Instant Ocean - measured the C the next day and got 550. Mixed a 5 gal bag of Oceanic, measured 760.
 
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