Whacked Posted September 13, 2008 Share Posted September 13, 2008 Ok, I have (and had) a very high calcium level in my tank. PH is also higher than norm but its stable. Livestock seem to be doing fine. So is high CA a bad thing? last water test results: Temp:80 Sal:1.025 PH:8.6 Alk:3 (red Sea test kit and a PITA to read properly) dKH: 9 CA:31 (620ppm) PO4, NH3,NO3,NO2:0 these are with the API liquid test kits. I dont have a MG test kit. RO water and Oceanic salt. I top off manually with RO water. I am asking this 'cause I heard about alkalinity burn on livestock. I just want to be sure. Everything with them seems OK. cleaner shrimp molts every week. found that my 6-line is the cause of my hermit deaths. Lost a few astrea snails, havent seen all of my nass snails in awhile, just 1 pops up from time to time. Link to comment
The Propagator Posted September 13, 2008 Share Posted September 13, 2008 What do you dose. Normally ( even with oceanic salt mix ) calcium levels aren't that high with out dosing some thing or a bad test kit . or pilot error Usually you wont see calcium precipitation ( white snow ) until its on or over 750-800 ppm. BUT you could start seeing calcification on your heater, and power heads. For some reason it always loads up there 1st. It will probably look like an off white, yellow/brown crust. Link to comment
Weetabix7 Posted September 13, 2008 Share Posted September 13, 2008 I have seen some batches of Oceanic salt test at pretty high levels on Ca, so he may not be wrong about that. I've been using Oceanic, but am considering switching to a mix of 1/2 Oceanic, 1/2 Tropic Marin (reg version). Link to comment
davidr2340 Posted September 13, 2008 Share Posted September 13, 2008 Oceanic is high... But, that # is HIGH... Like pro said, what, if anything do you dose? Link to comment
Whacked Posted September 14, 2008 Author Share Posted September 14, 2008 maybe I should have mentioned that. I dont dose anything. I do have a little yellow/brown crusty stuff on my heater, PH has started to crust with coraline. Skimmer is to new (week 3 of running it) to get crusty. I thought that the stuff on my heater was just PITA diatom algae. Tomorrow I do my weekly test & w/c so i'll be extra careful to help rule out any potential user error. Link to comment
davidr2340 Posted September 14, 2008 Share Posted September 14, 2008 Hmmm... Try test the WC water before adding it to the tank, and see where you are at then... Link to comment
Whacked Posted September 15, 2008 Author Share Posted September 15, 2008 OK, test results are in. Temp: 80 Sal: 1.025 PH: 8.6 Alk: ~2.8 dKH: 9 CA: 28 (560) NH3,NO3,NO2,PO4: 0 new fresh 5g Sal:1.025 Temp: 80 PH: 8.6 Alk: ~2.8 dKH: 9 CA: 27 (540) Looking over my test log. In the last 2 months, dKH varied from 9-10, Alk was ~3.0 so dropped today, CA has been 31-34 (620-680) today is first time its been below 600. Only thing different, 9/1 I upgraded lights from 64W PC to 130W PC 9/6 I added 2 zoa frags. 9/2 added 4 red-leg hermits, have 2 left 8/31 added 5 astraea snails (my CUC is weak, add 1 (known surviving) nass snail and 1 cleaner shrimp and thats it) I was bad, last week I did a W/C but didnt test, the results I thread started with were from 8/30 So from what I can see, the Oceanic salt is pretty high in calcium. Doesnt quite explain why earlier it was over 600. Only thing that I can think of that would use calcium is my inverts. (dont think zoa's use calcium??) but as meager as my CUC is, would that be enough to drop 60ppm? And back to my earlier question, is high calcium a bad thing? Link to comment
bdare Posted September 15, 2008 Share Posted September 15, 2008 What test kits are you using? Link to comment
Whacked Posted September 15, 2008 Author Share Posted September 15, 2008 API liquid test kits. ALK and pH is Red Sea liquid. Link to comment
bdare Posted September 15, 2008 Share Posted September 15, 2008 Red Sea kits are JUNK. You should replace them with at LEAST API if not Elos or Salifert. Link to comment
Whacked Posted September 15, 2008 Author Share Posted September 15, 2008 Yea I know. the Alk test is a major PITA to read. Just that there is nothing else available locally. Not worth it to order online until I have something else I need to get. Link to comment
bdare Posted September 15, 2008 Share Posted September 15, 2008 Yea I know. the Alk test is a major PITA to read.Just that there is nothing else available locally. Not worth it to order online until I have something else I need to get. Considering the issues you're having it just might be worth it FWIW, I think Ca withOceanic normally comes out in the high 500's, but Prop will tell you different. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthre...hreadid=1287118 Ben Link to comment
The Propagator Posted September 15, 2008 Share Posted September 15, 2008 OH... Ben...... I can only state my own experience broseph. Link to comment
bdare Posted September 15, 2008 Share Posted September 15, 2008 OH... Ben......I can only state my own experience broseph. I know... and I have the utmost respect for your experience and expertise. I just knew you'd vote otherwise and I was trying to save you the keystrokes... only cause I care Link to comment
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