Calcium

[dtracy1119]

I'm dosing baking soda 1dKH a day to keep my alkalinity at 9 dKH. My calcium is 370 ppm and dosing with seachem Calcium. Alkalinity is not a problem and easy to keep at my desired level but calcium I can't bring up. I was trying to bring up to at least 400 ppm with seachem calcium with 25 ml. 5ml of seachem calcium brings up calcium 3 ppm per 5ml. The calcium never went any higher than 375 ppm. I didn't want to put to much at one time. I tried slowly. Can't seem to get it to 400 ppm and today the water quality is alittle cloudy. Am I doing something wrong???

 

[Coralreefer1]

Possibly, your calcium is precipitating out of your water causing a cloudy coloration. What kinds of corals do you have? Do you have a lot of SPS or LPS dominant corals? You might want to try and bring your alkalinity down a bit which will allow you to better raise your calcium level. I would also stress the importance of dosing magnesium as well to help stabilize both alk. And calcium.
Try performing weekly water changes. Also try a two part calcium and alkalinity booster like Kalkwasser or suitable product.
Go slow and see if that works...
if everything is doing well in your tank, then messing with your water parameters might not be a good idea. Your focus should be to just maintain where you are now if everything is healthy. If it’s not broken...don’t fix it!

 

[dtracy1119]

Possibly, your calcium is precipitating out of your water causing a cloudy coloration. What kinds of corals do you have? Do you have a lot of SPS or LPS dominant corals? You might want to try and bring your alkalinity down a bit which will allow you to better raise your calcium level. I would also stress the importance of dosing magnesium as well to help stabilize both alk. And calcium.
Try performing weekly water changes. Also try a two part calcium and alkalinity booster like Kalkwasser or suitable product.
Go slow and see if that works...
if everything is doing well in your tank, then messing with your water parameters might not be a good idea. Your focus should be to just maintain where you are now if everything is healthy. If it’s not broken...don’t fix it!

It's a 50 50 LPS and SPS. I think I'm just gonna stick with whatever calcium I have right now. It's about 375 to 380 ppm. Alk is at 8.5. Everything is taking off better now as I'm dosing alk. I didn't see any growth. I'm guessing because my alk was 4. It's 8.5 now. I'm just not gonna play around with any calcium. Thanks for your help.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

If you have confidence in the kit, just add more. The 375 is borderline low and I’d raise it. 400-500 ppm is better for corals than 375 ppm.

 

[dtracy1119]

If you have confidence in the kit, just add more. The 375 is borderline low and I’d raise it. 400-500 ppm is better for corals than 375 ppm.

Calcium is 420. Right where 8 wanted it. Alkalinity is 8.8 almost 9. Magnesium is at 1290. Should I raise Mg?