Reef nutrition

High Calcium Levels

musclebenz

musclebenz

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I have calcium levels over 600 what steps can I take to reduce them back to a nomal level? I have done multiple water changes without success and raised my alkalinity to 12 dKH. Could a calicum rock be leaching too much Calcium back into tank?

All my other levels are fine and have recently been test.
 
musclebenz said:
Could a calicum rock be leaching too much Calcium back into tank?

All my other levels are fine and have recently been test.
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Check your pH, calcium wont dissolve in water with a pH above 7.
 
Do another test or two to be sure your results are accurate. It would not be easy to get that much additional calcium in your tank unless a dosing pump stuck and you poured a 1/2 gallon of CA mix into your tank. I always double check weird test results of tank water by performing the same test on freshly mixed salt water.
 
Are you using Oceanic salt?

If so do some water changes with IO, that'll bring your calcium levels down, otherwise don't fiddle with anything and let it drop.
 
nudibranch said:
Do you have any shells that are not being used because sometimes they can leak calcium into the water when they break down.
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Just like coral they need a very low pH in order to release calcium, much lower than can be achieved in a salt water tank without using CO2. I'd bet dollars to doughnuts it's a combination of the salt mix and supplementation.
 
nudibranch said:
Do you have any shells that are not being used because sometimes they can leak calcium into the water when they break down.
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I can guarantee that is not the issue. Shells alone will not get his CA that high, and like Jeremy pointed out, @ a PH of 8, he's not going to get those shells to release any significant CA. It's got to be his salt mix, and or the test kit.
 
musclebenz said:
I'm using Seachem's ReefSalt
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I had the same problem when i tried out Seachem's reef salt. It didnt get as high as 600 but it was upwards of 500. i tried offsetting it using additives and only ended up loosing some livestock.

FWIW Ive been using tropic marine pro with great results and trying out some BrightWell's reef salt to see how things go.
 
Seachem got a ton of ca! If you don't have much using it up and or add in much extra it will add up fast. I've seen more thanone tank with ca levels around 600 that use seachem salt. I sometimes will mix it with instant ocean to help it drop rather than switching altogether
 
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