Effects of high calcium?

H

hansonfam

New member
Hi There.

Would a coral go white with to much calcium? Just tested it and apparently it is a little high. Okay ALOT high. 560 to be exact. Problem is that my montipora confusa all the tips are white. And not white like they are growing but almost a frosted white look to them. Not the whole coral but just the tops of the whole thing.

I am thinking this could be the problem.

Only other water problem is the dkh which is 6.9

So needless to say everything is messed up. Although this is the only coral showing any bad colour from it.

Suggestions would be great.

Lisa
 
I would think that the Alk would stress the coral out more than the high Calcium. I have seen tanks in the 500 range before. That is deinitely not the recommended level, but alk seems to be the biggest killer in SPS.
 
I agree with Mark on the effects of alk issues, however with that low of an alk reading and that high of a calcium reading there is a serious imbalance in your water parameters. This imbalance could really affect your corals. I would try and raise your alk slowly over the next week or so and let your calcium drop some...easier to say than do :). Do you run a calcium reactor? do dose a two part recipe to keep alk and calcium in line? Give us a little more info.
 
Thanks for the response. I dose a 2 part. But started with a new salt and didn't relize how high the calcium was already in the newly mixed water. So i continued to add the calcium and alk that i normally had to without thinking to test the new salt....:(
Not sure what happened with the alk though.

My isiotic mistake and hopefully it will be okay. It is only that spcific coral. The others look okay.
I will continue to slowly bring the alk up and see if that helps.
 
i noticed in my tank when the calcium is up the alk gets pushed down and when alk is up calcium gets pushed down. they precipitate eachother out of solution when one is too high over the other. with such a low alk id be worried that your PH swings more then usual also adding to the stress of the corals. bring up ur alkalinity to 10-13 dKH or so, depends on what you think is best, and the calcium will fix itself and also it will help the pH be more stable.
 
Just a quick check with a calcium that high... You are talking 6.9 dKH, not 6.9 ALK meq/L right? If it's 6.9 dKH, yes as mentioned definitely work on getting that up slowly. If it's 6.9 ALK, that's more in-line with your extremely high calcium, and both need to come down quite a bit.
 
I ran Ca at about 550 for well over a year. No problems with any of my corals.

Make sure your alk is not out of whack though.
 
Okay thank-you everyone. I have started to bring up the alk carefully and slowly. Will do so over the next week. And i will let the calcium drop on its own. Should i do a water change to bring it down or just leave it for the time being?

And it is 6.9 dkh not alk/meq/l

So hopefully this will help it. It even seems to be looking a little better today after i dosed yesterday so only time will tell i suppose. Odd that it is just the montiporas that are reacting this way. The other acros seem okay. I had thought about maybe moving them out of this tank and into a friends for the next week untill i can get the alk up. Sound like a good idea or should i just leave them be??

Thanks again
Lisa
 
Have you double-checked the test kit? Ca test kits are notorious for varying according to age. Also, there are a lot of innaccurate test kits on the market. I made a big mistake once by putting all my faith in a test kit. By the time I was finished, I definately had an imbalance; that I created trying to rectify a faulty test!

Before you make any corrections to your parameters, please double-check your numbers with another kit. I once had 2 hagen Ca kits (returned twice). One read >800ppm, another >700. A salifert kit measured 400. Once I ordered my own salifert, the result was very close to 400ppm.

Which kit are you using?

-E.
 
6.9 dkh is close to nsw of 7 to 8 dkh - I don't see why that should be a problem. I run mine in the 7 to 9 range. While the Ca is high, I have not ever heard of that causing any problem, but the inability to maintain desired alk. If there is a problem, it might be related to the sudden change in levels with the water change rather than the levels themselves, or.....there is a different problem,
Mike
 
Running high calcium is asking for a "snow job" a rapid precipitation out as a white powder.
What are your magnesium levels like? You should always dose calcium with magnesium--it facilitates coral uptake--chances are by that high level nothing is being used by the coral.
Magnesium levels will affect the dkH
Check the water chemistry forum-Randy Holmes is probably the most informative guy there is on this--alot of links to his articles--particularily the article "Managing Calcium and Alkalinity Problems
I'll find the link for you
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9999012#post9999012 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by capn_hylinur
Running high calcium is asking for a "snow job" a rapid precipitation out as a white powder.
Click to expand...

Only if you keep your alk high as well.

You can keep you Ca at 500-550 with no problems at all if you keep you alk an NSW levels. So around 8 dKH if fine.

The only thing that might happen is you will have a little more growth out of your corals. You will also probably get less calcium buildup on your pumps due to the lower alk levels (which to me is a good thing).

If you want to raise your ph just add some buffer to the water every day until you get the desired level. If you want a lower Ca level, just do not dose any calcium while you are raising your alk and you should be fine.
 
Okay so here is what i have done.

I removed the coral to a trusted lfs to see if the frosted look on the tips go away. What i am a little concerned about is the bare flesh on the bottom of the coral. Although that could be new growth just not covered yet. I did look with a magnifine(sp) glass yesterday to make sure there were no funky critters on there and saw nothing. I am bringing up the dkh over the next few days and i am going to get myself some new kits. All of them are salifert but they are about a year old i guess so we will try with new ones to be sure.

The old salt was oceanic but the new one is oceanpure. And the calcium in that newly mixed is anywhere from about 350 to 400.

So that helps out in the additives department. I am hoping this coral makes it as it is very pretty just looking a little funny now:)



And thank-you capn_hylinur i will read that and see if it helps. Honestly i have never tested for magnesium. Read conflicting ideas but if i should be i will pick up a kit for that as we'll.

Thanks again everyone for you help you have no idea hoq much it is appreciated:)

Lisa
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9999122#post9999122 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JB NY
Only if you keep your alk high as well.

You can keep you Ca at 500-550 with no problems at all if you keep you alk an NSW levels. So around 8 dKH if fine.

The only thing that might happen is you will have a little more growth out of your corals. You will also probably get less calcium buildup on your pumps due to the lower alk levels (which to me is a good thing).

If you want to raise your ph just add some buffer to the water every day until you get the desired level. If you want a lower Ca level, just do not dose any calcium while you are raising your alk and you should be fine.
Click to expand...

thanks Joe--appreciate your input--we all learn here even if we are posting
I was always taught that magnesium levels were very important to keep at 1300?
Does the magnesium level contribute to the Dkh level?
 
From my understanding, Mag has nothing DIRECTLY do to with your Alk level, but if mag is too low, you have a hard time keeping your alk/Ca levels stable.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10005678#post10005678 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Horace
Mag has nothing DIRECTLY do to with your Alk level, but if mag is too low, you have a hard time keeping your alk/Ca levels stable.
Click to expand...

That's exactly it. If you are having a hard time getting you Ca or Alk levels to where they should be, check your magnesium it's probably too low.
 
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