Calcium level to high in mantis tank

[Angel7989]

So i just bought a calcium home test tank and i tryed it out and found out that the calcium is at around 550ph
recently my mantis has been a little more reclusive i thought it was because she might be getting ready for a molt now i think it may be because of the high calcium level?
anyways how do i go about lowering the calcium in the tank
i just did a 20% water change

 

[justinl]

you did that water change already and that's about all you can do. just let nature run it's course now. we're you adding calcium to the tank previously without testing? adding supplements blindly is something you should NEVER do.

 

[Angel7989]

well i supplementing and having the LFS test but they were reading the test wrong.

 

[DanInSD]

"Too high" is easy -- dilute with water changes, and then use test kits over a period of time to stabilize your dosing regimen. Also, you will find that if you stop dosing, your calcium will drop (with the rate dependent on what, if any, corals or coralline algaes are present).

20% isn't going to help here, much. Try 20%/day for a week. The salt mix should set up "ideal" water, so over the week you'll return to baseline.

Of higher concern is that with the calcium so high, your alkalinity will probably be really low, so your pH is likely to be unstable (read: low). Again, large water changes (in the short term) and attention to test kits (in the long term) will help the situation stabilize.

I can point you to some interesting articles on calcium/alkalinity if desired.

Mantis appreciate "good" water quality. However, they tend to show toxic effects suddenly and catastrophically. In all likelihood, you've caught this "in time". Just stabilize the water of the course of a few days.

Good luck,
Dan

 

[Angel7989]

k i did a water change and its back to normal