CAl and alk levels

Skimmerking · #1 02-21-2008, 10:26 PM

WTH, Well I tested my Levels and my ALk is 9.0 DKH , which is great IMO. Now my Cal is 490PPM. What the heck is up with that.

I have a Kalk Reactor that is dosing a drip every 5 seonds. Now in my tank I have 7 clams,1 maxima clam, 3 derasa's 3 crocea's a have a small colony of sps that is 5x5 about there, and a frag that is 3x3 and I have some lps's in the tank, open brain, bubble coral, well you get the picture. I hooked up a Sulphur reactor and and have been watching it to seed. so My nitrates are about 40 in that range, so I wanted to get the nitrates down the natural way and ended up doing a 15 gal water change in my tank total water volume is about 140 gal. I use IO salt and I know that the CAL level in the salt is 390 ppm and ALk is about 8 something. SO my Question is.............................

HOW IN THE HECK DO I GET MY CALCIUM DOWN. ITS 490ppm...............

BC564 · #2 02-21-2008, 10:36 PM

I have been having the same issue for the last month or so.....but I dont know how my CALCIUM got so high......Im sitting at 500....I dont have a reactor.
Sorry....my dKh is 9 also

untamed · #3 02-22-2008, 01:04 AM

Well...generally speaking, you can't bring Ca DOWN...you can only bring both Ca/Alk down, then try to rebalance by adding whichever one ends up low.

So if you think you are too high (which could be debatable), slow your reactor down just a bit and wait. Both Ca and Alk should fall. If the Alk ends up low, you can dose a bit of baking soda to adjust.

Skimmerking · #4 02-22-2008, 01:45 AM

that is what I figured I didn't think you could bring CAl down..

BC564 · #5 02-22-2008, 03:12 AM

and if you dont have a reactor? Just wait it out?

Megalodon · #6 02-22-2008, 03:18 AM

My calcium is off the scale, more than 500ppm as per my Salifert test kit. And that's the case for freshly mixed saltwater too. Something about Tropic Marin.

scumchug · #7 02-22-2008, 03:41 AM

For what its worth, My target for calcium is 500. I don't see a problem?

mseepman · #8 02-22-2008, 04:42 AM

I too have the problem of ALK and CAL being too high. I use AquaCraft Biosea and out of the bucket, I get ALK levels of 7 and CAL levels of 450 very consistantly between bags. Somehow over the last 3 months, my tank has crept up to ALK of 9-10 and CAL of 500. I use both Salifert and Hagen test kits with similar results. I don't have a reactor and I don't dose for Calcium or ALK.

Any suggestions would be great.

untamed · #9 02-22-2008, 04:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BC564

and if you dont have a reactor? Just wait it out?

Yes...or add slightly less of whatever balanced supplement you are adding. Natural usage in the tank will bring the levels down if you don't supplement.

Quote:

Originally Posted by scumchug

For what its worth, My target for calcium is 500. I don't see a problem?

Yes, that's why I thought it was debatable as whether he has a problem that needs fixing...or not. Although his problem may not be so much that the Ca is too high...it might just be that the Alk is too low to be "balanced" with a Ca that is that high. Even that is debatable.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mseepman

I too have the problem of ALK and CAL being too high. I use AquaCraft Biosea and out of the bucket, I get ALK levels of 7 and CAL levels of 450 very consistantly between bags. Somehow over the last 3 months, my tank has crept up to ALK of 9-10 and CAL of 500. I use both Salifert and Hagen test kits with similar results. I don't have a reactor and I don't dose for Calcium or ALK.

Any suggestions would be great.

How's your salinity? Maybe you've gotten over-concentrated. You do have an unusual problem, to be sure. You are not dosing anything to supplement Ca/Alk, yet your Ca/Alk is RISING. That suggests that you have nothing in the tank that would use up Ca/Alk. Even a normal growth of coraline aglae would eventually use up Ca/Alk in a tank if there were no supplementation.

Do you happen to have a very clean, fish-only system? I'm baffled by that one.

scumchug · #10 02-22-2008, 06:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mseepman

I too have the problem of ALK and CAL being too high. I use AquaCraft Biosea and out of the bucket, I get ALK levels of 7 and CAL levels of 450 very consistantly between bags. Somehow over the last 3 months, my tank has crept up to ALK of 9-10 and CAL of 500. I use both Salifert and Hagen test kits with similar results. I don't have a reactor and I don't dose for Calcium or ALK.

Any suggestions would be great.

I'd be willing to bet that your not using RODI water for top offs, or your DI filter is done. As you keep adding water, it evaporates leaving behind calcium among other things. Eventually the calcium builds up.