Please Help - High KH & Calcium

[ssunthar]

Hi Experts, My tank parameter been fine but having some issues with high KH & Calcium for a few weeks now. This week for some reasons my nitrate shot up to 20, so I decided to do wc.. while it helped to bring down my nitrate.. my KH & Calcium still in a high range still. Here are my tank details:
Tank: 200L AIO
Inhabitants: Mixed
Temperature: 26C
Lighting: NemoLight
Salt: Red Sea Coral Pro
Salinity: 1.026
Water source: RO
Test kit: API
Dosing: Manual as needed based on tests

Parameters before wc:
KH: 14 drops
PH - 7.8
Calcium: Off the chart as API stops at 26 drops/520ppm
Nitrate: 20
Nitrite: 0
Phosphate: 1.0
Ammonia: 0.5

Parameters of newly prepared/mixed water:
KH: 16 drops (not sure why)
PH - 8.4
Calcium: Didn't test (I should have done it)
Nitrate: 0
Nitrite: 0
Phosphate: 0
Ammonia: 0

Parameters after 25% wc:
KH: 15 drops (not sure why)
PH - 8.2
Calcium: 28 drops (still off the chart as API stops at 26 drops/520ppm)
Nitrate: 0
Nitrite: 0
Phosphate: 0
Ammonia: 0

Appreciate any help/suggestions/recommendations.. thanks in advance.

 

[arking_mark]

Red Sea Coral Pro salt is an elevated parameters salt. It mixes to 12dKH and has elevated Ca as well.

The high reading are probably due to the limitations/accuracy of your testing kits.

 

[ssunthar]

Red Sea Coral Pro salt is an elevated parameters salt. It mixes to 12dKH and has elevated Ca as well.

The high reading are probably due to the limitations/accuracy of your testing kits.

I am waiting for a new test kit.. hopefully it will be more accurate.
As for the salt, should I continue using it or should I change? Any suggestions a good brand/type for my mixed tank?
Thanks.

 

[arking_mark]

I am waiting for a new test kit.. hopefully it will be more accurate.
As for the salt, should I continue using it or should I change? Any suggestions a good brand/type for my mixed tank?
Thanks.

If your not dosing and don't have high Alk/Ca demand, you can get away with using high parameter salt water changes. I did this for years on a smaller tank.

Ultimately, you want a salt that supports your maintenance and dosing regiment and gets you to near your target parameters.

I'm personally looking for:
1.026 Salinity
77ish Temp
8.3ish pH
8ish Alk
440ish Ca
1400ish Mag
NO3 10ish
PO4 less than .1

No real hard #s.

Since I wanted to dose to dial in my numbers, I started with a low Alk Salt (Neomarine / TMP).

I won't bore you with my journey so far, but on my 4 month old tank, I think I'm starting to get everything dialed in. Probably need another couple months before I declare success with this one. I'm going ULM and automating everything.