High Calcium!!! low Alk

[Rshahnyc]

Hey so I’ve been running a new trident which was shooting out numbers like

Alk 6.5
Ca 500
Mg 1180

I figured I just needed to calibrate. After calibration

Alk 6
Ca 550
Mg 1150

!!!!!!

I confirmed with Salifert and Hanna testers

Alk 6.6
Ca 490-520 (had to refill the syringe)
Mg 1180ish

Just dose Alkalinity?

 

[Rshahnyc]

And dose Alk via

one of the parts of the 2 part system OR kalkwasser?

 

[Salty_Northerner]

And dose Alk via

one of the parts of the 2 part system OR kalkwasser?

Kalk on a doser to bring the ALK up after adding something like ESV Alkalinity to be at least 8-9dkh and dose not fully saturated kalk to start so it isn't adding more calcium for now. Once the calcium comes down then you can add more kalk powder to ballance the cal and ALK, also BRING the magnesium up to 1350-1400 as it will do a lot of good balancing everything out

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

How old is the tank? Is it packed with corals? What is the daily consumption? What salt do you use?

 

[Rshahnyc]

Hey the tank is only 6 months old. And yeah I guess I've packed it pretty full recently. I don't know daily consumption I'm just getting into the daily testing with my trident.

I use coral pro salt from now on.

 

[Rshahnyc]

So I’ve been dose part 1 of the the Seachem 2 part. My alkalinity has come up from like 6.8 to 8.2.

The calcium went from 520 to 490 and now is back to 500.

My mg went from 1150 —> 1180 and now is stuck at 1190s


Any thoughts on why my calcium isn’t dropping? And it seems my Mg is stuck?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Magnesium depletion is super slow. Real magnesium depletion is not more than 1/10th of the calcium depletion.

I’d just keep monitoring calcium and alk and hold off on the mag testing for now.

Since you don’t indicate the alk consumption per day, I cannot really assess whether calcium should be noticeably changing. It moves much more slowly than alk.

 

[Rshahnyc]

So just leave it as is and dose magnesium alone? Alkalinity alone? Stop dosing for a little while and just do a couple water changes?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

So just leave it as is and dose magnesium alone? Alkalinity alone? Stop dosing for a little while and just do a couple water changes?

Stop magnesium testing entirely if calcium is not depleting noticeably.

In your situation I’d just dose alk and check calcium once in a while. If it drops to 450 ppm or less, begin dosing it in proportion to the alk.

 

[Rshahnyc]

Thank you, I don't have much of an explanation for a persistently elevated Calcium.

Most recent #s

Alk 8.8
Mg 1180
Cal 510

 

[Rshahnyc]

Thank you, I don't have much of an explanation for a persistently elevated Calcium.

Most recent #s

Alk 8.8
Mg 1180
Cal 510

Sooo

I got my levels stabilized for the past week at

Alk 9.8
Ca 460
Mg 1240

Today we raised my specific gravity to 1.026 from 1.023 so I expected a little bump but on top of that we used aptasia X today AND my salt is a “high alk” fritz salt…..

Now I’m at

Alk 11
Ca 510
Mg 1365


Anything to do or just watch @Randy Holmes-Farley

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

The current values are fine and I would not dose alk or calcium until the alk drops.

 

[Rshahnyc]

Alk coming down pretty quick but calcium hanging around 500.

Alk now at 10.2