Why does calcium stay high?

[schadiest1]

I have a 40 gallon reef tank that I have been using Kent calcium on every other day. I use tropic marin salt (which contains calcium). But even if I don't add calcium for a few days the reading stays around 480. why is this?

 

[mdog30001]

First off why the hell are you complaining. It doesnt matter why it is staining high, just feel lucky that it will stay high. my calcium will barely stay over 300 and thats with adding AgraMilk everyday.

 

[schadiest1]

it's not a complaint, I'm happy that my Ca. is being maintained well... I just need to know why it doesn't drop over a 3-4 day period when Ca. is not being added.

 

[hkgar]

What's in your tank. Maybe you don't have anything that is using up the CA

 

[schadiest1]

colt coral, zoos, shrooms, bubble coral, galaxea coral, frogspawn, open brain, kenya tree coral, green star polyps, pulsing xenia, toadstool, candy cane coral, ricordea, yellow polyps, and more.....
this is why I am wondering why CA hasn't gone down, I have plenty of corals that should be using up CA.

 

[bang guy]

What is your ALK?
If ALK is low then the corals will not be able to use any Calcium and Ca levels will stay high.
There is another (rare) problem where Borate is excessively high.

 

[schadiest1]

my test kit says
LOW
NORMAL
HIGH
reading is in 'normal' range

 

[bang guy]

You need to get a better test kit for ALK. "Normal" is a meaningless result.
I have a suspicion but it's just a guess.
I think that you're adding too much Calcium and it is slowly lowering your ALK levels to the point where your corals have stopped growing.
Do you add anything to raise your ALK when you use TurboCalcium? These should be kept in balance by adding both.

 

[schadiest1]

I don't use anything to raise ALK. It's not turbo calcium that I use. Just basic kent liquid calcium. I'll look into a better ALK test kit.

 

[vejomatic]

this is really interesting because I just started using Kent Tech CB A & B. This product is supposed to (via use of equal parts of both) balance it out for you. I also hear that raising ALK is an "uphill" battle.

 

[schadiest1]

I had the LFS test my water. CA was 420 (on there test kit), DKH is 10.
All parameters are perfect (in there words).
Hope these numbers help.

 

[bang guy]

Originally Posted by Schadiest1
All parameters are perfect (in there words).
I agree.

 

[schadiest1]

so why doesn't CA get lower over a 3 day period? Is this normal?

 

[bang guy]

I can only guess.
Calcification is slow in your system for some reason. If you have steadily normal Ca and Steadily normal ALK then either corals are not growing or most of your ALK is Borate.
I do not believe Borate is the problem because Seachem is the only salt I know of with massive amounts of Borate and you use Tropic Marin.
Can you describe your 40 for me again? Lighting, waterflow, feeding , etc.
One common problem is temperature. Many tropical animals grow slow below 78F.

 

[schadiest1]

lighting is a 260w pc light hood with 2 10K's and 2 actinics
waterflow is a rio 600 and a rio 2100
feeding is everyother day
temp. is 79F
live sand bed, 40+lbs
live rock, 70lbs

 

[bang guy]

I see nothing wrong whatsoever and I have no answer as to why your Ca doesn't drop.

 

[shnabbles]

are you using Oceanic?
Oceanic produces very high calcium readings.

 

[schadiest1]

I use Tropic Marin salt. This salt does contain calcium, I'm just not sure how much.

 

[miked0523]

Alot of the corals you listed dont use that much CA. SPS corals use alot. I personally would not add any until it drops below 400

 

[bang guy]

In my experience Toadstool and Kenya tree use more Ca than SPS.