is high calcium a bad thing???

[trillyen]

ok i got a API reef master test kit and for those who arent familiar with it 7 to 12 individual drops are equal to perfect calcium or between 400 to 520

well im at like 15 to 18 drops which is probably like 580 to 620 ppm

is that bad

or will my new sps and xenia have a surplus of calcium to thrive under

also is it calcium that causes coraline algae???

if not what does???

 

[mmkeeper]

Have you tested your alk yet?

 

[mmkeeper]

Coraline algae is fed by calcium. Have you done more than 1 test?

 

[trillyen]

no havent tested my alk yey

does that have something to do with anything

itll always be high wont it because of all the rock right???

 

[plack]

Excess calcium does slow down the growth of corals.

I believe It can also be toxic at some point.

Remember to find out why it is that high! Is it new salt? Are you adding/dosing your tank? Do you need to? Are you running a calcium reactor ?

You really need to measure your alkalinity. Go to a store and have them measure it and remeasure your calcium as well soon!! A large percentage water change may be in order (possably several)

It is vital to the health of everything because the excess calcium can change the chemical balance of the saltwater making it possably crash :-(

As far as your rocks. Think of them as bacterial filters that algae (coraline or other) grows on. They do not add calcium nor add alkalinity.

When you make epoxy. You mix a ratio of one part with a ratio of another. Somtimes it's a 50/50 ratio somtimes its more like a 70/30.

My point is that the ratio has to be close enoughp that the epoxy will become hard and then becomes usefull.

If too much filler is used and not enoughp hardener it is a usless mess. Now Calicium and Alkialinity most be in a reasonable ratio to each other for it to properly support life or your lank will not live and may also become a usless mess.

But water changes of new water mixed and checked before adding will bring thing into the proper ratios or balance

And remember to do changes slowly . Also as a sudden increase or decrease of SOME chemicals -- Particularily trying to raise alkalinity too fast. Can have bad results like turning the walls of the aquarium white and must be scraped off or wait a long time for it to clear ( Months).

I could post some links for you to read up on this further but mainly get that alkalinity tested and verified at a store to ensure you both get the same result when it's way off normal limits as your calcium is.

Let us know the results and how things progress. Or any other problems questions or headaches along the route to straightening this out so we can help

Sorry if I am long winded

Paul

 

[trillyen]

thanks paul, and i myself am long winded and i tested my alk and it was at about 179 ppm

hope thats ok

seems like that would be a little high

nice metaphore, it makes alot of since

i never test my water when i do water changes, i just make sure the salinity level is right, and i make sure it is the correct temp, but from now on i will try to make sure to look at the type of concentration of cal, mag and other stuff my instant ocean has in it.

that way if i have like 300 ppm of calcium in my tank at the time of a water change and my salt has a 220 ppm ratio of calcium in it it will raise my calcium levels to the correct levels correct??

but thats not good though because you said its not good to raise the levels to quick

so that would mean that i would basically have to try to get all my levels around what the new tank water is gonna be at the time of all water changes

boy that sounds like it could be a B*%$H!!!

am i correct on my assumption???

 

[dailydriven911]

Are you sure you measured alk? Should be around 7-10 dkh. Calcium should be much higher especially for sps and lps. Shoot for 390-450 ppm. What is your salinity? Try for 1.024-1.026

Testing is key

 

[trillyen]

my salinity is like 1.025

and yes it was around 7-10 10 to be exact 10 dkh 179 ppmKH

is that good

my calcium is like 360 to 380 mg/l (ppm)

i think you said this was fine

what should i do to raise it though if i need to???

i have reef calcium by seachem i think

should i use according to the directions???

thanks!!!

 

[drummereef]

Alkalinity, Calcium, and magnesium must remain in balance. I would raise your calcium slightly imo. Get some Kent Turbo Calcium to raise it, not the Seachem product. If you know your tests are correct then use the calculator below to help you dose, not what the directions say on the bottle. Anytime you dose an alkalinity, calcium, or magnesium suppliment use the calculator.

Reef chemicals calculator
http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chem_calc3.html

Recommended levels:
Calcium: 380-450ppm
Alkalinity: 7-11dkh or 2.5-4meq/L
Magnesium: 1250-1350ppm

 

[plack]

O.K.

(( Post #1 said your Calcium was at 580 to 620 I assume Daildriven911 read post #6 and thought that your calcium was at 300 wich is low. ))

You alkalinity (179 ppm) is equal to about 10 dkh or 3.5 Meq/Liters wich is very good . By the way Dkh and Meq/l are just a different scale like measuring in metric instead of inches.

Now the calcium test should be double checked. Why not try making a small amount less than one gallon of new salt and slowly carefully checking it again getting more accurate with the exact number of drops and see what that tells us also testing the tank a second time !! Here is why if the new salt water reads as high as your tank does I think the test kit is wrong. But if it reads alot less then it needs to be lowered by water changes.

Shooting for 420 CA is perfect to me and an alk of 125-200 PPM or 9-11 dkh and salinity at 1.025 is correct.

Hmmmmm,

Raising levels of alkalinity too fast can cause the PH to go up Suddenly (harming things like your Zenia) then go back down. It can cause the ratios to get off set and cause minerals to become solids attached to your tank walls and pumps

Raising Calcium When the alkalinity is already at 9-11 DKH Usually only lower the ph a bit. Their are recommended amounts to change in one day like 25PPM per day. You can do more but you would have to wait a few hours then add Alkalinity (Small amounts) Maybe every hour until the ratios are right.

Lowering ratios is usually done slowly as well to avoid schock to the corals.
This is also why we slowly drip water from our tank into to a bucket with new fish if the stores salinity is lower for fish and higher for the tanks they store corals in. This gives the fish a chance to adjust to the different salinity slowly. Making them less likely to get ill

Ok here are a few links I like:

http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chemcalc.html

This one is Just a calculator to see help you adjust the ratios.
Please keep this in mind though !!!!
It will tell you the perfect theory ratio. Not all theory is perfect.
I say this because it will say for a calcium level of 600 ppm you should have
A alkalinity of near 600PPM wich is toxically high and would probably kill everything in the tank.

And here is a link on the ratios of Calcium and Alkalinity

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2002/chem.htm

It's a slow read but worth it !!!!

Good Night



Paul

 

[dailydriven911]

I just use c balance and dose accordingly. So far I have had good results. I have been using c balance ever since I started It's a matter of opinion because there are alot of different ways to keep your params in balance. Sounds like calcium and alk are okay but I would shoot for a bit more calcium. How did you get your calcium down, water changes? Seachem calcium will work just fine but you also want to go with their alk supplement as well. Test like crazy until you get everything where you want it to be Try to keep your params as follows:

ph 8.1-8.3
alk 7-10dkh shoot for 9
cal 380-450ppm
po4 0
mag 1200-1400ppm
nitrate 0-10 ppm
nitrite 0
ammonia 0
salinity 1.024-1.026

These are especially important for sps and lps corals. I would use only salifert or elos test kits. Or hanna testers:lol:$$$

 

[plack]

Now i see it's 360-380 Calcium

Nothing severe Thats just a Tadd low. I am soo glad it's not 580-620

I agree with drummereef that would work just fine. Or you could use dowflake .

Unfortunately Instant Ocean and most other salts which are good brands !! Just don't have the ratios perfectly right when the salinity raises to 1.025 as us reef nuts keep it at

Now you don't need to worry it just a small minor adjustment

Paul

 

[trillyen]

hey i just wanna say thank you so much guys you are so help ful and the links are great, but some of the H 2O stuff kinda threw me for a loop

you guys are brains if you under stand all that chemistry stuff wow

i dont know if i missed some thing, but what i wanna know is how do i adjust my water to the right params that my reef is gonna need when i add my water???

thanks for the calculator and stuff though i havent checked it out yet but im sure it will be helpful

yeah im glad my cal wasnt 580 and 620 also lol

i just checked out that calculator, and thats AMAZING thanks alot

sorry but i dont understand how im suspose to get my change of water up to what it needs to be other than how i think its suspose to be done, oh and sweet dreams PLACK, your as long winded as i am!!!

thanks guys

 

[drummereef]

hey i just wanna say thank you so much guys you are so help ful and the links are great, but some of the H 2O stuff kinda threw me for a loop

you guys are brains if you under stand all that chemistry stuff wow

i dont know if i missed some thing, but what i wanna know is how do i adjust my water to the right params that my reef is gonna need when i add my water???

thanks for the calculator and stuff though i havent checked it out yet but im sure it will be helpful

yeah im glad my cal wasnt 580 and 620 also lol

i just checked out that calculator, and thats AMAZING thanks alot

sorry but i dont understand how im suspose to get my change of water up to what it needs to be other than how i think its suspose to be done, oh and sweet dreams PLACK, your as long winded as i am!!!

thanks guys

I use Instant Ocean salt that is known for its low Calcium levels. It usually test around 380ppm, which is on the low end of the spectrum. What I do is bolster the Calcium with roughly 70ppm of calcium chloride at water changes. I use Prestone Driveway Heat but there are other commercial aquarium products available, such as Kent Turbo Calcium if you feel more comfortable with that. I use the calculator to dose my freshly made saltwater to raise the Calcium level. With either product you want to dissolve it in a little RO/DI before adding it to the saltwater.

Here's that calculator again.
Reef chemicals calculator
http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chem_calc3.html

 

[trillyen]

ok thanks drummer that makes since

ok so since im gonna have a reef of lps and sps clam, etc...

is there any hard ware i can buy to help me out and to take less a burden off of me

like i know i could use a calcium reactor and stuff, does the calcium reactor actually monitor the water for calcium and add it to the water its self accordingly

what controls the mag, and the alk that i could get and are there any other main chemicals i need???

i think i got the calcium thing down, and for now i think i wanna just drip the calcium, and see how that works for me!!!

 

[trillyen]

how do you know which is the right calcium to use and which is not???

and why should i not use my seachem reef calcium???

what about BUFFERS???

do those do a good job???

 

[plack]

I am not sure why you would not use seachem reef calcium ? Unless they believe it would take too much to raise the levels to where you want and end up costing alot of money?

I know those articles seem complex but eventually you need to understand it !!

Try just reading it and open a word document and type out exactly what words you don't understand and then ask those questions !!

Buffers are chemicals to ADD Alkalinity Examples are Baked baking soda/Seachems reef buffer etc.

Seachem adds some boron to there buffers the problem with that can be that SOME test kits are measuring the boron and the amount of alkalinity as the result says the amount of alkalinity is more than if it measured just alkalinity.

some buffers add magnesium.

Kalkwasser adds very small amounts of calcium and raises the ph a little and is usually dripped at a few drops per second at night.

Are you confused yet?

You really need to just get the calcium up a little.

Relax and Slowly do some reading from the articles listed before. Then ask more questions


Paul

 

[mmkeeper]

I like b ionic a&b for buffer and ca. This might help you with balance. http://www.reefnerds.com/ChemPlot/ChemPlot.html

 

[trillyen]

ok its coming to get her now

so is a kalkaliser like a calcium and a alk, balancer???

ok ill have to read more of that thread and ask ALOT of ?s on it later it was a really good read from what i read of it ill have more time to read it later on tonight!!!

thanks alot paul, and mm

 

[drummereef]

A calcium reactor is only needed if you have a high demand on alkalinity and calcium. It will deliver a balanced ratio or each. Unless you get to the point where kalk and/or 2-part can't keep up with the consumption rate, that's when I'd invest in a reactor. I believe, although not 100% sure, that you'd have to manually keep up with magnesium consumption. This isn't hard since mag drops fairly slowly. Randy has a home brew for mag supplement, but there are commercial products available like Kent's Tech-M.

You'll probably find it is a lot more work dosing your supplements separately. And there is the risk that the two will fall out of balance and you'll risk overdose or precipitation. I think you would be much happier getting on a "balanced" supplement. Either 2-part or Kalk would be my suggestion. Hope this helps!

Oh, here's a really great article on how to select your supplimenting scheme.

How to Select a Calcium and Alkalinity Supplementation Scheme
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/feb2003/chem.htm