No calcium in display?

[805reeftank]

Going through a cyano battle and decided to do a chemiclean treatment im at the end of day 2 most of the cyano is gone. Started a batch for a water change. So I decided to test, haven’t done a full test since 8/5 ( everything tested within my normal range) Usually only test the main 3 every couple of days alk, po4, no4 and those are always normal.

So I decided I would do all of them today. Calcium is not reading using salifert(expires 2030). Never changed to pink then blue, it just stays blue. I tested the new batch of water and tested fine. So now I’m thinking maybe my doser is clogged, nope all dosers are level they dose in equal parts. Then I think I just made new solution maybe I forgot to put calcium chloride in it, nope. I tested the solution and it’s saturated.

Corals haven’t been looking there best because of the cyano but this morning things just looked off. That’s what prompted the testing.

Anyone ever had this problem?

Salinity 1.265
Alk 9.0
No3 7.2
Po4 .17
Cal can’t get a reading
Mag 1410

 

[Saltyreef]

I would say test operation error but it sounds like you are doing it correctly with the other things you sampled.
I was going to say the new kits are a bit tricky to understand cause now you are essentially looking for 2 color change cycles throughout the test.

Pink, then blue back to pink then blue again.

 

[805reeftank]

I would say test operation error but it sounds like you are doing it correctly with the other things you sampled.
I was going to say the new kits are a bit tricky to understand cause now you are essentially looking for 2 color change cycles throughout the test.

Pink, then blue back to pink then blue again.

This isn’t my first time testing and Honestly, I thought the same, but I tested the new batch of water and that one comes out how it’s supposed to. Just the tank water doesn’t and I’ve tested multiple times

 

[cilyjr]

I live near Fabian and we have been reading friends for a long time, I brought a fish home from him yesterday and had a little bit of water left in the container. When he called me this morning, I tested that water and tested the same thing.

 

[cilyjr]

I was also using a salifert test kit

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Going through a cyano battle and decided to do a chemiclean treatment im at the end of day 2 most of the cyano is gone. Started a batch for a water change. So I decided to test, haven’t done a full test since 8/5 ( everything tested within my normal range) Usually only test the main 3 every couple of days alk, po4, no4 and those are always normal.

So I decided I would do all of them today. Calcium is not reading using salifert(expires 2030). Never changed to pink then blue, it just stays blue. I tested the new batch of water and tested fine. So now I’m thinking maybe my doser is clogged, nope all dosers are level they dose in equal parts. Then I think I just made new solution maybe I forgot to put calcium chloride in it, nope. I tested the solution and it’s saturated.

Corals haven’t been looking there best because of the cyano but this morning things just looked off. That’s what prompted the testing.

Anyone ever had this problem?

Salinity 1.265
Alk 9.0
No3 7.2
Po4 .17
Cal can’t get a reading
Mag 1410

Try testing some new salt water.

If calcium is around 300 ppm or lower it will start blue, because the kit skipped past the endpoint.

 

[cilyjr]

Try testing some new salt water.

If calcium is around 300 ppm or lower it will start blue, because the kit skipped past the endpoint.

Yeah I reached out to Dong, he said the same thing.

Anyone know of any test kits that will read lower than 300?

 

[805reeftank]

Try testing some new salt water.

If calcium is around 300 ppm or lower it will start blue, because the kit skipped past the endpoint.

I did test a new batch of water I just mixed and it did go from blue to pink to blue when it reached about 400ppm

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

So your calcium is likely low.

Id double check salinity to determine if that is the cause.

 

[805reeftank]

So your calcium is likely low.

Id double check salinity to determine if that is the cause.

I’m using the tropic Marin hydrometer with 2 thermometers to check temp. I’m going to give it a couple days and retest. I just wet skimmed 15 gals out of my tank (50gal) ,change 15 gals, turned uv back on and added carbon. Maybe something in the chemiclean and cyano releasing is interfering with the reagent.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I’m using the tropic Marin hydrometer with 2 thermometers to check temp. I’m going to give it a couple days and retest. I just wet skimmed 15 gals out of my tank (50gal) ,change 15 gals, turned uv back on and added carbon. Maybe something in the chemiclean and cyano releasing is interfering with the reagent.

I do not think there's any interference from a chemiclean treatment.

Sounds like your calcium is fairly low and could use a boost. Since high calcium is not generally a problem, I'd add 25 ppm per day for a few days and see if it comes on scale.