Calcium will not increase.

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EL Diablo

Aquarium Advice Freak
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How do you increase CA when it won’t increase?

I have been adding a two-part calcium and alkalinity supplement (ESV B-ionic) 12 out of the last 14 days

I add 20 mg of each part as instructed.

My current CA levels are pretty much where I started 2 weeks ago.

Calc = 315 mg/L (ppm)
Alk = 2.5 meq/L

I test just about every other day and have never seen an increase of more than 10.

I can't get the Ca to rise.

Temp is always stable 78-79 (Chiller)
I do a 20 percent water change every other Saturday.
The water is always RO

SG = 1.024
Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate < 10
Phosphate = 0
PH = 8.3

I am concerned that my Corals are not in the correct environment.
Other than what I am doing does anyone have any advice ?

Thanks.
 
I don't think that level of calcium is going to hurt the corals, but I understand your desire to increase it. How are the corals looking?

I still don't understand the chemistry behind this, but I know magnesium levels affect how much calcium can be in the water. I"m still a little too new to SW to dish out the best advice on this one, but one of the guru's will surely swing by soon.
 
I posted a similar experience using kalk and was told it could be a magnesium level issue.

If all you have is softies, a high Ca level is probably not really needed. I think it is a bit low compared to natural sea water though. I can't remember exactly.
 
My plate coral isnt looking good at all. Not sure if it's the Ca level or not.
otherwise all my other Corals are doing great.

I want to start adding more Hard Corals so I need to get my Ca in the 400-450 range.

Anyone have an Idea what I need to do>?
 
It can take some time to get the level up. IN my reef I was following the directions and I was just staying even so I started adding double and that jacked it up to where it should be. Add a little more every day and test every day and see if adding extra helps jump it up.
Also everytime you do a water change you are removing the elements added. Is your NO3 high is that why you do a change every 2 weeks? If its not high skip a water change. What type of salt? Oceanic has a higher cal level right out of the bag so you may want to try a new salt.
 
seaham358 said:
It can take some time to get the level up. IN my reef I was following the directions and I was just staying even so I started adding double and that jacked it up to where it should be. Add a little more every day and test every day and see if adding extra helps jump it up.
Also everytime you do a water change you are removing the elements added. Is your NO3 high is that why you do a change every 2 weeks? If its not high skip a water change. What type of salt? Oceanic has a higher cal level right out of the bag so you may want to try a new salt.
Click to expand...

My Nitrates are always <10
I do a water change every 2 weeks becasue I am obsessed with the Tank and want to ensure my water quality is the best it can be.

I use Instant Ocean I think that is Oceanic.
I will try your suggestions of increasing the dosage.

Thanks
 
Instant Ocean and Oceanic are two different brands.

my first thought is to test the levels of your change water before you put it in the tank. This will tell you where your "starting from" since you do water changes that often.

I think you're probably going to find levels near where you are now. Looking at your sig (still valid?) you don't have a "lot" of Ca consuming life in there so you shouldn't be having a lot of depletion.


This is just how I view things... but if your plate isn't looking good, I would slow down on the water changes. IMO, water can be "too clean" to things that live in the water. I just did a water change for the first time in a think a month... maybe two. My water parameters are about the same as yours. A little higher Ca and Alk, but not much (because I don't have very many corals so I've never cared to raise them). Again, just my opinion.
 
You know also, I don't know of the specific brand you are using, but I used a two part and another calcuim supplement (at different times of course) and it did NOTHING to raise my calc level. I used sea chems calcuim and it got it to where it should be in one weeks time (I am using more and more of there products as I go along, they are just really realiable IMO). I just got into corals in April of this year, so I am not as expeirenced as the others, but that is what I have noticed.
 
My sig is current.

My plate is doing poorly. I think it's on the way out.

My other Corals are doing great and I know they dont need to have a Ca level of 400 plus. I would really like to start adding Hard Corals but not until I have this Ca problem licked.

I will skip a water change this week-end and go a month with out it assuning my levels remain stable. then I will see if I was able to increase the Ca.

Thanks for the link to the article,
 
Good luck, NO3 at 10 is not that bad, I like to keep them low also thats why I put a fuge on my tank. I have(knock on wood) 0 NO3 all the time on my 125 reef and I go 2 months between water changes. The main reason I do them is to replenish the nutrients.
So if your looking at keeping them relay low add a fuge if you got the room.
I can't help you with that coral, I had one and it crapped out after a few months???
 
usually my NO3 is around zero.

it has never gone past 10. I know for corals you want zero or as close to zero as you can get. My bio load is also not too heavy, that helps.

I am considering a fuge in the future. the concept behind one makes perfect sense to have it.
 
Excellent! more articles. thanks.

Ca is turning out to be one of the most tricky things I've come across in my SW adventures.

As I mentioned above my Plate Coral was doing poorly. I brought it to my LFS where they will try to save it. my guy there says he has brought back worse.
so hopefully it will recover.

I will go out and get a Mg test kit tomorrow and start to test for that and make any adjustments I need to.

thanks for all the help. I'll keep everyone posted on my progress with raising the Ca. Especially after the mg tests come out.

I am sure many new tanks go through this.
 
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