Relationship Cal & Alk
 

Ok, I dose with liquid calcium every morning and it maintaines my tank at about 350ppm in general. I tested my Alk and noticed it was low, so I put some stuff in to raise it. I tested my Cal later that day and it was over 500 ppm. I believe I understand that Alk keeps calcium desolved but did raising my Alk disolve leftover Cal in my tank?

Thanks

If anything, raising your Alk would drop your Ca levels, unless compensated for. What product did you use?

I am using Seachem Reef Builder

Jack is correct, raising the Alk should have lowered the Ca.

A reading of 500 seems quite unusually high. What test kit are you using to measure Ca?

Chad,
If you go to Ocean Aquatics website there is a link to an article on CA and Alk. it doesn't go into your problem, however it brings the CA/Alk equation together.

Cheers,

Al

I am using

RED SEA SALTWATER CALCIUM PRO MINI LAB

Hrm. Never heard of that test kit. I reccomend Salifert for Ca and Alk kits. They've got a great rep and are consitantly accurate.

Bring by some water next weekend if you're really worried.

I don't know what advice to give you. If you're test kits are wrong it's hard to fix the problem. :neutral:

I am stopping by J&L tonight.. I will try and pick up some new test kits.. I'll let you know the results with the new ones...

The biggest reason why I am concerned is because I bought a red blasto that has no expanded even once since the 2nd day I had it. My Alk was low so I did the buffer.. but then the cal shot up. Last thing I need is for my tank to go boom :confused:

Feel free to stop by my place if you want. I'm close to J&L.

what is so bad about having your Ca high aside from having low alk