Hanna - low alk? Salifert - high calcium?

[harlequinfanaticyert]

Hello! Bear with me. I am new to saltwater aquariums and testing, any help is appreciated.

I’m testing for Alkalinity using the Hanna tester. I followed the directions and got 6.4 and 6.0. These were back to back tests. I then used a Salifert calcium test and got 400ppm. I trust this one more.

My LFS said my nitrogen cycle is complete, which I believe. These are the only two tests I can do on my own. Are these readings possible? It’s a new tank with live rock,

 

[bossman818]

How old is the tank?

 

[Glowurm]

400 isnt high.... its lower than natural sea water!

 

[gbroadbridge]

Hello! Bear with me. I am new to saltwater aquariums and testing, any help is appreciated.

I’m testing for Alkalinity using the Hanna tester. I followed the directions and got 6.4 and 6.0. These were back to back tests. I then used a Salifert calcium test and got 400ppm. I trust this one more.

My LFS said my nitrogen cycle is complete, which I believe. These are the only two tests I can do on my own. Are these readings possible? It’s a new tank with live rock,

Best thing to do is get your lfs to do a set of tests for you and tell you the results so you can compare.

Most important thing to remember is that all the numbers track with Salinity, so if that is incorrect, everything else will be too.

If your salinity is low, that would explain the Alkalinity and Calcium numbers being low.

 

[twentyleagues]

1st we need to know SG.
What salt are you using?
What is the nitrate at?
There is not much use in a new tank for alk so either sg is off, alk content of your chosen salt mix is low, You have some kind of precipitation, or you have a very high nitrate after the cycle. Or you simply did the test incorrectly. Is there any hardening of the sand bed? Or white crusty deposits on the heater or pumps?

 

[harlequinfanaticyert]

How old is the tank?

It’s only a month old

 

[harlequinfanaticyert]

400 isnt high.... its lower than natural sea water!

lol I just assumed 400 was high!

 

[harlequinfanaticyert]

1st we need to know SG.
What salt are you using?
What is the nitrate at?
There is not much use in a new tank for alk so either sg is off, alk content of your chosen salt mix is low, You have some kind of precipitation, or you have a very high nitrate after the cycle. Or you simply did the test incorrectly. Is there any hardening of the sand bed? Or white crusty deposits on the heater or pumps?

SG was 1.026
Salt is LFS salt water
Nitrate was tested at 0

I have an ATO and used live rock to cycle. LFS said no nitrite or nitrate. No hardening or deposits

 

[twentyleagues]

Have you tested the lfs salt water numbers? double check them including sg.
The reason I asked about nitrate is alk is used in the nitrification process if nitrates were crazy high that may have been where alk went. I am assuming you have no corals or coralline growth yet, but I dont know for sure. If there are no deposits and you are sure on testing procedures then it wasnt there in the first place= source water.