Calcium too high

wicked_NaCl_h2o

wicked_NaCl_h2o

New member
Can high calcium cause hermit crabs to die? Well I just checked the calcium today and found out its over the chart 520+ I am wondering how my fish are still alive? How do I lower it? Water changes? The calcium is high in two tanks 120gallon and 24 gallon. Things are doing great in the 24 gallon but in the 120 corals won't open up and I found a hermit crab dead today but my bumble bee snails took care of him quickly. I just tested every thing no more than 10 minutes ago. This is the results..
I use reef master test kit and saltwater master test kit
dkh 9
ph 8.2
nitrite 0
nitrate 0
ammonia 0
phosphate 0

I tested my tap water and it said..the tap waters calcium is 360.. I figured if it read off the charts too then that means its time to get a new calcium tester.. but isn't 360 pretty high for just tap water???

We haven't used tap water for our saltwater mixture in over 6 months.
I use oceanic salt
I buy my water from Lowes
 
Last edited:
what salt are you using? im using reef crystals. mine were high too at 520-525ppm. both API and Elos calcium kits used. im just letting it go down on its own. it went down on its own in my biocube 14, and my 28g should go down on its own too, but taking a while
 
oceanic is the salt I use..it says contains calcium and natural trace elements. Maybe I should switch back to instant ocean at least with instant ocean I can control whats being put into my tank. The water I get from lowes has calcium in it too..sigh. I don't know if I can wait for it to lower itself on its own.
 
Oceanic is very unbalanced. That said, I don't think that level of calcium would kill hermit crabs. You might be seeing molts, or there might be some other issue.
 
I have also 500+ Ca (was even over 600) in my tank, but everything is ok. I wouldn't worry about that. But if you want to lower your Ca you should make some water changes with a salt, which is poor in Ca.
 
Cool, thanks guys.. I was worrying for nothing..we are thinking about switching to coralife. A LFS in new braunfels thinks its good stuff..what do you guys think?
 
Someone recently posted a thread here complaining about high borate in CoraLife salt, I think. I'd check the level against NSW.
 
Coralife has almost the same issues as Oceanic.

Calcium is extremely high. Only heavily stocked tanks that consume tons of calcium can use Coralife.

You may want to do some Reef Crystals for a little while. The Calcium is much more in line with NSW.

But, I agree with Jonathan that the high calcium probably did not cause your problem. About all high calcium will do is make a mess out of your pumps and accessories. High calcium seldom causes deaths in our tanks. :)
 
My husband was reading some information about magnesium. The websites he found said that low magnesium can cause high calcium. So we are going to get a salifert magnesium tester and see if thats the problem. And several people say that if everything else is in check, then don't worry and just wait for the calcium to go down.

demonsp, we change 6 gallons of salt water every week.
 
Well, low magnesium doesn't cause high calcium but it will make it more difficult to maintain calcium and alkalinity.

I do think its a good idea to check your magnesium level and try to keep it between 1250 and 1350 ppm.

Most commercial salt mixes are deficient in magnesium. :)
 
Beware! I have had problems the Salifert Mg test kits. The kit told me my Mg was 1100 ppm, so I raised it to 1350ppm. Later I took a sample into a lab for chemical ICP analysis and it came back at 1650ppm (Ouch).

I use Aquarium Pharmaceuticals for Ca analysis because it matched the ICP analysis exactly, and I noticed that the Mg levels coincided with the level of milky white cloudiness during the first chemical addition of the test. This is probably the precipitation of Mg. Therefore I now us this as my qualitative test whenever I make my calcium tests.

Another Note: The Salifert Strontium was even worse. I was at 27ppm by ICP, when the test kit barely registered 8 ppm.
 
I am not having any problems with my Salifert Magnesium kit. And although 1650 is higher than nsw, I have not seen any evidence that high magnesium is necessarily going to hurt a reef tank.

My API calcium kit matches my Saliferts to a tee.

The only thing I have noticed with all API test kits is when they start to get old, they drift. This, I believe is due to the type of reagent used.
 
I use coralife salt, good stuff, always been stable for me, have used reef crystals, IO, KENT, RED SEA, still like coralife
 
Coralife is a great salt for tanks that can handle the high calcium.

Some can't.

I always say everyone needs to find the mix that works for them. You have obviously found yours.

Good for you, :)
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11215148#post11215148 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mcneilwh
Beware! I have had problems the Salifert Mg test kits. The kit told me my Mg was 1100 ppm, so I raised it to 1350ppm. Later I took a sample into a lab for chemical ICP analysis and it came back at 1650ppm (Ouch).

I use Aquarium Pharmaceuticals for Ca analysis because it matched the ICP analysis exactly, and I noticed that the Mg levels coincided with the level of milky white cloudiness during the first chemical addition of the test. This is probably the precipitation of Mg. Therefore I now us this as my qualitative test whenever I make my calcium tests.

Another Note: The Salifert Strontium was even worse. I was at 27ppm by ICP, when the test kit barely registered 8 ppm.
Click to expand...

Thats why I make reference tests.
 
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