Calcium too high??

[bioteacher]

Think I'm getting to the bottom of this one. I brought water for testing to lfs. The hydrometer did it! My tank water was indeed at 1.030. Of course I was using the hydrometer that made it look like 1.025. #%^%#%^^##}}!!! :-(

I bought a refractometer for $70 cause I am not going to let that happen again. Now I am in the process of bring the salinity of my tank down where it should be. Pulled out 10 gallons and I am slowly dripping in 10 gal of rodi. Will probably need to repeat another 10g tomorrow.

 

[Schism]

And BINGO was his name-O!

Lol, yep hydrometer has put more than one person in your shoes before so dont feel too bad. Your on your way to happy reefing. You find the problem, figured out a solution by buying the refractometer and now your properly lowering the salinity! Good stuff, glad you got that figured out.

On a side note tho you will still want to keep an eye on calcium and switching salta may also be in your best interest if you tank is not consuming much weekly.

 

[bioteacher]

And BINGO was his name-O!

Lol, yep hydrometer has put more than one person in your shoes before so dont feel too bad. Your on your way to happy reefing. You find the problem, figured out a solution by buying the refractometer and now your properly lowering the salinity! Good stuff, glad you got that figured out.

On a side note tho you will still want to keep an eye on calcium and switching salta may also be in your best interest if you tank is not consuming much weekly.

Thanks, it does feel good to figure it out. I think you learn a bunch of stuff troubleshooting problems like these.

I still plan to check the calcium issue once I get the tank stabilized at the appropriate salinity. I will make decisions about salt mix at that time.

 

[Gregcoyote]

I used the same old hydrometer for years, then it drifted on me. I had no way to tell until other tests went haywire, like yours did. The refractometer is pretty bulletproof.

 

[danbstrong]

I used the same old hydrometer for years, then it drifted on me. I had no way to tell until other tests went haywire, like yours did. The refractometer is pretty bulletproof.

Lol now everyone has me worried bout hydrometers im settin up a 150g all sps ive used hydro for 5 years now on my 55 i think for 150 im gonna go refractometer dont want any mishaps cuz im also adding a 60g fragtank to it anyone know of good deal on refratometer??

 

[Schism]

Lol now everyone has me worried bout hydrometers im settin up a 150g all sps ive used hydro for 5 years now on my 55 i think for 150 im gonna go refractometer dont want any mishaps cuz im also adding a 60g fragtank to it anyone know of good deal on refratometer??

BRS or marinedepot have good refractometers for reasonable prices. Salinity can screw up so many things if its not right. Best to have a trustworthy instrument that you can bet on.

 

[bioteacher]

I agree. I spent so much time worrying about these other parameters. Have to think that salinity and temp come first in terms of what will kill your tank the fastest.

 

[Sniperhank]

I run a digital refractometer that came off of marine depot I believe...it was a birthday present for me. I had been having large issues just like all the above stated because of hydrometers...I ran 2 of them and could never get it right. My 36 never really recovered and is still limping along as a fowlr system now.

 

[bioteacher]

It is pretty amazing how quickly things have improved. Changed 20 total gallons of hypersaline for rodi. After letting that circulate for a couple hours my Zoas are 90% open, fish are way more active and out in the open. Still waiting for ricordia to open fully but it is partially open. Here are my parameters:

SG 1.026
pH 8.2 (my issue here was in fact a bad probe)
Cal 485
dKH 8.2
Mg 1250

The alkalinity took a little hit with the water change but I will continue to dose that up again in the coming days.

2 things to ask about now. First my green bubble coral (this is what people tell me it is but I am not 100% confident in that ID) took the hyper salinity badly. It slowly started giving off these white coiled threads. Eventually it started to deteriorate from the edge of its disk in toward it's mouth. Now it has a slice missing. It has looked better since I fixed the salinity. Bubbles are still full and it's color is better. I am just not sure if it is beyond rescue or if I should leave it in the tank to see if it recovers



Second issue is cloudiness. Not sure if the pic shows it well but it has been cloudy since correcting the salinity. It is not snowing. Just a little cloudy. I'm not sure if this is a salinity related effect. I also started dosing vinegar last week. I have heard that vinegar can cause some cloudiness

 

[Sniperhank]

This is a pretty easy answer imo...stop dosing! Just do your water changes and things will be fine. There isn't enough of a draw to need to dose anything, your numbers are fine. As for your bubble coral, I'm not sure. See how things go in the next couple days.

 

[Schism]

It is pretty amazing how quickly things have improved. Changed 20 total gallons of hypersaline for rodi. After letting that circulate for a couple hours my Zoas are 90% open, fish are way more active and out in the open. Still waiting for ricordia to open fully but it is partially open. Here are my parameters:

SG 1.026
pH 8.2 (my issue here was in fact a bad probe)
Cal 485
dKH 8.2
Mg 1250

The alkalinity took a little hit with the water change but I will continue to dose that up again in the coming days.

2 things to ask about now. First my green bubble coral (this is what people tell me it is but I am not 100% confident in that ID) took the hyper salinity badly. It slowly started giving off these white coiled threads. Eventually it started to deteriorate from the edge of its disk in toward it's mouth. Now it has a slice missing. It has looked better since I fixed the salinity. Bubbles are still full and it's color is better. I am just not sure if it is beyond rescue or if I should leave it in the tank to see if it recovers

Second issue is cloudiness. Not sure if the pic shows it well but it has been cloudy since correcting the salinity. It is not snowing. Just a little cloudy. I'm not sure if this is a salinity related effect. I also started dosing vinegar last week. I have heard that vinegar can cause some cloudiness

Wow those parameters are looking much better! Nice work!

I think i would give the bubble coral time and it may come around since its still showing signs of life and yea it does look like a bubble coral.

The cloudiness is likely a bacteria bloom. Vinegar will/can cause this. Its likely the salinity change to normal levels also helped in spiking this bloom. Run some carbon to help but other than that it would hurt to stop dosing for a few days as it is possible the bloom is caused by an overdose.

 

[bioteacher]

Well I started the vinegar because of a bad algae problem. I don't know if that outbreak could have been salinity related. I thought that would be more of a nitrate/phosphate issue. The algae has definitely improved since the vinegar.

Should I go the route of gfo and carbon? I was thinking of getting a dual media reactor from brs.

 

[bioteacher]

Wow those parameters are looking much better! Nice work!

I think i would give the bubble coral time and it may come around since its still showing signs of life and yea it does look like a bubble coral.

The cloudiness is likely a bacteria bloom. Vinegar will/can cause this. Its likely the salinity change to normal levels also helped in spiking this bloom. Run some carbon to help but other than that it would hurt to stop dosing for a few days as it is possible the bloom is caused by an overdose.

Do you mean "it wouldn't hurt"? You wrote "it would hurt" above.

 

[Madreefer420]

I wouldn worry about it but i would try and get it lowered for sure tho calcium wont raise your dkh it will lower it get your dkh to 12 8-12 is safe i preferr mine high

Ok I k ow this is late but say my dkh is 11 and my cal is 590 oh is 8.0 should I worry?

 

[Schism]

Do you mean "it wouldn't hurt"? You wrote "it would hurt" above.

Yes sorry, wouldn't.

 

[Gregcoyote]

What you don't want is fluctuations. Tank is fine at ph 8.0. You can get in a situation where you are chasing the tanks water parameters. Settle on your new salt mix and run a routine for a while. Now that your KH is up, Ph fluctuations should be minimal.

 

[danbstrong]

What you don't want is fluctuations. Tank is fine at ph 8.0. You can get in a situation where you are chasing the tanks water parameters. Settle on your new salt mix and run a routine for a while. Now that your KH is up, Ph fluctuations should be minimal.

Just get a lower calcium salt mix use thar until cal comes down dkh looks good i keep mine at 12 they say 8-12 ph is ok also mine been at 8 for 3 years no issues try and get everything stabalized fluctuation is what stresses coral