Just checked my calcium, and it reads about 540-560. It usually reads about 460-480, so I never dose. Why is it always so high? Why is it extremely high now? Ammonia, nitrate, nitrite is all good, ph is 8.0-8.2.
And your salinity??? Do you use a hydrometer or refractomer? If your salt mix is high in Ca and you have a low use tank then that could be one reason. You need to always know what your Ca/Alk/Mg numbers are. Cheers said:Salinity is 1.026, with 2 different hydrometers
[I]@bimmerzs wrote:[/I][quote="And your salinity??? Do you use a hydrometer or refractomer? If your salt mix is high in Ca and you have a low use tank then that could be one reason. You need to always know what your Ca/Alk/Mg numbers are. Cheers said:Salinity is 1.026, with 2 different hydrometers"]
Have you compared either one to a calibrated refractomerto see if they were accurate??? I have never seen one of the plastic hydrometers consistently match a calibrated refractometer. Thats a pretty big difference in Ca, how often do you check Ca. What salt do you use and how much/how often do you do water changes? Do you see any precipatation on your pump's/heaters etc? We can get a better picture with ca/alk mg and actual ph value from a calibrated meter, test kit's for ph can be misleading.
Cheers,
no precip that I can tell. I use Reed Crystals salt said:What changed between then and now? You could just have a contaminated test kit.
Cheers,
I've tested 3 times. I use API. 2 times with my kit said:So nothing changed at all since a week ago....no water changes no nothing??
I added chaeto from a members tank (that I know is pristine) as well as a live rock and some new corals said:That kinda depend's, you can have ton's of calcium in the tank but it is possible that your coral cannot properly utilize it if parameters are skewed. A high Ca will not hurt anything but a 60-100ppm jump in a week is kinda hard especially if no dosing at all. Also coral's do need time to acclimate and get used to a new tank before they really start growing alot. I would like to hear more about that LR, it's not homemade is it? Only a few ways to have high Ca....thru salt mix with high Ca which reef crystals has, dosing which you are not or your ph is so low that it's dissolving your coral's, LR and LS which is highly doubtful, your ro/di filters are passing ca from tap water or bad test kit which it seems you confirmed is not the case, and very high salinity or high phosphate levels inhibiting coral growth That's probably about it I believe except having low mg which can inhibit calcium uptake by corals but not sure how your alk wouldn't be affected. If everybody is looking good then as the coral's start kicking into high you should see lower level's but seems like we are missing a piece to this puzzle. Now how long has the tank been up and packed with coral's besides the stuff you just got? Ahh found a good link for you here talking about this. http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-12/rhf/index.php
RO for top off. I can't test alk at the moment said:Is this RO or ro/di you use for mixing SW and for top-off????? If just ro then this could be where it's coming from.
Totally agree with you Pampee. I'm really not sure why we are only getting partial answers to the question's we are asking so I'm resting my fingers for now. Cheers said:WTH? I'm answering your questions as I see them. Where is a comment from Pampee?
[I]@Critter9905 wrote:[/I][quote="I added chaeto from a members tank (that I know is pristine) as well as a live rock and some new corals said:That kinda depend's, you can have ton's of calcium in the tank but it is possible that your coral cannot properly utilize it if parameters are skewed. A high Ca will not hurt anything but a 60-100ppm jump in a week is kinda hard especially if no dosing at all. Also coral's do need time to acclimate and get used to a new tank before they really start growing alot. I would like to hear more about that LR, it's not homemade is it? Only a few ways to have high Ca....thru salt mix with high Ca which reef crystals has, dosing which you are not or your ph is so low that it's dissolving your coral's, LR and LS which is highly doubtful, your ro/di filters are passing ca from tap water or bad test kit which it seems you confirmed is not the case, and very high salinity or high phosphate levels inhibiting coral growth That's probably about it I believe except having low mg which can inhibit calcium uptake by corals but not sure how your alk wouldn't be affected. If everybody is looking good then as the coral's start kicking into high you should see lower level's but seems like we are missing a piece to this puzzle. Now how long has the tank been up and packed with coral's besides the stuff you just got? Ahh found a good link for you here talking about this. http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-12/rhf/index.php"]
...just saw this post. I was on my phone, and it was difficult to scan through posts.
At this point, I need a kit to test Alk and mg. I've never tested due to the fact it was not in the test kits I have (Lazy I know), and the fact that my corals do great. I've had coral for over a year now, and no problems, and new growth all the time. I can also add corals with no problems. I never dose anything because I don't know my readings. I've never felt the urgency to buy the test kits because there has never been a problem. Maybe there has been all this time, and it's just now coming to light??? I will test for all and let you know.