Super High Calcium Readings from multiple test kits, Any Ideas?

[btldreef]

So everything in my tank reads well except for my calcium. I've now bought three different test kits and they all say the calcium in my 155G is above 500. We don't dose this tank, we have SPS and tons of inverts that should be using at least a little calcium. I thought I was doing something wrong while testing and even had the LFS test it, no luck, still really high.
We use Coralife salt and do weekly water changes and keep our water at 1.025 if that helps. When we used Instant Ocean our calcium was also very high but I don't remember it being this high, is it the salt mix? With this weeks water change I'm going to test the calcium with different test kits before it goes in my tank to see if it is the salt, just wanted to see if any of you guys thought it might be the issue or if something else is causing it.
I use the same water/salt in my 14G with weekly water changes and while the calcium is a little high, it's not outrageous and honestly, I do dose this tank once or twice a week and every time I test it, it seems to be the day after I dose

(genius, I know!) So I can't go by this tank.
I've cleaned out all the water lines to make sure there's no calcium build up, cleaned the overflow, etc.
All ideas welcome because I'm at the end of my rope with this issue...

 

[eric b 125]

what are your other parameters, like dKH?

 

[bmkj02]

Why weekly water changes? Im thinking that is the reason as every week you are replinishing it. If you were to do it monthly or so you would have a lower reading by that time.

 

[btldreef]

Originally Posted by Eric B 125
http:///forum/post/3191354
what are your other parameters, like dKH?

Originally Posted by bmkj02
http:///forum/post/3191382
Why weekly water changes? Im thinking that is the reason as every week you are replinishing it. If you were to do it monthly or so you would have a lower reading by that time.

Originally Posted by Eric B 125
http:///forum/post/3191354
what are your other parameters, like dKH?
Nitrates, Nitrites, Ammonia, Phosphate - 0 (or undetectable)
Ph - 8.3
dKH - 10/11 (color variation is difficult on my test kit, mine reads about the same as the LFS though, we've both said the same thing)
Water stays at 79-81 degrees and 1.025
We feed twice a day: Usually a cube of Emerald Entree or PE Mysis and occasionally live brine shrimp with vitamins (does not contain calcium, already checked) and spot feeding corals (coral frenzy or pe mysis) - We have a huge fish load, but do feed over a 30-45 minute span before someone chimes in and says I'm over feeding.
Running an ASM G3 skimmer with upgraded pump (another forum says that this skimmer can cause Ca and dKH issues, any truth to this? I think it's bogus)
We do weekly water changes because of the excessive amount of fish we have and it has always worked out for us. I'm not saying yours looks this way, but a lot of people that do monthly water changes, their tanks look, well, ICKY. I don't have an excessively large CUC because my damn hermits kill everything in my tank. We're always on top of our tank, cleanliness, water clarity, etc. so weekly water changes just always seemed best and that's what we were always told to do.

Does anyone think it's the salt mix we use? (Coralife)

 

[halamaya]

Cora life has a higher clacium level than instant ocean. I actually have a similar problem. I switched to red sea's salt mix and the calcium in that is 480 i believe and in caral life it's 440 I think. I know for sure it is higher than instant ocean though. I do does my tanks though which is a problem for me be cause it is a two part system so I can't just buffer my ph and alk. Think I might switch back to instant ocean until I get enough coraline algae and coral to make it worth my while. My question is how dangerous is high calcium levels? I know it bleaches your rocks white. with an Orange Eye urchin thats giant I don't have a lot of coralline algae left.

 

[btldreef]

Originally Posted by Halamaya
http:///forum/post/3191416
Cora life has a higher clacium level than instant ocean. I actually have a similar problem. I switched to red sea's salt mix and the calcium in that is 480 i believe and in caral life it's 440 I think. I know for sure it is higher than instant ocean though. I do does my tanks though which is a problem for me be cause it is a two part system so I can't just buffer my ph and alk. Think I might switch back to instant ocean until I get enough coraline algae and coral to make it worth my while. My question is how dangerous is high calcium levels? I know it bleaches your rocks white. with an Orange Eye urchin thats giant I don't have a lot of coralline algae left.
I'm not sure what the negative aspects of it are to be honest, my husband pays more attention to the water chemistry than I do, I just know about the fish and coral. My rocks are covered in coraline algae though. We might switch back to IO if that helps the situation. I just don't know what to do anymore. We used to dose when we used IO, so we switched in order to avoid dosing and now it's ridiculous.

 

[bmkj02]

I really dont see a problem with high calcium as long as your other parameters are up to par. Never heard of it bleaching the rocks white. My calcium has been high above 500 for almost a year now and its great. I had sea urchins in my tank for about a month and I got rid of them cause they were the reason why my rocks were white. They cleaned those rocks off of everything. Since the removal my rocks are nice and purple.
Weekly water changes

. Hey if I had the time I would do it. Gets a little expensive for a 155g. I have a 125g. Your tank must look amazing. Do you have a picture on another thread of it?

 

[btldreef]

Originally Posted by bmkj02 http:///forum/post/3191427
I really dont see a problem with high calcium as long as your other parameters are up to par. Never heard of it bleaching the rocks white. My calcium has been high above 500 for almost a year now and its great. I had sea urchins in my tank for about a month and I got rid of them cause they were the reason why my rocks were white. They cleaned those rocks off of everything. Since the removal my rocks are nice and purple.
Weekly water changes

. Hey if I had the time I would do it. Gets a little expensive for a 155g. I have a 125g. Your tank must look amazing. Do you have a picture on another thread of it?
Definitely is expensive, no lies there!
So should I not stress out so much about the calcium since everything else checks out?
Here's my tank thread which will be getting a severe update this coming weekend, we've added/changed so much it's in desperate need of new pics: https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/368588/btldreefs-155g-update

 

[btldreef]

So, made new water. Let it sit w/ a PH, etc. Just tested the water and the calcium is only at 430 --- how is my tank over 500 if this is the same water I'm adding?