i'm at a total loss! chemistry near perfect.

I cannot seem get my calcium above 200. When i first noticed this (about a week ago) all my parameters were way wacked. cal-160, mag - 1000, alk-14, ph-8.4, temp - 80.6, salinity 1.028. so i began the process of getting everything right again. i began adding cal. suppliment every morning with my top-off water instead of every other. and did the same with the mag. I just did a 25% water change last night. So today, i guess i expected to have things well on their way back to normal. WRONG!!! I tested the tank 30 min. ago, cal-200, mag-1240, alk-8.5, ph-8.4, salinity 1.025. temp-78.8. My initial thought was there was something amiss with the agri-milk calcium suppliment i was using. so I purchased a new calcium suppliment today called "turbo calcium" made by kent. the dose recommended is 1/4 teasoon per gallon of water, However it does not tell me how much that will increase the calcium content. Is it possible that i am using up that much calcium in one day? i understood why the extra calcium i was adding was not doing anything with my mag being so low. But now that my mag is up in the safe zone shouldn't my calcium increasing as well? especially after the water change. (FYI- i use reef crystals) can someone give me some direction i need to go with this. (preferably befor i pull all my hair out) thanks in advance

 

I'm going to take a stab, and say that the calcium has been precipitating out with the alk, since it was a bit high too IMO.

...or your test kit is off.

 

+1 to both answers.
Also make sure you are adding cal and alk at least 1 hour apart and preferably 12 hours.

 

test kit is only a couple weeks old. i edited my original thread to add a couple more thoughts.

 

i usually add them on seperate days, but if i need to add both in the same day i would do one in the morning and one at night. Does it make any difference which is added in the morning rather that at lights out???

 

Use the 3reef supplement calculator it should have the Kent supplement listed. Link is on right side in the first set of links below USER CP.

 

Go ahead and bump your mag to 1320.

 

ok, i ran the calculater and it says i need to add 64.8 tsp. of suppliment to get my calcium to 420. so i need to increase by 220 ppm if i go with the recommended amount of 25ppm per day, 220 divided 25 is roughly 9. so i will divide 68.4 by 9 (7.6 tsp's) and added that amount each day over the next 9 days, i will have the calcium back to where it belongs. ok does anybody else have any words of wisdom that may be helpful in this situation?

 

You can go 50PPM per day on the calc. Just do it until you get to 360ppm. Also measure each day or every other day. Do the calc at night from what I have read.

 

ok, gonna go mix me up a batch of reef happiness. lol thank you all for the input and the insight k+