Unexpectedly High Calcium Level?

joro · Oct 19, 2016

I was getting everything setup today to start dosing BRS 2-Part and ran a full panel of tests to validate current levels to determine how much to dose. Most of the levels were in an expected range; however, my calcium seems to be off the charts at 515ppm! I haven't dosed anything to the system since inception - other than the Red Sea Reef Mature Pro kit to jump start the cycle a few months back - and recently added the first corals, so I was expecting the number to be low honestly. Any ideas what may be going on? o_O

Salinity - 1.026 SG
Ammonia - 0 ppm
Nitrite - 0.2 ppm
Nitrate - 10 ppm
pH - 7.6
Alkalinity - 7.4 dKh
Calcium - 515 ppm

clownfish chris · Oct 19, 2016

I'm going to keep an eye on this one as I do not have much info. Here are my thoughts though. What salt are you using? What test kit are you using? My first suspission would be with that test kit. Try running it again and see if you get the same number.

joro · Oct 19, 2016

clownfish chris said:
I'm going to keep an eye on this one as I do not have much info. Here are my thoughts though. What salt are you using? What test kit are you using? My first suspission would be with that test kit. Try running it again and see if you get the same number.

I'm using Tropic Marin Bio Actif salt and using a Hanna Checker for the test, good suggestion on running again which I'll do in a bit.

joro · Oct 19, 2016

So just re-ran and it's at 391 which is closer to what I would have expected. It looks like I may have messed up the earlier test but may take one more in a little bit just to confirm the 2nd reading.