goober_hunter
Member
like it says is 520 ppm calcium to high for a reef tank???? i know between 400 and 500 ppm is good.. but can too much calcium be to bad??
is 520 ppm to high...
- Thread starter goober_hunter
- Start date
goober_hunter
Member
iam using aquarium pharmaceuticals, i dont have a test kit for dhK. what is dhk. how would i lower my calcium????? will520ppm kill my fish or corals???
goober_hunter
Member
would a water change lower it? if not how would i lower it???? and how would it get that high i have not added calcium to my tank and what should i avoid putting in my tank that will higher my calcium.?????
seasalt101
Active Member
Originally Posted by Stanlalee
what kind of salt are you using and do you have any calcium demanding livestock. I know oceanic test at about 520ppm. You may need to switch your salt to something with less calcium for a while. instant ocean only test at 340ppm. I'm not sure what other brands test low.
i was using io till about 2 weeks ago and with the io i was at 540ppm in calcium with no supplements i switched to reef crystals and after the 2nd wc my calcium is at 440...tobin
what kind of salt are you using and do you have any calcium demanding livestock. I know oceanic test at about 520ppm. You may need to switch your salt to something with less calcium for a while. instant ocean only test at 340ppm. I'm not sure what other brands test low.
i was using io till about 2 weeks ago and with the io i was at 540ppm in calcium with no supplements i switched to reef crystals and after the 2nd wc my calcium is at 440...tobin
goober_hunter
Member
yes iam using oceanic, i do have calcium demanding live stock. would switching salts be bad??? if i do switch iam guessing i should switch slowly??????
stanlalee
Active Member
I switch brands of salts all the time with no ill effects. If you are only doing partial water changes any change will be a gradual change. If you have a high calcium demand you may only want to use something with low calcium until its down to where you want it and then switch back to oceanic or something with a calcium in the 400's.
goober_hunter
Member
okay thanks for the help. i guess iam switching..
also can their be a a level that could be deadly....??????
also can their be a a level that could be deadly....??????
sjimmyh
Member
Its not likely that a high calcium will be "toxic" to anything, so no... I do not think it will kill anything. I personally have never killed anything from high Ca and I have overdosed before when I first started out.
What does happen is this... Calcium getting too high will cause precipitation of excess calcium. This brings the calcium back down, BUT it also brings down your alkalinity.
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/274631/ph-and-alkalinity-unmasked
This is an article I wrote on alkalinity and how it relates to pH.
From this you will see that lowering your alkalinity can have a nasty effect on pH. Dropping your pH fast is definately bad, and YES this can kill fish.
Aquarium Pharm makes an alkalinity test kit too. Fairly cheap, also. Not the most accurate, but its more than capable of giving you all you need to know. (Its more than accurate enough to know if you are low or high out of optimal... and thats all you need to care about)
The recommendations given to you are very sound, IMO. What they are telling you will work.
One more thing. Are you using tap water or non-deionized water? If you are, its very probable that there is calcium in this water. Mix it with a high calcium salt like Oceanic and you could put yourself over 500.
What does happen is this... Calcium getting too high will cause precipitation of excess calcium. This brings the calcium back down, BUT it also brings down your alkalinity.
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/274631/ph-and-alkalinity-unmasked
This is an article I wrote on alkalinity and how it relates to pH.
From this you will see that lowering your alkalinity can have a nasty effect on pH. Dropping your pH fast is definately bad, and YES this can kill fish.
Aquarium Pharm makes an alkalinity test kit too. Fairly cheap, also. Not the most accurate, but its more than capable of giving you all you need to know. (Its more than accurate enough to know if you are low or high out of optimal... and thats all you need to care about)
The recommendations given to you are very sound, IMO. What they are telling you will work.
One more thing. Are you using tap water or non-deionized water? If you are, its very probable that there is calcium in this water. Mix it with a high calcium salt like Oceanic and you could put yourself over 500.
goober_hunter
Member
iam using ro water......
rabbit_72
Member
My husband takes care of the 55 gal tank we have and his calcium was running very high too. I am not sure if he was supplementing at the time, but he did stop if he was. He tested regularly and did water changes and we switched to RO water. After some water changes, his calcium dropped. The pH may have been high as we lost some fish, but not our anemones (wierd).
goober_hunter
Member
okay finished do all test..
amm. 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 0
ph 8.4
calcium 520
kh 6.
any advice would be great my frogspawn is not looking so good......
amm. 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 0
ph 8.4
calcium 520
kh 6.
any advice would be great my frogspawn is not looking so good......