Did a water test calcium at 550 Hope i dont burn anything up i know 450 is best.
:::
Time and water changes will bring it down. Anything look like it’s bothered by it? What type of calcium test kit are you using? Did you double check it? What are the mg and alk like?
yea double checked it and i have api so it more then likely higer then 550 and the rest of the test are fine NO3 is 0 kh is at 179ppm Phosphate is zero
It was my understanding that excess calcium will just form participate on your windows and such which doesn’t kill anything, but doesn’t look pretty either. Jon, Let me know if thats right or am I off?
Precipitate. While this could happen the water would have to be super saturated, and would have to have a lot more calcium in it. I think you will be fine, if you really are upset by it you could do 3 small water changes a week, to slowly bring it down.
ya yall get what I was saying, no english lesson needed 
I’m sick i get an excuse not to proofread lol
the obvious question to ask is why? did you dose Ca? did you do anything else that you feel could have rasied the Ca that high?
I agree with Jon. Check your Alk and Mg. If your Ca is that off i would be surprised if the Alk wasnt as well. If you didnt do anything that might have caused it i would probably have someone else test the Ca with their testkit before i did anything else. Nothing worse than chasing imaginary problems.
JJ
Everytime I test mine it always high ALOT higher then that and I’ve had no problem keeping it that high. Not saying for you to keep yours that high but hasn’t hurt anything in my tank.
Just curious Bill do you test Alk and Mg as well? Where do they sit?
Extra high Ca in the system will precipitate and form a while powder which will make the tank cloudy and eventually settle. I would recommend dusting it off of the corals if this happens.(taking a power head around to the corals may be an easy way to do so. Is there any of that going on currently?
Also curious what test kit you use? I have a brand new Red Sea test kit that reads my Ca as about 650 when it is actually 400.
All very good points and to be honest and i ashamed for some reason when i wont say who did a water change yesterday. They added caluim to the salt . Now i add or use REEF ADVANTAGE i like it because it also has magnesium and Strontium maybe once a week and i use as direct which is only two teaspoon mixed in freshwater add to the sump. These fool used two cap fulls that almost 3 table spoons way to much
But so far no effect on the tank that i see.
[quote=“Gordonious, post:9, topic:2706”]
Just curious Bill do you test Alk and Mg as well? Where do they sit?
Extra high Ca in the system will precipitate and form a while powder which will make the tank cloudy and eventually settle. I would recommend dusting it off of the corals if this happens.(taking a power head around to the corals may be an easy way to do so. Is there any of that going on currently? [/quote]
Jon when I tested my alk is was somewhere 11-13 can’t remember what the mag was but was a little high but nothing crazy. Been a month or so since I tested it last maybe try to do another test tonight or tomorrow. I also don’t dose calcium I have a reactor.
LYK
Wow a DKH of 11-13 and a calcium level that high? I would have someone else check it with another test kit. Typically alkalinity and calcium work hand in hand. If the calcium is high the alkalinity is usuaaly low. You get precip when you have a high level of calcium and low levels of magnessium. I suggest the 2 links for a better understanding of calcium, magnessium and alkalinity.
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-04/rhf/feature/
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-07/rhf/index.php#2
They are both wriiten by Randy Holmes-Farley who is a PHD chemist in the hobby. He is the founder of Randy’s 2 part solution. There are some great calculators in these links for figuring dosing of Mag, CA and Alkalinity. Hope this is helpful, Im sure some of you guys already know this.
I’ll try and test it again tonight, My test kits are 2 months old
I was just about to type the same thing Mike, alemab3, did and that’s why I asked. It is difficult and maybe impossible to maintain all the other parameters correctly with this. That being said Chemistry has NEVER been my strong suite at all.
ok , did some testing tonight and looking at my book last test was 11/5 verdict_in and was 13 at that time oh well. Anyway as of right now and I will double check the water this weekend.
calcium 560
alk 9 DKH
mag 1500
PH 8.4
SG 1026
temp 78 currant but swings 74-81 depending on time of year
nitrate 0
phos .5
Tank has been running 10 years and has been almost a year in it’s present configuration. Complete tear down and redid the rock config April of 09.
Not saying that these pars are optimal but they work for me only thing I can say is if the tank is happy LEAVE it alone. These work for me, SPS is growing great, all 15 clams are doing great and growing and xenia is growing out of control. Just because a book say a certain level is optimal doesn’t mean it works for everyone.
There ya go. a high Ca level is tolerable. but like Alemeb said, it will fight a high alk level so as one of them drops out as snow on the sand. its a balancing act. but still a high ca level is not that bad. high alk or PH can be worse. time and water changes will smooth it out to normal.
Seaachem’s reef advantage Calcium and builder were my favorite commercial products for many years. I had great stable results with them and great looking corals. but too many tanks needing more, got me to switch to the DIY recipes. almost as good. Seachem makes simple to use balanced dry or liquid suppliments. I used to buy the dry mix in bulk, but it got pretty expensive for a bunch of tanks. and hard to find with higher shipping rates. So, back to DIY.
something sounds fishy. a few tablespoons extra of the liquid mix wont drive up the Ca or alk readings that high. check the calculator for what you should get based on your starting Params and tank volumes.
http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chemcalc.html
and see if what you got, is what you shoulda got.