Calcium and Alkalinity wild imbalance?!?

[KenRexford]

I am so confused. My Hanna checker shows Alkalinity at 9.1. My Red Sea calcium had to be extrapolated because I hit then end of the syringe; I estimate something insane like 750 calcium. The solution and powder is new. I was seeing similar results before the new and assumed bad supplies; hence the new. I thought that sort of imbalance would cause precipitation, but none of that. Fish and corals seem fine, but maybe not? Any theories here? Anything to adjust or worry about?

 

[Dburr1014]

I am so confused. My Hanna checker shows Alkalinity at 9.1. My Red Sea calcium had to be extrapolated because I hit then end of the syringe; I estimate something insane like 750 calcium. The solution and powder is new. I was seeing similar results before the new and assumed bad supplies; hence the new. I thought that sort of imbalance would cause precipitation, but none of that. Fish and corals seem fine, but maybe not? Any theories here? Anything to adjust or worry about?

I think you would start seeing precipitation at that alkalinity and calcium level.
What tests are you using?

Here's a helpful article by Randy Holmes Farley on the calcium and alkalinity levels and how to adjust.

https://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-04/rhf/feature/index.php

 

[KenRexford]

I think you would start seeing precipitation at that alkalinity and calcium level.
What tests are you using?

Here's a helpful article by Randy Holmes Farley on the calcium and alkalinity levels and how to adjust.

https://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-04/rhf/feature/index.php

Red Sea for calcium, Hanna for alkalinity

 

[Dburr1014]

Red Sea for calcium, Hanna for alkalinity

Personally, I would do one more check of each. And then I would do a water change to help bring down that calcium if you think it's correct.
Alkalinity should be checked roughly the same time of day to get the same result. Alkalinity moves up and down as the lights come on or go off so that's why we like to check around the same time of day.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I suspect there's a problem with the Red Sea kit, unless you added a lot of calcium, but it is certainly not an impossible result. Try it on some new salt water. There's no need to extrapolate with a calcium kit. Use a second syringe and add the values together.

In terms of precipitation, the difference on going from calcium of 420 to calcium of 750 ppm is the same as going from 7 dKH to 12.5 dKH, or from pH 7.9 to pH 8.16.

As you can see from the above statement, pH is typically the biggest variable drives in precipitation in a reef tank.