KH & calcium question

Hi all did my param 2day and my ph was 8.3 my nitrate , nitrite& amm were 0 but my kh was 90-100 which i think is to low? so how do i fix this also my cacium was 500 when i first started my tank about 4-5 months ago but has very slowly going up & down about 440-450 but did my test again today after a water change and its gone up to 500 again! how can this happen as i have not been adding calcium? mu coriline algea has suddenly started to grow all over my tank which is what i wanted but i just dont get where the calcium is coming from?! could it be my reef salt mix?!

Thanks K

 

what kind of salt are you using!?

 

Every time you complete a WC, your adding to your elements. If you dont have corals to comsume those elements, you will never see a decline in them. Luna

 

I use aquaworld reef salt & im in the uk. My salt was orig 550 ( i thought it was 500) when i started my tank 4-5 months ago but it kept going down a bit then it would go up a bit then down a bit & so on till it finally got to about 440 ( I have been waiting to use my purple up but my calcium was to high) so with all the treatment & sorting out the cyano problem i had i left the calcium test for nearly a month and i finally did it today twice and it was 500! i really dont get how it can go back up that high again without me adding anything?!
Thanks K

 

I have a 3 head torch coral, star palp, ridicorda ? x 2 some blue mushrooms , button palps, 1 cleaner shrimp, 2 peppermint shrimps, 1 pink lobster, 4 green leg hermits , 1 blue leg hermit, 1 lonly clown!

I thought all inverts used calcium to make there shells? ( please dont lol at me as im still getting used to the chem side off things!)

Thanks K

 

Whats the magnesium level of the water ? would be my first question

 

Hum thats what is on its way to my door at this very moment! i ordered a mag test kit & kent tech m off the web and it should be hear with in 2 days and i ordered it yesterday but i just wanted to run a full test off what i have ( i have a hagen master test kit that has no mag test!) =while im waiting for it to arrive. I wanted to make sure all my other params were ok before i started to learn 2 new one (mag) & start to add things to my tank! but i guess they are not ok right?
Thanks K

 

It sounds like the mag is low , like mixing oil and water it will if you have an emulsifier thats the Magnesium in this case it keeps the negative and positive ions of the two oppositely charged elements of Ca and Carbonates aligned and happy. Trying to make these two ions to connect up is like trying to push to magnets together facing the same polarity .. but when you set them correctly and the polarity is right SNAP locked up and and holding tight.

 

So when i get the mag test if its low do i just add the kent tec m gradually till it up to a normal level? im new to the mag side off things as over hear they dont test the mag! i had to go on line to get a mag test as none off the shops here sell them! Is this a emergency thing( like my tank life will die!) or is it ok to gradually raise the mag? & what level should i aim for?
Like i said earlier i have the basics!
are there any other test i should be testing? ( dare i ask!)
Tanks for your help
Kiarah

 

its not the end of the world. your tank will live till stuff gets to you. otherwise yes you would want to raise the mg to the right level to achieve that balance of all three elements. they are interlocked as tangster said