Calcium levels driving me nuts

[bassman]

I have been trying to get my levels between 400-450ppm for a couple of months now and I am getting frustrated.

I am using a kalk drip all day to replace my evaporated water at the highest recommended mixture. (2tsp per 1 gallon) to maintain my levels. I am dosing at approx. 1 drip/sec

I use Kent Turbo Calcium daily to get the calcium up. I finally got it to 478 the other day, it's drop by 50-55 ppm daily since.

Once I got the level to 478 ppm I stopped adding the turbo in hopes that my Kalk drip would maintain the level. Not so I guess.

All my other levels are good. (the ones I test for anyways)

pH = 8.3 , Nitrate = 0, Nitrite = 0, Phos = 0, Alk = 9.8 dKH, Ammonia = 0

My tank is 95% softies.

Any help/suggestions would be appreciated.

Tank = 55gal, Sump = 55 gal, Fuge = 20gal

[StirCrazy]

IAll my other levels are good. (the ones I test for anyways)

pH = 8.3 , Nitrate = 0, Nitrite = 0, Phos = 0, Alk = 9.8 dKH, Ammonia = 0

My tank is 95% softies.

Any help/suggestions would be appreciated.

Tank = 55gal, Sump = 55 gal, Fuge = 20gal

whats you Mg level, with out knowing what that is you are only guessing at any Ca problem.

Steve

[bassman]

That I don't know. I am going to get a test kit today.

[Farrmanchu]

Yeah, Magnesium, but you don't need a test kit, they cost big $. If you buy some from Chem master, he'll give you the dose amount for your waterchanges, and you can bring it up that way. I use it and don't test, it really keeps the Ca in solution, and stable.

[Ruth]

You should post your current calcium, magnesium, and alk. levels. As Steve stated it is pretty hard to say what the problem might be without knowing what all the levels are at.

[Beverly]

You should post your current calcium, magnesium, and alk. levels. As Steve stated it is pretty hard to say what the problem might be without knowing what all the levels are at.

Totally agree with Steve and Ruth.

One reason Ca might be depleting fast is that your tank bay be growing a lot of coralline algae on rock and tank surfaces. However, that usually requires adequate levels of Mg to do. So, I'm a little stumped.

[Pescador]

Once you raise your calcium levels with Turbo, I'd maintain it with a balanced 2-part buffer. You will be able to figure out the dose based on the demand of your tank. Also calcium will only raise so much depending on your alk. Kalk will help but you might not have enough evaporation to give you enough calcium from it.

[bassman]

You should post your current calcium, magnesium, and alk. levels. As Steve stated it is pretty hard to say what the problem might be without knowing what all the levels are at.

As of this morning. Ca=371, Alk=9.8 and Mg I am not sure of yet.

[bassman]

Totally agree with Steve and Ruth.

One reason Ca might be depleting fast is that your tank bay be growing a lot of coralline algae on rock and tank surfaces. However, that usually requires adequate levels of Mg to do. So, I'm a little stumped.

I do have a fair amount of coraline growing on my rocks and glass right now. Tank is only 6.5 months old.

[trilinearmipmap]

As far as I understand, the product of calcium concentration multiplied by alk will reach a limiting level. Your alk is fairly high. Bicarbonate will react with calcium to form calcium carbonate, whether within a coral skeleton, coralline algae, or precipitation on the surface of the tank or equipment. So it is no surprise you can't keep your Ca level high enough.

[Farrmanchu]

I do have a fair amount of coraline growing on my rocks and glass right now. Tank is only 6.5 months old.
How's the Coral growth? Are you trying to achieve faster SPS growth, Coraline? If you've noticed good growth, why worry about getting Ca over 400ppm?

[bassman]

How's the Coral growth? Are you trying to achieve faster SPS growth, Coraline? If you've noticed good growth, why worry about getting Ca over 400ppm?

I have read that 440ppm is a good place to be, as in healthy all around. I also have a clam which need high calcium. Atleast that is my understanding.

[Aquattro]

Calcium should be between 350 and 400 for good growth. Natural seawater is about 350ppm, and we keep it slightly higher just in case levels drop. I have always had awesome SPS growth with Ca around 390ppm. I have had my level higher, but did not see increased growth because of it. I keep my alk around 9-11 dKh, never concerned my self with Mg.

[bassman]

I think I will try a salt with a higher calcium level. Right now I am using Instant Ocean. I think I will try Reef Crystals and see what happens. I tested my makeup water last week B4 adding it to the tank and the calcium level was below 400, somewhere around 330 or something like that. This plus dripping kalk might be enough.

[untamed]

Don't mess things up by trying to achieve a number like 450 just because you've heard that is a good place to be. If you system looks happy with what you are doing, you're just as likely to cause problems trying to force it upward.

Shoot for stability in Ca/Alk/Mg. With a Kalk based system, you are likely to need to dose Mg somehow. Increase the Kalk only until the Ca/Alk is stable (not falling). If your growth (demand) increases, you might have to adjust your Kalk input to match.

In my experience, you need to isolate evaporative replacement from Kalk input. As evaporation changes all the time, you don't want your Kalk input to be also changing. I think Kalk for evaporative replacement works well if you also have a Ca reactor running...but if Kalk is your primary Ca/Alk replacement, you want to control it's input as much as possible.

That's my $.02 worth from running a Kalk-only 30 gallon SPS based system for a few years now. My Ca rarely every gets higher than 385.

[bassman]

Thanks for the insight. I think I will take your advice. Like I said I am going to use Reef Crystal and see what that does. Other then that I think I will leave well enough alone for a while, track my levels and see how things go.

[Quagmire]

I would have to agree with mg sugestion.IMO mg is as important as ca and alk,its all part of the mix to get good perameters.Get a mg test kit,dont take someone elses guess as to how much to put in your tank,each tank will use a differant amount of mg,ca,and alk.So a guess although working well on one tank may not work well on yours or anyone elses.You will always use up some mg so better to have the test kit so you can stay ontop of it.BTW I picked up some of that new salt from Golds called Oceanpure Pro,very high mg around 1470ppm.the last time I tested it.