Calcium OD

[Reab]

I have started to set up my dosing pumps and of course, I leave for the day and I come back and my gal jug of BRS calc is 2/3 empty and has been running ALL DAY. I tried to do a test with the red sea kit and It took about 4ml to change color. Is this an issue that can harm my corals or can I just wait for it to drop on its own? I'm freaking out and making water as we speak to do a water change but I also don't want to do a water change and shock the coral even more by going from 1000ppm to 450 ish...WHAT DO I DO?

Thanks for the help!

 

[USMC 4 LIFE]

How big of a tank and what king of corals and inverts do you have in it?

I would perform a large enough water change to lower that CA immediately. Perhaps 75% so it lowers to 500ppm or below. What kind of salt are you using?

 

[Reab]

It is a 25g mix reef. You name it I have it. The system has been stabe for 2 years and just venturing into sps. Hence the dosers. Salt is RC. I just don't want to do anything too fast and mess things up further

 

[USMC 4 LIFE]

I would do as close to a 100% water change as possible.

Prolonging it isn’t going to help. Especially when your levels are as elevated as they are. Plus it’s CA so I don’t think you’ll shock corals enough to kill them compared to if it was an ALK swing going from 16ppm to 8ppm.

Try to maintain all other parameters as close as possible to what you currently have (ie. salinity, ALK, PH)

 

[Reab]

Will do, hard part is going to be the alk, my fresh salt sits at 9dkh and the tank is currently at 7

 

[LouisianaReef]

I would do a water change to rid the CA levels closer to what they should be and than allow them to drop naturally. Maintaining the other levels, mainly ALK, as has been mentioned, is much more important to keep from shocking your corals. I would might start with something like a 50% WC and see what the levels look like after that and deicide what to do from there.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Corals won’t likely be shocked by a calcium drop to 450 ppm (IMO) because at any of those values it is not limiting to coral calcification.

 

[Billdogg]

I have done the same thing to my 120g SPS dominant tank. For me it was 2 gallons of the same (BRS 2-part) in a day or so. It took 2 full 1ml syringes of Salifert reagent to get even a start of a color change. The corals were not happy, but I didn't lose any either. I just didn't dose the Ca for about 6 weeks. All is fine now.

I've done the same with Alk. It looked like I had dumped a couple gallons of milk in the tank and anything with moving parts required complete disassembly and thorough cleaning. I did a large water change and then let it come down on it own.


I have also learned to double check that my timers are set to "AUTO" rather than "ON" every time I touch them.

 

[Reab]

Ok ive done some water changes and the alk is back at 9 but the calcium is still really high, 2.5 mls now I think i might do one more 5g water change and then let it finish equalizing on its own