Calcium Reading!!!! Pls Help!

[planetg]

I'm using a Sera Test kit

and i needed 29 drops of Reagent 3.

that equals to 580mg/l!!!!

 

is that possible!!

[Guy]

Do you mean seatest?

 

580 is very possible. I was trying to use a seatest calcium test kit and I found it very frustrating and i never felt confident of the results. I just received a seachem test kit today and it was easier. unfortuantley my water just tested at 550.

 

Are you dosing anything? If you are, you need to scale back a bit. (me too, now that I have a test kit that works)

 

if your not dosing anything or running a reactor ,throw that test kit in the pail and get another brand.

 

Good Luck,

 

Guy

[sjpresley]

Read the instructions that came with the kit. Obviously, reading of 550 and beyond are false because that would be a supersaturated calcium level which would cause calcium carbonate to precipitate out in your tank (it will look like it is snowing). This isn't really a problem as the particles will re-dissolve when CA+ levels fall enough to allow it to do so.

 

Some test kits test for total calcium hardness while other test for CA+ concentration. Usually, you need to multiply by .4 if your test reads for total calcium hardness to get an equivalent reading in CA+. I have Red Sea, Lamotte, and Hagen calcium test kits. I like the Hagen best. The Lamotte measures overall CA so I have to multiply by .4 (it usually gives me readings of a little over 1000). If you are worried about using so much reagent just cut your sample in half using DI water and multiply the final result by 2. The larger a cut sample you start with the more accurate your results will be as the importance of slight errors in dilution will be reduced.

[newreefers]

calcium that high is not unheard of, mine has been 500 - 600 since day one, 6 yrs ago. it doesn't look like snow in my tank, however my corals do very well. I don't add any calc additives to my tank.