Calcium measures WAY too high. I'm worried!

[Jan]

Yesterday I measured my calcium and it came out 375 ppm. SInce this was a bit low, I added ~ half a capful (~2.5 ml) of Kent Calcium supplement to my tank. My tank is 40 gallons plus 10 gallons in sump.

After an hour I re-measured my calcium and it came out 900 ppm!!! I do not understand how this happened as I followed the directions on the Kent label. I also added a dose of buffer as my alkalinity was looking very low (~1.6). Plus I added about 2 ml of iodine. That's everything I've added.

After this freak calcium reading happened I changed out about 5 gallons of water with fresh seawater. This morning I remeasured alkalinity and calcium and my alkalinity was still very low at ~ 1.6 or 1.7, and cacium came out at 885 ppm again!!

Please help

Thanks

 

[Scooterman]

First off why are you supplementing Iodine? You can't really test for it & doing WC's replenishes it, don't add any more.
I don't think & never heard of reading calcium that high, most test kits are off scale way before that, what type of test kit are you using? Have you tested your water 24hrs later? I don't think you should panic I think you should be ok but always go slow when adding anything, also a calcium level of 375 is great, there isn't any reason to panic & try to bump it up unless your actually using so much calcium that it goes so low you can't read it. Then you should be supplementing by other measures like kalk or a ca reactor. How many sps are you keeping? Trying to keep your level exactly is a bad practice, take it slow & go small on adjustments of any kind!

 

[DonW]

I agree I think its a test issue. What test are you using?

Don

 

[Jan]

First off why are you supplementing Iodine? You can't really test for it & doing WC's replenishes it, don't add any more.
I don't think & never heard of reading calcium that high, most test kits are off scale way before that, what type of test kit are you using? Have you tested your water 24hrs later? I don't think you should panic I think you should be ok but always go slow when adding anything, also a calcium level of 375 is great, there isn't any reason to panic & try to bump it up unless your actually using so much calcium that it goes so low you can't read it. Then you should be supplementing by other measures like kalk or a ca reactor. How many sps are you keeping? Trying to keep your level exactly is a bad practice, take it slow & go small on adjustments of any kind!

Scooterman, I added idodine because a reefer I know suggested I do it for my green star polyp.

I used a SeaChem test kit the kind where you count the number of drops of water it takes to turn the solution pure blue. It took 61 drops and I'm supposed to multiply that by 15 to get the ppm. Not the most accurate test int he world but I've redone it 3 times and got the same high reading.

I will never do this again, though! Hope I don't kill anything

I have ZERO SPS, only softies. I guess I shouldn't ever add calcium....I screwed up.

 

[Scooterman]

LOL hey don't sweat it, you should be fine, really leave the iodine alone, yea you can do that but your playing with fire unless your really experienced with it I wouldn't bother. Yea your ca should be plenty for your tank, just keep your WC's up, If your using IO you could bump it up with some turbo calcium from Kent but isn't necessary. One last thing, when your ready to monitor your calcium try using Saliflert test kits, you should get consistent reading & closer the actual ca readings.

 

[MikeS]

I used a SeaChem test kit the kind where you count the number of drops of water it takes to turn the solution pure blue. It took 61 drops and I'm supposed to multiply that by 15 to get the ppm. Not the most accurate test int he world but I've redone it 3 times and got the same high reading.

Hi Jan

I think you are perhaps reading your test kit wrong...are you using Seachems Reef Status Calcium test kit? I think that is the only Ca kit they make...

http://www.seachem.com/products/product_pages/RS_Calcium.html

if so, you read it by the mL used to titrate the solution, not the actual number of drops...the kit has a 1.0 mL syringe you drop the titrant into the sample with, and this 1.0 mL syringe is marked into .01mL increments. Each increment is equivilant to 5ppm Ca.....so if you use .75 mL of titrant to get the sample to change from pink to blue, you have a Ca level of 375ppm. Included in the kit is a reference sample of a 450ppm Ca solution...test that and see what you get...

Hope this helps...

MikeS

 

[Jan]

Mike, that must be the new and improved version of the test kit! Mine is SeaTest Reef Aquarium Test Kit and instructions say "....Add titrant calcium reagent drop by drop to viewing tube...count each drop...continue until color turns pure blue...Calculate the milligrams per liter of calcium by multiplying the number of drops by 15."

I got this test used from the reefer who recommended the iodine supplement.

Anyway I just did a huge water change and I feel much better now.

Thanks for the advice and info, I appreciate it!

 

[MikeS]

Ok, I see....you have an Aquarium System's SeaTest, not SeaChem...your first post said SeaChem... .

If the test kit is a used one, it may very well be out of date, or a bad kit. Those kits are not too terribly accurate to start with. The better Ca kits are made bt SeaChem, Salifert, and LaMotte. A bit more expensive, but well worth it. Not sure what kits you have currently, but a good basic test kit list for a reef tank should have Calcium, Alkalinity (or dKH-Carbonate Hardness), Magnesium, ammonia, phosphate, nitrate, pH, and some way to measure salinity or specific gravity like a hydrometer or refractometer.

On the iodine...iodine levels naturally fluctuate quite a bit in the tank anyway because there are many ways it gets into the tank and it is rapidly used up by the livestock and/or removed via skimming and carbon. If you are feeding the tank properly, you should have an adequate amount of iodine/iodide in there already. Dosing it can have some practical uses, for example if you have a large number of shrimp or crabs, or if you add new livestock or accidently damage a coral in your tank. I dose it when I add new livestock or damage a coral during maintenance. However, it is important to not overdose it! If you are going to use iodine/iodide, make sure you have a test kit for it and that you are never exceeding 0.06ppm.

MikeS

 

[Jan]

Thanks, Mike. I don't currently have tests for iodine, magnesium, or phosphate.

The tank seems fine now after my big water change. As a few of you have mentioned in other places, using water changes is less apt to cause an imbalance...think I'll rely on that primarily.

 

[Scooterman]

On the iodine...iodine levels naturally fluctuate quite a bit in the tank anyway because there are many ways it gets into the tank and it is rapidly used up by the livestock and/or removed via skimming and carbon. If you are feeding the tank properly, you should have an adequate amount of iodine/iodide in there already. Dosing it can have some practical uses, for example if you have a large number of shrimp or crabs, or if you add new livestock or accidently damage a coral in your tank. I dose it when I add new livestock or damage a coral during maintenance. However, it is important to not overdose it! If you are going to use iodine/iodide, make sure you have a test kit for it and that you are never exceeding 0.06ppm.
MikeS

I would read this article throughly first, also as stated use caution in thinking your test kits can test all forms of Iodine, be sure you know what your adding & testing, I would do this as a precaution.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/mar2003/chem.htm

I would strongly advise people to not try to maintain 0.06 ppm iodine using supplementation and a test kit.

The Seachem iodine kit detects only iodide (I-) and molecular iodine (I2). It is unlikely that there will be much I2 in an aquarium as it quickly breaks down into other products59 [to be described in a later article that will include a discussion on using products that contain I2, such as Lugols solution]. A potential drawback to this kit is that it doesn’t detect iodate. So if your tank water matches normal seawater in quantity and speciation of iodine, then it will look artificially low (say, about 0.01 or 0.02 ppm). I would also not advise using this kit if you are adding an iodine supplement that contains considerable amounts of iodate, molecular iodine (that may break down into products that include iodate and iodide)59, or organic iodine forms. There is also the concern that supplemental iodide, and those forms of iodine coming in with marine foods, may end up partially as iodate. Consequently, this kit may substantially underestimate the total amount of iodine present. I fell into that trap years ago in dosing iodate to my tank, and a significant concentration built up before I specifically tested for it.

The Salifert iodine test kit detects iodide, iodate, and molecular iodine. Salifert is about to come out with a new iodine kit (using a yellow color instead of a pink color). Assuming that it functions properly, it would be a good choice for anyone dosing iodide, iodate, or molecular iodine, though it is a long test involving quite a few steps. It will not detect many organic iodine forms, and people dosing such compounds should beware of overdosing​

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/april2003/chem.htmhttp://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/april2003/chem.htm

 

[MikeS]

Good points and links Scooty....

Regular, normal feeding should provide plenty of iodine to your tank, and yes, you don't want to overdose iodine...and as Scooty pointed out, not all kits measure all forms of iodine in the tank...and they are kind of hard to read properly.

I would strongly advise people to not try to maintain 0.06 ppm iodine using supplementation and a test kit.

I would agree with this in a way...with regular feeding, there really isn't much need to try to religiously maintain iodine levels...but on the other hand there are many organisims that benefit from the iodine, like xenia, many softies, shrimp, ect...I would say the benefit of a good test kit would be more to help insure (as best as possible) that you are not exceeding 0.06ppm if you are occasionally supplimenting iodine, rather than trying to maintain a constant 0.06ppm iodine level.

Having said all this...iodine in the reef tank is definatley one of those 'hazy grey" areas...truth be told, we really don't know a great deal about which forms and which concentrations are toxic to which animals. Fortuately, iodine is rapidly taken up by organisims or skimmed out of the tank. Adding a drop of Lugol's solution to your tank every 2 weeks or so is very unlikely to create an overdose situation...but IMO with iodine you should use caution...but also don't let worrying about it keep you up nights....

MikeS

 

[Scooterman]

Mike I actually Dosed Lugol's when I had Xenia that wasn't doing so well but that I realized later that wasn't so obvious is softies have so much poisons in them that I'm almost sure that was killing the Xenia off rather a lack of Iodine. I had Xenia at one end of the tank doing well & the opposite end dieing off, I think people miss the fact that adding more corals will potentially hurt the Xenia & think Iodine is the problem which I doubt. When I removed what Xenia I had & put in a QT tank with no other corals It sprouted up like weeds! That is my experience with Xenia & Iodine, no science to it but it is the reason why I wouldn't play with dosing because the testing can be a pain, & like you said you replenish it though other means like in foods & wc's.