High Calcium ang Magnesium

Both my Ca and Mg are off the chart on my Salifert test kits.
I do not dose. I have a 75 gal. mixed reef and six fish.

Are these values reason for concern?
I do weekly water changes of 10gal. ro/di.

Thanks..

Mikro

 

I would start with testing the water both prior to mixing the salt and after mixing it prior to adding it to the system.

After that I would check the results against another test kit.

Also what salt mix are you using?

Off the chart meaning you are unable to get a value within the reading range?

 

With a sailfert test kit if you add more the the syringe and follow the chart as you add, you just continue what the chart says per drop, i know ive had my calcium off the chart once, and i just did that and it actually turned out that my kits were bad, ive had 3 sailferts go bad on me, and here they are not cheap 20-40$ per kit

 

I do know one other option you can use is

half the amount of tank water you use in the test tube

so for Calcium , use 1 mil of tank water, and then double the reading you get when you test - so if for example your test result using only 1 mil of tank water is 260 ppm calcium
then that equates to 520 ppm if there had been 2 mils of water in the test tube

same with DKH - only for that test you add 2 mils of tank water instead of 4 mils
and again double the test result for your actual level so if you get a DKH of 8 using only 2 mils of water, your actual level is 16

I would have your test kits checked/ verified at the LFS or by a friend in the hobby
I would test your new water prior to next water change, as it may be a batch with extremely high levels



Steve

 

I did as you suggested and came up with a reading of 680 on the Ca low range test. The DKh is 12.8 in both low and high range. The Mg remains higher than the chart goes. I guess there is no low range for Mg.
I did this with fresh water (salt added) before adding it to the tank.

 

how long did you let the salt mix for? and at what temp is the new water?

 

I did that and came up with 680 Ca and off the scale on the Mg.

I only have the API test kit (and Salifert) and it too came up high but the Ca test is very cumbersome mand I'm not sure of its accuracy.

I use Coralife. I used to use Instant Ocean. When I used that I had to dose for Mg,Ca,and DKh. Since switching to Coralife I no longer dose.

Yes

 

The temp was 79 and it mixed overnight.

 

I mix my salt atleast 24 hours. The overnight mixing doesn't give a good mix. I got two different SG readings so since then I've been mixing for 24 hours.

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