I OD'd on calcium

[donnievaz]

Ok, so Monday my calcium was about 300 ppm. I'd just bought the API reef kit that day, it hadn't been tested before then. After much online research I determine that I needed to dose the tank (14g biocube). On Tuesday I picked up some Kent liquid calcium & 2.2 gals of Nutri-Sea water. I was going to get a Mg test kit too but the 2 stores I went to didn't have them. Anyway I did a 2 gallon water change then went to pour a couple drops in and ended up putting in about a teaspoon or more. Didn't think too much of it. I get home from work tonight with a new Salifert Mg test kit I picked up at lunch and test both Mg and Ca. Mg is 1200ppm and Ca is >20ppm. I tested the Ca twice thinking maybe I did something wrong. I finally put 2 and 2 together and realized what I'd done. You can see a dusting of calcium all over the tank.

 

My calcium is down to almost nothing, and my PH is down to 8.0 from 8.3, everything else is about the same. Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate are 0, dKH is 16, Phosphate is .25ppm. 2 Clowns, Hermits, and Snails seem OK, corals don't look too happy but not horrible.

 

Question is... What now? Water change? Start dosing again using CORRECT amounts? Something else?

Edited July 21, 2011 by donnievaz

[Big Country]

5ml of kent liquid calcium might be a little much for a tank that size but it shouldn't be an overdose to make it snow in the tank and drive the calcium level down that far. I'd get a better Ca test kit like a salifert and retest before you do anything drastic. A Alkalinity of 16dkh is very high also.

[flowerseller]

On a 14g tank, I would think you could accomplish all your needs with simple water exchanges and replace all evaporation via kalk.

[F&Fmgr]

the API calcium test is terrible, I used it right in front of the API rep and he didn't seem surprised that it got very unclear and unreal results. needless to say i haven't seen him around since then, thank god.

 

the API kH test is good and easy to use but it can be off sometimes. its a good idea to have a standard solution for validating new kits or verifying out of the norm results.

 

Tom(origami) should chime in and make a sticky about test solution standards

[Reefoholic]

Sounds like a faulty API test kit. I doubt that you can make it rain in a 14 gal when cal is 300 ppm with 5ml of Kent calcium solution. Might you have put more than 5 ml?

 

I would regular water changes and use Kalk in top off to sustain stable cal.

[donnievaz]

Sounds like a faulty API test kit. I doubt that you can make it rain in a 14 gal when cal is 300 ppm with 5ml of Kent calcium solution. Might you have put more than 5 ml?

 

I would regular water changes and use Kalk in top off to sustain stable cal.

 

It's entirely possible that I put more than 5ml in as I wasn't measuring. There's clearly a white dusting of precipitate all over everything.

[BowieReefer84]

I am having a similiar problem. I check Alk with salifert, but have been using API for calcium. Need to rethink that . Anyways, I ordered some different size filter socks (1 micron, 5 micron, 10 micron, and 25 micron). I am going to pump the water through them to see how low I need to go to remove the particulates. I'll let you know what works...

 

Goodluck

[Origami]

Something is not adding up here. If you added calcium, I would expect calcium to be saturated, not crashing. Alkalinity could crash, as it binds with the excess calcium over saturation. Your calcium should stay levels commensurate with calcium saturation for your conditions. I've never had an API test kit as far off are you are describing. My first guess is that it is giving you a very bad reading. Either that for you are using the test kit wrong. A reading of 20 would be indicated by a color change after a single drop of reagent. If instead, you are getting a color change after 20 drops, your calcium level is 400.

[donnievaz]

Something is not adding up here. If you added calcium, I would expect calcium to be saturated, not crashing. Alkalinity could crash, as it binds with the excess calcium over saturation. Your calcium should stay levels commensurate with calcium saturation for your conditions. I've never had an API test kit as far off are you are describing. My first guess is that it is giving you a very bad reading. Either that for you are using the test kit wrong. A reading of 20 would be indicated by a color change after a single drop of reagent. If instead, you are getting a color change after 20 drops, your calcium level is 400.

 

Definitely using the test correctly. First drop of solution #2 turns blue. More interesting than that, the 10 drops of solution #1 turns cloudy before I do anything else. This test was performed twice last night with the same exact results. I think it's important to note that while the API test may be inaccurate, this same exact test performed the same exact way 2 days prior behaved as expected.

[trockafella]

I have been using an API calcium test kit as well, and mine has read really low for a while, I started dosing more and no change in the results. Definitely gonna switch after reading this.. Thanks for the heads up.!