Need some advice for getting my Ca levels up...

I have been trying to raise my Ca levels higher than 370 for the past two weeks and nothing seems to be working.

Ca is at 370 constantly everyday, everytime I test everyday of the week.

My dKH is 11.

I dose with Seachem Reef Complete everyday one capful and I also dose weekly with the magnesium from Seachem.

I cannot get my Mag. test to come out correct so I cannot give you a read out on that!

I also do weekly water changes of 5 gallons every Friday and I recently switched from Instant Ocean to Seachem Reef salt.

What am I doing wrong and why can't I get my Ca up?

 

i'm not one of the chemistry guru's, i'm sure they will be around shortly, but i'll throw in my 2 cents. i've never used Seachem salt so i can't say much about the levels, i use Oceanic with has a relatively high Ca and high Mag with low Alk. i had tried to raise my alk for ever but if your salt mix is low in one category then, if i'm not too far off, every waterchange will be bringing that value down. be it so slightly. all i know is that i was dosing every other day to try to get my alk up around 10-11. once i stopped fighting it and just let everything settle down, the params fell to where they would be and the tank has been stable. i currently run 390-400 Ca, 1280 Mag, Alk 8-9. honesly, i can't remember the last time i dosed anything in my tank. i do, however have a relatively low needs tank

in summation, your switching to Seachem might result in more satisfactory levels. a tank doesn't need to be a job, try not to stress the numbers too much. you're right that you're Ca could be a little higher, but i feel that stable is more important that high

 

Moved to Chemistry Forum

What's your specific gravity/salinity? If it's lower than NSW of 1.026, then you might not be able to raise Ca unless you also increase your salinity.

 

im not a chemistry guru but i do know what im talking about... but read this because its pretty awesome:
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2002/chem.htm

 

Thanks and Salinity sits around 1.025 and 1.026.

 

Maybe try this. You might be able to increase dosage. Dose_reef

 

I switched to Oceanic salt...Problem solved

 

try Purple Up. May work for ya. i use red sea coral pro salt.

 

I tested my magnesium today and it turned out to be 1470.