How Could This Be? (Calcium)

[lotsofgallons]

this is regarding recent calcium and alk readings in my 200g soft reef tank..

i started the tank in december with established live rock and de-chlorinated tap water and instant ocean salt.

since then i have added more established live rock, and have successfully kept all of my corals alive since day one.

i have never dosed calcium in my tank, or kalkwasser in my top-offs, which are everyday with de-chlorinated tap water.

i just tested my cal/alk parameters and the calcium read 460 and alk was in ideal range. being fairly new to reef keeping im not too familiar with calcium and how it gets in the tank (without actually dosing it), or how it maintains itself in a closed system.

is 460 a normal reading for calcium based on all of the above info?
again, all of my corals are thriving, including 3 large heads of frogspawn, xenia multiplying by the day, various types and colonies of zoanthids, lots of different shrooms, orange ricordia, and a healthy colony of green star polyps

 

[Mahlhavoc]

Sand = calcium if it is aragonite sand, it will add to that and the fact you seem to only have one creature absorbing it. Not much consumption and a good inlet. Nothing wrong with a 460 reading if Alk. is proper IMO.

 

[DrBDC]

You probably have hard water there which will have ca and other items. Many of those other items are not good for your reef but that's for another thread. But softy tanks usually don't have much ca/alk needs.

 

[lotsofgallons]

ok, can you list those items that are not good for my reef?

but before you do, how do you know whats in the tap water here in central florida if youre in missouri?

 

[DrBDC]

Standard water treatment protocols. You're asking for trouble using tap water on a reef tank.

Here's a good article on it:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/jan2004/chem.htm

 

[lotsofgallons]

According to the Annual 2006 water quality report for my city...

chloramines 3.3 ppm
copper 0.069 ppm (90th percentile)

chromium 1 ppb
lead 4.0 ppb (90th percentile)

how are these numbers?

 

[DrBDC]

I would be definitely worried about the nitrates and phosphates in tap water w/o question.

6.9 ppb copper isn't necessarily good either. At 10 ppb there are def. problems that can develop.

Lead level is unacceptable as well.

Remember too that as you top off your tank, these levels are rising constantly as you add more and more of them.

 

[Tampa Aquarium Service]

According to the Annual 2006 water quality report for my city...

chloramines 3.3 ppm
copper 0.069 ppm (90th percentile)

chromium 1 ppb
lead 4.0 ppb (90th percentile)

how are these numbers?


All are bad, bad, bad. Florida has loads of dissolved minerals in it. The calcium you are testing is not reported in the water test you have. What will become your biggest problem is the de-chlorinator you add to de-tox the water. After some time it will build up other unwanted nastys in your system. Are you also using tap water for your saltwater base? + more de-chlorinator? Best bet is Reverse-Osmosis water for everything. Or if you can't get it use distilled water from the supermarket. There are loads of R/O systems for sale at reasonable prices all over the net and at some good reef stores.