Alkalinity Levels are high

No, no, no. He said it was off the charts. Over 300ppm. I divided 300 by 50 and multiplied by 2.8 to get his dKH of at least 16.8!!!!! No, I keep mine between 10 and 12.

 

Is dosing calcium every day safe? Won't it precipitate eventaully? Just so you all know, I've only recently starting caring for corals. But I have had marine fish for several years... There's so much more stuff to worry about when corals are in the tank...

 

Agree with Luna.
As a quick reference, for every 20 ppm you raise your Ca level, your Alk should drop by 1dKH. So if you're at 18 dKH alk, and raise your Ca by 100 ppm, that will drop your alk to 13 dKH = perfect. But if your magnesium isn't about 1450 ppm, the water won't support the extra Ca you add.

 

Ok, good to hear that, just mis-understood what you meant.8)

 

safe to say that your system is not ionically balanced.
Mag to Calcium should be 3:1... I can almost certainly safely say that, even without a mag test kit, your Magnesium is critically low. Start doing some major consecutive water changes to correct your problems, stop dosing any buffer agents for the time being, and find out what your Magnesium is STAT. Go to your local fish store, they should be able to test your water for you if you bring in a cup of your water. Regardless, even without a mag test kit, I would say that your Mag is most likely below 750 if you can't get your Calcium over 250 despite adding advantage calcium on a daily basis.

 

I dose daily but it is a 2 part alk/calcium that helps avoid precip. You loose out on getting a concentrated dose of calcium this way but it is a trade of for having an ionically balanced dosing, thereby avoiding (hopefully) precip.

 

you just answered your own question, Ca and dKH dont play well together, Mg is the buffer between Ca and dKH.

thats all you should be using, ro/di is the way to go

yes its safe to dose daily, and it will precipitate if the balance of ions between Ca and dKH are out of whack

water changes arent the only answer to everything, test your Mg, dKH will lower in time while the Ca and Mg are brought within range. other elements that play an affect are Sr,B. dKH test kits cant test for all forms of alkalinity, sometimes they give a false reading. every tank has a heartbeat, you have to learn yours.

be carefull with Sr, dont dose Sr directly, its like poison at high levels, nsw is about 8 Sr.

heres a guidline
Reef Aquarium Water Parameters by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

heres the major/main parameters of my tanks:
Ca 480-500
dKH 24-25
Mg 1550-1600
Sr 35-40

test, patience, add elements in small doses, test again, patience, you get the idea

 

Hmmm.. So, if I wait, the alkalinity will drop on its' own, then I can perform a decent water change with Ro/ water, and this should slowly start to get everything balanced out? Does the salt mix boost the alkalinity of the water due to added buffers? I have tested R/O water with my salt mix in the past, and got a high reading (>16.8dkh) from my test.... Perhaps it is my kit that is having problems too? Or is the salt mix supposed to make the alkalinity that high?

 

IO salt doesn't make my RO/DI water go up in alk as much as yours. Like I said, I'd start by adding epsom salt and testing your mag level (which is probably lower than you'd like).
Once your mag is up to over 1400 ppm, you should be able to start seeing your Ca rise as you dose more, instead of having it precipitate out of the water. And get yourself some good quality test kits.

 

you obviously missed my point, test your Mg!

dont add anything or do any water changes until you know what your dealing with.

your just spinning your wheels not knowing your Mg and wont get anywhere. long story short, just test your Mg and we will go from there.