Calcium rising without supplementing it

[Acalin]

Hello all,

I am not sire what happens, but my calcium measurements seem to be hihher and higher, even though I am not supplementing it in my tank.
The only things I add are Neophos and Neonitro as well as Microbacter Clean.
Here is a screenshot of my calcium readings (testing twice daily at noon and at midnight).
Alkalinity ia pretty stable, around 9.1 - 9.2 dkh.
Magnesium is around 1360 now (a bit lower as the calcium ppm increased).
I am also attaching a screenshot of Mg readings and the 3 graphs foe Alk, Ca, Mg feom Apex to see the trends.

Any idea why that Ca is increasing?
I have 5 tiny sps frags, and 2 small lps frags in the tank.

 

[jrmailo]

I don’t know if my experience is relatable to yours but I have seen similar trends in my tank where my Ca has gone up without dosing. But this is due an error in my testing method. I use Hanna Ca checker and what happened was that rinsing the test tube with water alone won’t remove all of the Ca/reagents from the test tube which resulted in higher and higher reading with each subsequent test after.
After I start cleaning my test tube with vinegar + scrubbing, my Ca readings has gone back to normal tread (slowing drifting downward without dosing)

 

[Acalin]

I don’t know if my experience is relatable to yours but I have seen similar trends in my tank where my Ca has gone up without dosing. But this is due an error in my testing method. I use Hanna Ca checker and what happened was that rinsing the test tube with water alone won’t remove all of the Ca/reagents from the test tube which resulted in higher and higher reading with each subsequent test after.
After I start cleaning my test tube with vinegar + scrubbing, my Ca readings has gone back to normal tread (slowing drifting downward without dosing)

Hi Jrmailo,
Thank you foe the hint, but I am using the Neptune Trident system for testing so I think the issue is different.

 

[jrmailo]

Hi Jrmailo,
Thank you foe the hint, but I am using the Neptune Trident system for testing so I think the issue is different.

I see. I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help. Neptune trident also use colorimeter reading method (same as hanna's) so I thought that they might be prone to the same error.

Have you tried testing with other methods to confirm that your Neptune system is not giving false positive results and that your Ca is indeed rising?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

If the salinity is not rising, and you are not dosing calcium, I expect the answer is test error. Calcium does not rise on its own like that.

 

[attica38]

Hello all,

I am not sire what happens, but my calcium measurements seem to be hihher and higher, even though I am not supplementing it in my tank.
The only things I add are Neophos and Neonitro as well as Microbacter Clean.
Here is a screenshot of my calcium readings (testing twice daily at noon and at midnight).
Alkalinity ia pretty stable, around 9.1 - 9.2 dkh.
Magnesium is around 1360 now (a bit lower as the calcium ppm increased).
I am also attaching a screenshot of Mg readings and the 3 graphs foe Alk, Ca, Mg feom Apex to see the trends.

Any idea why that Ca is increasing?
I have 5 tiny sps frags, and 2 small lps frags in the tank.

Mine just started doing this also within the last couple weeks and I am at a loss of what is going on. basically stopped dosing CA and even calibrated my APEX to make sure but it won't go down and stays at around 485. MG around 1400 and ALK is at 9.15

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Mine just started doing this also within the last couple weeks and I am at a loss of what is going on. basically stopped dosing CA and even calibrated my APEX to make sure but it won't go down and stays at around 485. MG around 1400 and ALK is at 9.15

Staying stable is not unusual when calcification is low.