610 calcium won’t go down

[Ladybug5234]

Let me start by saying I haven’t dosed calcium in over 2 weeks. At first I thought my Trident dosing was acting up, since I changed my tank, so I turned that feature off. I recalibrated it and still got same results. I tested using RedSea kit and got high results as well (600). I tested using API and again, similar results.

So I am wondering... the tank I switched to had lots of dried coraline algae, which I didn’t bother cleaning up since it was mostly on the back and the overflows. A few days ago I noticed it started falling off. Could it be this that is causing the spike in calcium? Anything I should do, or just let it lower by itself? Had a 20% water change planned this upcoming weekend.

 

[gotmesalty77]

Ive had this same issue actually im sure the thread is around here somewhere. Ive been told that the higher amounts of calcium shouldnt bother anything and a lot of reefers run higher calc in their tanks. Mine may have been caused by improperly using the hanna checker. Since then ive had normal range calcium.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

The dead coralline is not a significant source of soluble calcium.

Assuming the value is accurate, the two main choices are ignoring it and letting it fall on its own while supplementing alk only, or water changes with a lower calcium salt mix. In any case, test your new salt water to ensure it isn’t the salt.

 

[biom]

It is good to double check salinity, higher salinity could cause elevated levels of Calcium and Magnesium

 

[Ladybug5234]

Salinity is kept between 1.025 and 1.027. My salinity probe on the Apex hasn’t ever worked right so I don’t go off it. On average it reads in the low 40’s but as I said, it’s never been reliable, so I use a Milwaukee digital refractometer.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

I have always used two or three different methods to double check my salinity. The digital refractometer is my usual method of testing but I use a refractometer and a glass float just to double check it every few months. I have had so many issues with testing methods I get paranoid ones not working.