calcium too high

hey guys i recently started to drip kalk in my water it eas fine at first but then my calcium rose to 600 i said wow and stoped the kalk 4 days past by and my calcium went down to 560 and back up to 600 cant understand why my ph ranges from 8.2 day - 7.8 night also i noticed that my akh is at 5 pretty low what should i do oh yeh my reef is about 3 years old and corals look happy please help

 

Raise the alk and the calcium will go down. Kent Marine Superbuffer dKh is pretty good at that. Or do a water change.

It is natural for your pH to drop at night.

 

How high is too high for ALK? I have a red sea test kit, but It only has a color chart that says high for one color and low for another? Its better to be on the high side correct?

 

I had a red sea test kit and checked against a kit that actually gave you numbers and if you get the color to be up in the lower range of the high side of the color strip it is getting up to 3 MeqL. I prefer a more definitive kit like Salifert.

Drew

 

Woowoodengy,

We are assuming you are measuring your your alkalinity in dKH? If so, then yes, it is low.

If it is in Meq/L then it is fine

In addition to the superbuffer, I also use B-Ionic which is a 2 part calcium/alk mainenance additive

Also, when I add Kalk, I add it only in the evening to even out the natural pH swing

If you are using the Kalk as sole makeup water, try adding only half the amount of kalk and see if it still goes too high...you may end up somewhere between there and what you are adding now.

 

Good ones guys.
I was thinking about my reply on the way to work and wasn't that happy with it.
How fast are you dripping kalk?
I used to use a kent marine float switch (<$20!) to handle evap and kalk at the same time - periodically cleaning it. It worked great and was no hassle.

I am happy with my seachem calcium kit for what it's worth. It's one of the best seachem kits out there. Easy to read.

Doing nothing will bring your calcium down too, which sometimes is the good call, but if your alk is low, you probably should address that.

 

i was dripping kalk about 30 drops a min at 1 teaspoon per gal i am still a beginer and i will go to a lfs today and pick up some b ionic and have them test the water for everything and yes i checked the alk in dkh is this a good test i hear you guys talking about salifert havent sean it at the lfs is that one of the best out there where is a good place to get it

 

If you are sure you tested in dkh and not meq/L that is a very low reading. Please check again. You can get test kits from many of the 3reef sponsors, click the 'view sponsors' link below the banner at the top of the page.

 

hey guys i went to the lfs today and my magnisium was very low almost none my alk is also very low and yes i measured it in dkh at 5dkh i belive the lfs said it was 1.30 meq/l wow i got some magnisium and alk raiser and will update on results i also got a salifert phosphate and alk test next will be calcium & nitrate i love the salifert kits seams like the best ive seen so farhow important is it to test for strotium and iodine and what is boron is this important to test for