Calcium?help
 

Ok my calcium is a bit to high for my liking what can I do to lower it from around 485 ppm down to 420?

What were your other parameters again? Specifically alkilinity?

:redface: i don't have an alkalinity test.
My other water parlaments are...
Ammonia=0.25ppm
SG=1.022
pH=8.4
No2=10ppm
No3=0ppm

Go get an Alk test kit...there's no meaningful measure of Ca without it.

is NO2 nitrogen dioxide, I think aircare tested my car for that

Salinity?

RO water?

salinity=1.022(SG)
RO water=no I use DI water.

What brand of test kit are you using? Sometimes Hagen test kits can give you high readings.

Are you running a FOWLR tank? If not, may I suggest raising your SG to 1.025 or 1.026?

Also how long has your tank been running. From those parameters it looks to me like its still cycling.


I'd just do a couple of water changes to get the ca lower. IMO.

:rofl:

NO2 is nitrogen dioxide
NO2- is nitrite

I had to look that up, forgot about the polarity. :razz:

The test kit I'm using is Salifert but that is only for calcium. For No2, No3, pH and ammonia is aquarium pharmaceuticals.

How can I bump up my salinity without just dumping salt should I just make some DI water and make it's salinity at 1.025-1.026 or add salt because I am willing to add water to top of my sump level.

What I've done in the past is just make up some DI water with salt so that its super concentrated. Then slowly add that to the tank until you hit your target.

However, since you're raising it quite a bit (by fishies standards) raise it very slowly. I'd say by 0.001 a day. So take a few days to get it to where you want it. That way they have a chance to acclimate. :biggrin:

If you do a small water change now with 1.025 sg water it will help out your ammonia etc and your sg without hitting your tank too hard. Just dont do any more than 10% or so. Do your daily sump top ups with 1.025 sg water rather than di water until you get to where you want to be. You need to test your Alk. Dont worry too much about the cal its really not that bad and will come down on its own anyways.

You do need to raise your salinity but that will also raise your calcium, since there is calcium in the salt mix. What are you using to maintain your calcium levels?

I don't think it is a big deal having your Ca 485 ppm as long as your alkalinity is O.K. Just don't add any additional Ca until it returns to <450 ppm. The concern with high Ca is it will precipitate on your heater, impellers etc or precipitate lowering your alkalinity. I have had mine drift up to 512 ppm with no ill effects and some try to maintain Ca at 500 ppm to promote coral growth (no proof high Ca actually stimulates coral growth)