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- May 2, 2019
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I recently got a good-sized acro frag/mini colony, which brought my calcium down to 380ppm a couple days after it went into the tank. The low calcium level prompted me to add calcium chloride to the tank, as directed by (http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html), and upon testing, found that the calcium went off the charts (see Test 1 below). I used the Salifert Ca test kit, and the water sample stayed pink even after adding the whole 1ml of Ca-3, i.e., the calcium was over 500ppm. In response to the low KH (tested with Salifert), I also added some baking soda, again, as directed by the aforementioned calculator.
I did a ~25% water change to hopefully lower the calcium back down to 450ppm, and redid the water test (see Test 2 below). Still over 500ppm, I added an extra 0.3ml of Ca-3, which turned the water sample blue, so that's a calcium level of ~630ppm, if I'm not mistaken? None of the corals seem too peeved, not even the acro.
Test 1
KH: 5.7
Calcium: >500ppm
Test 2
KH: 9.7
Calcium: >500ppm (possibly 630ppm)
pH: 7.6*
I'm using NSW, which has the following params:
Alk: 7.5
Calcium: 430ppm
pH: 7.6*
*I doubt that the pH is this low, this is just what the pH pen is telling me, and it's given me funny readings before, but I'm not too worried, as the tank water's pH is the same as how it is straight out of the sea.
Can anyone advise if the problem will fix itself over the next few days, as the corals bring down the calcium and KH?
I did a ~25% water change to hopefully lower the calcium back down to 450ppm, and redid the water test (see Test 2 below). Still over 500ppm, I added an extra 0.3ml of Ca-3, which turned the water sample blue, so that's a calcium level of ~630ppm, if I'm not mistaken? None of the corals seem too peeved, not even the acro.
Test 1
KH: 5.7
Calcium: >500ppm
Test 2
KH: 9.7
Calcium: >500ppm (possibly 630ppm)
pH: 7.6*
I'm using NSW, which has the following params:
Alk: 7.5
Calcium: 430ppm
pH: 7.6*
*I doubt that the pH is this low, this is just what the pH pen is telling me, and it's given me funny readings before, but I'm not too worried, as the tank water's pH is the same as how it is straight out of the sea.
Can anyone advise if the problem will fix itself over the next few days, as the corals bring down the calcium and KH?