Calcium around 750

[jonleeroyix]

I used the Red Sea test kits, I thought I was maybe doing it wrong, but I tested 5 times and got water from different sides and depths of the tank, still got 750s
Isn’t this a dangerous level? What can I do to bring it down and are my corals in any danger?
Dkh was about 8 or 8.1

 

[blaxsun]

The Red Sea Calcium Pro test only goes up to 500 (if you use all 1.0ml of reagent). How much reagent was left in the 1.0ml syringe after it changed color?

 

[CoralB]

If your calcium really is that high I would do a 30 % water change then check it about a half hour which should give it enough time to mix . If it’s still too high do another 10 - 20 % water change this should bring it down to safe limits . Keep in mind that with high calcium it usually drops your alkalinity . Also make sure your testing correctly

 

[blaxsun]

Before doing any water changes we need some clarification on the test itself as the Red Sea Calcium Pro test kit only goes up to 500ppm, so something is amiss here.

 

[jonleeroyix]

Before doing any water changes we need some clarification on the test itself as the Red Sea Calcium Pro test kit only goes up to 500ppm, so something is amiss here.

Well the whole 1ml didn’t change the color, so I continued to add from another ml, on the card it says .1ml =5 ppm so I just did the math since I used about 1.5 ml before seeing the color change, that equals 750 (150x5) one thing that concerned me was whether or not I was measuring the titration correctly, when I pulled up the agent I set the bottom of the plunger to 1ml rather than the liquid, Is that the way to do it?

 

[blaxsun]

What is the size of your tank, salinity and other water parameters? Are you dosing and if so, what and how much of each daily? How long has the tank been running and is this the first time you've run various tests?

If your other parameters are normal and you're not dosing, it's highly unlikely your calcium is that high - but there's not enough information to make any kind of determination if you actually have an issue or if there's something wrong with the test kit or how you may be performing the test.

You could also take a water sample into your LFS for verification or run a different calcium test from another manufacturer. You could also perform a water change (as was suggested) and re-test several hours later.

 

[Dennis Cartier]

Well the whole 1ml didn’t change the color, so I continued to add from another ml, on the card it says .1ml =5 ppm so I just did the math since I used about 1.5 ml before seeing the color change, that equals 750 (150x5) one thing that concerned me was whether or not I was measuring the titration correctly, when I pulled up the agent I set the bottom of the plunger to 1ml rather than the liquid, Is that the way to do it?

Yes, you set the bottom of the plunger to 1 ml, not the liquid level. The void with the air is caused by the deadspace in the syringe tip. When the plunger is fully pushed in, the air from the void will move back into the tip, pushing the remaining liquid out. So as far as loading the syringe, you are doing that correct.

 

[Gtinnel]

I couldn’t agree more with @blaxsun that before you start trying to correct the problem you need to somehow confirm your test. It’s seems incredibly unlikely that you calcium is 750 unless you accidentally over dosed.

It sounds like you are reading the syringe correctly. It may be stupid to even ask but you were careful to follow all of the steps correctly including using the proper sample size?

Do your corals look stressed?

 

[Gtinnel]

If this is a 125g tank and your calcium started at around 400 it would take accidentally adding an extra 1.3 gallons of the calcium additive that I use to raise it to that level.

Just to put into perspective how much you would have to overdose to get your calcium 750, and why we suspect it’s a testing error.

 

[jonleeroyix]

Okay awesome! I thought that would be the case but after testing so many times maybe I’ll get another brand as well and compare, I thought there’s no way in heck it’s 750 and with the dkh at 8 still