I seriously doubt the Ca IS that low...maybe another test kit is in order...
:)

Im using a Hagen test kit and for what ever reasion it has always been that low. I once pushed it up to 350 or so using turbo Ca but it just seemed to drop. Im not sure why because I do bi weekly water changes and having really nothing in the tank which would draw large amounts of Ca besides coraline algea


Im going to test my Ca and Alk tomorrow and see exactly where its sits.
If I find that my Ca is still in the 280 zone should I do a 15 to 20 gallon water change to try and bring it back up.

Josh

Josh what salt mix are you using?

I used to use IO but the calcium level is way too low 380 :roll:

Deb may not know it but she converted me to Kent. 460 :twisted: Now that's a proper calcium level!

I have been using Kent from the very start.
I guess thats not the problem
I add about 3 cups of salt to a 4 gallon bucket. (Revy Bucket)

Josh

:shock:

Any problems on changeover Jon ? Years ago, we tried IO because we couldn't get our brand in the neighborhood....we had serious issues. :shock:

Changeover to any other brand is supposed to be harsh unless you do it very slowly...did you have any problems in the beginning?

And then you aerate/mix it with a pump for at least 24 hrs, and heat it to tank temp before the water change, right? And make sure it is 1.025 or so?

yep.
add water to bucket (warm water) day before
drop in 3 cups of Kent salt
Mix it up with a stir stick (at least a couple times)
Add a heater and a air pump
Leave it over night.
check the salt levels and temp
add it to the tank

Not really any diffrence. I had so much going on at the time of change over that anything could have been a possibility.
Halide lights, calcium reactor are the examples.
I do have a little bit of hair algae that has started to pop up on the underside of the rocks latley :roll: Go figure away from the light!
This has only been in the past few weeks though and the salt change was a few month's ago.

Bizarre, I use IO and don't think I've ever had a Ca problem .... oh well, I guess everyone's experiences are always a little bit different!

Oh and .. I can't add much to the already significant amount of info in this thread, but I do want to mention that the conversion from alkalinity units meq/L to dKH is 2.8. So 4.0 meq/l is 4.0*2.8=11.2 dKH. I apologize if this info is already up there somewhere.

IO is one of the better salts.. I have tested it out and everything mixes out to proper perportions.. I thought it was maby the cause of my problem but it wasn't


Steve