Help !! - Water quality questions !

[flyguy1]

my current SW tank water parameters are as follows.

Nitrate 7
Phos.4 mg/l
ammonia 0
calcium 650
ph 8.3
salinity 1.023

Now the issue i am having is the new rodi water from my puratek 100 gpd system is producing these parameters

Ph 7.7
calcium 800 ppm
salinity 0 ( i have not added anything to water)

I am mixing the mass produced water in a garbage can for my water changes. I am then adding instant ocean salt and letting sit for a day before using.

fyi : my tap water without filtration is
7.7 ph
50 - calcium ppm
0 salt

Can someone please explain these and comment on my overall water parameters for my SW tank. the only thing i have dosed is some ph buffer to one garbage can awhile back. is it possible that stuff would raise all those calcium levels ? and ph ?

[Mike-fish]

whats the tds off the ro unit

[e46er]

So you have 800 ppm calcium coming from your RO unit before adding salt?
Let the ro unit break Ina bit
You should read 7.0 ph ans zero calcium it should basically take everything out of the water
Try another calcium test kit your may be faulty which brand are you using

[Myka]

I think there is something wrong with your test kit or maybe you made a mistake testing. That doesn't make sense even if it is a brand new RO/DI unit. How much RO/DI water have you made with this new unit?

[fishmanty]

That is quite the cycle up for Calcium. I'd assume your RO unit isn't removing the calcium at all. Do you do water changes or just top up the evaporated water?

[Myka]

Hmmm...I was just thinking here...do you by chance have your good water and waste water lines mixed up? Try testing the other line. Going from 50 ppm calcium to 800 ppm calcium almost seems like it is the waste water concentration.

One more thing...why are you testing calcium instead of using a calibrated TDS meter? TDS meters are cheap.

[FragIt Dan]

I think you will find most people would agree your RODI values for Ca are not possible. Your tap water will have Ca removed from it by your RODI unit so will be lower concentration. Your tank, at 650ppm Ca is way too high, target for 410-440ppm if you are keeping corals. pH will take care of itself as long as your dKH is good, which should range from 8-12degrees. Many pH meters will not read accurately in RODI water, so don't get concerned if you see wonky readings. pH will range from 8-8.3 in SW depending on respiration levels in your tank, which fluctuate with your light cycles, but again, you have little to no control over this (alkalinity and ambient CO2 are what drive pH). I am assuming with a Ca level of 650 you do not have corals (I would expect they might not fair too well at this level), so why are you concerned about this stuff? FOWLR tanks needn't test for much more than salinity and nitrate, IMO.

[subman]

Hmmm...I was just thinking here...do you by chance have your good water and waste water lines mixed up? Try testing the other line. Going from 50 ppm calcium to 800 ppm calcium almost seems like it is the waste water concentration.

One more thing...why are you testing calcium instead of using a calibrated TDS meter? TDS meters are cheap.

+1

good call Myka.

Ive seen tds meters at Walmart for like $10

[daniella3d]

This is highly unlikely to have 50 ppm of calcium at the input of the osmosis unit and then it come out at 800ppm?? where is it coming from? I don't see anything in a standard unit that could leak calcium. ???

Either you have the output and input mixed up or your test is not good.

If you really have 650ppm of calcium in your tank, this is much too high.

[Myka]

Another thought...is the calcium test you're using compatible with freshwater?