how much calcium in a day?

wells284

New member
how fast can I raise my calcium in my tank?
I bought a 120 gallon tank used and I have had it setup for a week and a half. I used all the water from the previous tank owner also. I finally got my order in of cal, alk, and magnesium from BRS so i decided to test my water. I tested my levels and my calcium was at 110, and I want to get it to around 400. I tested twice and that is what I got. My alk was at 11.2.

The tank came with a bunch of zoas and a couple nice big pieces of LPS so I do not want them to die if I raise it too much.

according to the BRS calculator I need 120.4 fluid oz to get the levels up. should I split that in thirds and dose it for the next three days, or spread it out throughout the day today?

thanks in advance
 
I don't believe you have an accurate test result, so do not raise it yet. Calcium never gets that low.

What kit and are you sure you used it correctly?
 
i agree i have never heard of calcium that low i think you probably have a bad kit take some water to a good lfs and have them test it. also have them test the alk and mag too make sure those test kits are ok. also it is always best to raise levels slowly. nothing good ever happens fast in reef keeping. i have learned this the hard way cause i am not a very patient person and this hobby has deffinently helped me with that greatly.

but deffinently get another test kit or have someone else check it cause i am pretty sure those numbers can not be right.
 
I have no idea. I used all the water that was in the tank when I bought it. The person I bought it from had never done a water change in 2 years he said. The test kit that I am using is Salifert. I will go buy a magnesium test kit so I can check that. I am planning on buying some IO salt from now on to do water changes and such. right now i am sitting at 1.026 with a hydrometer. I am saving up for a refractometer, but the hydrometer came with the tank.
 
I would do a series of large (say 15%) water changes, since the previous owner didn't do any. I agree that a second opinion is in order before doing anything. Once you mix up some IO salt, you can use that as a sanity test on your calcium kit.
 
The test kit that I am using is Salifert.

Are you sure you are using it correctly? Many folks read some of the Salifert kits backwards and get an incorrect answer.

How much titrant did you need to get to the endpoint?
In other words, was the syringe mostly still full or mostly empty when you got to the color change?
 
the syringe was almost empty. I could have read it wrong. I think I had somewhere around .2 ml left or something like that. it was the second solid line from the bottom.I am going off of memory here and I can double check that later. I then took 1-.2 to get .8 and i believe that was somewhere around 100-110.

Your probably not supposed to take 1 - your number are you? so my calcium level should be whatever .2 correlates with?
 
Ok that is good to know. Since we are on the subject to testing calcium using the salifert kit. When you are pulling up the regent with the 1ml syringe with the tip on the end of it. I pull the regent up to where the plunger is at 1 ml. then there is about .1 ml of air in it. so the liquid is actually at .9 or somewhere around there. This is ok right because there is probably at least .1 if not more than that in the tip at the end of the syringe to make up for it?
 
Yes, the visible air in the plunger is exactly offset by the liquid in the tip. The owner of Salifert has said here many times that we should use it exactly as you are with respect to the air. :)
 
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