Swings in Cal

That is a large drop in Ca. What test kit are you using? Does it have the ability to measure in 10 ppm increments?

I would re-test that daily to make sure you are actually losing 50 ppm everyday. If your Ca can only read in increments of 50 ppm, you are probably not actually dropping 50 ppm.

To answer your question though, in my experience, this 50 drop will not harm the sps, but if this is a daily swing of 50, then it is certainly not healthy for them.
 
unless your tank is packed with thriving mature colonies something sounds awry here. Either testing error, or perhaps precipitation of sorts. do you have quick excessive build up on equipment?

if you were actually using that much though, you could remedy the issue by iether using a mechanical doser or splitting your doses up.

I would be much more concerned with the alkalinity swing than the calcium swing if you are consuming that much

what are your daily alk numbers?
 
Alk barely moves during the day. It probably just moves a point on the salifert test.

I do have a lot of things that suck up calcium like mad such as clams and a ton of SPS frags.

I am just worried about the long term health of my SPS since theyf inally recovered from browning and are thrivng except a few. My purple haze started to stn a bit.

Currently, I am dosing Calcium and kalk. I think in a day, I use up probably 10 fluid ounces of Calcium .

I just did my test:

Alk 11.2 dkh on salifert
Calcium has been tested multiple times today because I was trying to adjust the dosers to compensate for the drop and stability:

Yesterday CA was at 470-480. This morning at 11:30 am was around 450. Adjusted dosing. 480 at 5:00 pm. at 9pm, it was at 470
 
if you are actually consuming that much calcium, and not precipitating it, then your clams and sps frags should be using a similar amount of alkalinity, and as such, you should be going through roughly 20 ppm of calcium for every 1 dkh of alk. My tanks use more of calcium than alk, but its not much more, like 10-15%

sounds like if it isnt a testing issue, then your water is possibly just out of whack. I know whenever things get awry, and the dosing isnt adding up, several large water changes may be in order to get everything balanced again

as far as if it will hurt anything. hard to say. IME calcium swings arent any big deal as long as they arent so high that everything gets covered, and arent so low that there isnt any available. Just the same, it isnt good for them nor is it good to not have a real answer for the massive difference in consumption calcium, vs alk
 
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Psionicdragon said:
Calcium has been tested multiple times today because I was trying to adjust the dosers to compensate for the drop and stability:
Yesterday CA was at 470-480. This morning at 11:30 am was around 450. Adjusted dosing. 480 at 5:00 pm. at 9pm, it was at 470
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To me it sounds like you may be chasing a number. I usually test, dose, then wait till the next day to test. You have to give things time to distribute throughout the aquarium.
You said you have "œa ton of SPS frags." I don't see frags, doing this. It would take tons of huge colonies.
 
Actually noticed my purple haze and peach millie dying.

I increased the drip rate and it raised my calcium to 510....man i think i should just set up my calcium reactor. The flux is taking a toll on my sps. their polyps aren't as fully open as before.
 
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Man, youre using some really high calcium numbers. I wouldnt let calcium climb higher then 450. I target 420-430 ppm calcium. Alk and calcium are used up proportionatly to each other. If your cal drops 50 PPM a day you should see alk drop by 2 dkh. Thats a big swing! I have quite a few mini colonies and numerous sps frags. My calcium/alk consumption is 120ml of solution a day. I think thats about 5-10 ppm on the salifert test. You might consider getting a new calcium test kit to compare to your current test kit. I dont think your described tank load is any larger then mine. Although 14 clams?? That is a lot of clam.
 
Maybe your calcium is precipitating out of the water because there is to much in the system. Try lowering it and see if it stableizes.
 
That is a clot of clam, and clams alone could easily that much calcium. But not without using a similarly proportionate amount of alkalinity too

that is simply how it works, and from the info provided something isnt adding up

Pull 4 or 5 20% water changes in the next week or two, and get some new test kits. start fresh and then take a look at things again. I agree with get your calcium down to balanced with your alk. Balanced calcium at an alkalinity of 11 is 443. Both of those numbers are too high for my liking, but many people do run them there with success
 
LifeAquatic said:
Maybe your calcium is precipitating out of the water because there is to much in the system. Try lowering it and see if it stableizes.
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flyyyguy said:
That is a clot of clam, and clams alone could easily that much calcium. But not without using a similarly proportionate amount of alkalinity too

that is simply how it works, and from the info provided something isnt adding up

Pull 4 or 5 20% water changes in the next week or two, and get some new test kits. start fresh and then take a look at things again. I agree with get your calcium down to balanced with your alk. Balanced calcium at an alkalinity of 11 is 443. Both of those numbers are too high for my liking, but many people do run them there with success
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agreed.. I believe your tank is super saturated, and wont balance either.. a cal level between 380-420 is what I shot for, then again I keep my DKH at 7.
 
ryanrid said:
what's your mag levels at?
Click to expand...

Good question: Let me test that.

Thanks all for your import. What do you guys mean by it precipitating out of the water?

How do you guys estimate the amount of consumption per day to counter balance the drop to maintain it at a stable level? I am using a kent aquadoser...i just od on the ca..its at 600ppm now T_T.

Weird part is: 3 frags are dying, but the rest are growing a lot. (SPS)
 
Ok latest test results:

Calcium 600ppm (doser went nuts and i guess i didn't set it right)
Magnesium 2025ppm (dosed magnesium a week ago...didn't know it was that much)
Alk 11.6ppm
 
stop dosing and do a massive WC those levels are crazy high, also get the test kit verified, i know low mag levels drop cal levels but not sure if high levels will raise it?
 
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