I have been using straight well water for my tank for several years now, as I know all the lines are pex or pvc and I have the water tested yearly for things that might cause trouble, though not for beneficial elements. I recently ordered a salifert test and got higher than expected readings, assuming the color change is the whole solution and not just when it starts and looks like a layer of blue on top of pink. The box they came in was poorly packaged and pieces were falling out but expiration said 2025. Trying to decide if my well water is adding more trace elements than I had considered and boosting what the salt mix has already added or perhaps the tests are faulty? My setup is 300 gallons with sump and refugium. It's been running over a year with a few 10% water changes and was an upgrade from a 55 gallon packed full of live rock that had been going for several years. I've been keeping mostly fish, soft corals, and nems over the past several years hadn't been too worried about magnesium, calcium, other trace elements much outside of what my salt mix added. I had tested the calcium several months ago with a cheap test (API maybe?) and got around 300- 350 and so I had been dosing calcium lightly and periodically trying to get to 400-450, as I wanted to add some hard corals. Even had I followed a heavier dosing per the bottle I wouldn't have increased calcium levels by more than about 20 total using the whole bottle.
Should I be worried about these levels?
Salifert results:
calcium- over 500 maybe 525 extrapolating with the chart provided
magnesium: 1500
alk- 12.5
For comparison I tested my tap water:
calcium- 330
magnesium- stayed blue and didn't turn pink on step two so couldn't judge color change for fresh comparison
alk- 6
My ph is still and has been steady at 8.2 for several years, as my makeup well water is 8.2.
ammonia- don't test for this much anymore but was zero last I checked
nitrates- usually less than .1 with .7 in well water naturally
nitrites-0
Current corals-
xenia- I need a aqua lawnmower for these
bta's
couple frags hammer and slow growing frogspawn
acro
green star
kenya
ricordea
Should I be worried about these levels?
Salifert results:
calcium- over 500 maybe 525 extrapolating with the chart provided
magnesium: 1500
alk- 12.5
For comparison I tested my tap water:
calcium- 330
magnesium- stayed blue and didn't turn pink on step two so couldn't judge color change for fresh comparison
alk- 6
My ph is still and has been steady at 8.2 for several years, as my makeup well water is 8.2.
ammonia- don't test for this much anymore but was zero last I checked
nitrates- usually less than .1 with .7 in well water naturally
nitrites-0
Current corals-
xenia- I need a aqua lawnmower for these
bta's
couple frags hammer and slow growing frogspawn
acro
green star
kenya
ricordea