slow going Ca rise

Hello all, I took a reading of my water @ lunch today:

Salinity: 1.026 (gonna lower it to 1.025 tomorrow)
Temp: 80F
meq/L 3.75
Ca: 350ppm
pH: 8.2 ( i don't trust the readings much, discerning purple from brown yields different results under different lights BIG TIME )

anyways, I've been dosing kent's liquid reactor and Purple Up on an alternating secedule. One today, the other tomorrow. Rinse, repeat. Ive been doing this for a month and it's taking forever to get my Ca reading up. 110 gal of water minus the displacement of the liverock. perhaps 90~100 gals or so. I'm assuming it's normal to take a long time in raising the Ca?

I read that 2.9 meq/L is where most oceanwater is at, mine seems much higher than that. Should I worry any or just keep dosing the way I have been.

Thanks!

 

3-4 meq/l is a good range for a reef aquarium. It helps in ph control and improves calcium stability. Words taken from the seachem site.



Jim

 

You know, sometimes I dont like going by the natural ocean water levels because in a captive system is way different. Sometimes higher levels are beneficial and sometimes lower levels are beneficial of certain chemical traces than normal ocean water readings.

What test kit are you using? I raised my Ca pretty fast when I introduced it in my tank back when I started it. If you have inhabitants, raise it slowly, there's no rush. With these animals, just about everything can shock them.