Live Rock
Reefer
Hi everyone, when I tested my water today, the rating for calcium was so high that it went off the charts. (upwards of 520). is this a bad thing?
Too much Calcium?
- Thread starter Live Rock
- Start date
Marines_Wife
Reef enthusiast
I dont think its really a bad thing but I may be way wrong, I know coraline loves excess calcium and people dose their tanks pretty high to get it to grow...
little_fish
Moderator
Actually you can have too much calcium.
How old is your test kit? And what reading do you get from newly made saltwater? And what brand of salt are you using
How old is your test kit? And what reading do you get from newly made saltwater? And what brand of salt are you using
Live Rock
Reefer
My test kit is several months old, I get readings of about 380-420 for newly mixed salt, and I use Instant ocean sea salt.
Marines_Wife
Reef enthusiast
How much calcium is to much?
fastrd400
It wasn't me!
520 is not extremely high. I keep mine normally between 480 and 500
little_fish
Moderator
yes, i was not very complete with my information on that post, 520 isnt that high. But i would double check your reading with another test kit if your salt mix is testing much lower.
And you can cause the calcium to precipitate out of your water if you get it too high.
And you can cause the calcium to precipitate out of your water if you get it too high.
Marines_Wife
Reef enthusiast
Here is a question, for the past 2 weeks my calcium has been at 440. Today when I tested it, it was at 540! (what a great coincidence this thread is) I did a water change on the tank, but I have NO idea how my levels got so high!! They have never been that high. Generally if anything, they are a bit low because of that damn calcium loving algae I have in there. Any ideas how this happened? My test kit isnt old, honestly its less than 6 months old. The only thing I have changed is I went from using Instant Ocean to Oceanic salt mix. But I havent done a WC in 3 weeks.
Marines_Wife
Reef enthusiast
But with no WC in 3 weeks, and consistent reading of 420, what would shoot my reading up, in one week to over 500? Ive been using Oceanic for close to 2 months now. It seems a radical change suddenly for no reason.
