calcium at 600 without dosing. please help

milsaltnewbie07

New member
Hey guys I been trying to lower this calcium for a while now but wont budge. Keeps reading 580-600. Im using red sea salt ( blue bucket) and mixed at sg 1.026 im getting 420. Now im not doing any calcium at all and Im doing my WC's every other week. 15%. My alk is at 8, ph 8.2. What im I doing wrong, this calcium wont budge. Should I worry ??. Also I have have started to get this black coraline algea on my rocks. Is this normal?
 
Do you have any calcium users in your tank (SPS or clams)? That should be bringing it down. Never seen black coralline, could it be cyano?
 
Have u added new sand by chance?

Do you have any calcium users in your tank (SPS or clams)? That should be bringing it down. Never seen black coralline, could it be cyano?

What test kit are you using. Maybe get another one or take to lfs to verify.

No no sand has been added since I set up the tank about 3 and half months.

test kit I have is api, and lfs is using salifer and they got 580.

tank has about 30 sps frags and about 6 types of zoas
 
Are your having to dose any alk? I know when I added my first batch of sps it took a few weeks (3-4) before I noticed any noticeable consumption of alk and calc. My calc was around 500-600 before they started growing now it's normal.
 
It's really nothing to worry about... Just continue to not dose calcium, maintain alkalinity, and it will come down.

Most would likely know more than me, as my understanding of chemistry isn't as great as I'd like it to be., but...
Can't cal being that high cause a saturation in the water such that it won't allow other things (ALK) to bind correctly? At a high saturation level, does the bond between the water and the calcium get "stronger" making it harder for corals to be able to use it?
I realize its not on point to the OP's question, but when an answer is given that basically says "ignore it and it will go away" (which I cannot and am not disputing for lack of understanding) it seemed worth asking the questions...
 
Most would likely know more than me, as my understanding of chemistry isn't as great as I'd like it to be., but...
Can't cal being that high cause a saturation in the water such that it won't allow other things (ALK) to bind correctly? At a high saturation level, does the bond between the water and the calcium get "stronger" making it harder for corals to be able to use it?
I realize its not on point to the OP's question, but when an answer is given that basically says "ignore it and it will go away" (which I cannot and am not disputing for lack of understanding) it seemed worth asking the questions...

There's not really a bond with calcium and our aquarium water and it's also not going to prevent "alk" from bonding since they two work together to form a bond via biotic and abiotic precipitation. In short, there's zero reason to believe that calcium being high will make it any more difficult for corals to utilize it. Also, high calcium levels have never been shown to be toxic to any typical reef tank inhabitants. About the only negative of calcium being that high, assuming alkalinity is maintained, is the possiblity of abiotic precipitation causing pumps to seize up if they're not maintained properly.
 
There's not really a bond with calcium and our aquarium water and it's also not going to prevent "alk" from bonding since they two work together to form a bond via biotic and abiotic precipitation. In short, there's zero reason to believe that calcium being high will make it any more difficult for corals to utilize it. Also, high calcium levels have never been shown to be toxic to any typical reef tank inhabitants. About the only negative of calcium being that high, assuming alkalinity is maintained, is the possiblity of abiotic precipitation causing pumps to seize up if they're not maintained properly.
Cool, thanks for the reply. :)
 
My calc was high before I had a lot of corals. Water changes using reef crystals would make my calcium about 560-600 and my alk around 11-12. I added some sps and after a few weeks of dosing nothing it came down to normal ranges. Now I just add kalk to maintain the levels that I want.
 
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