Another new tank

[Poppy828]

I should say that all my reading were fine except for Calcium. I have 570. I know that is high...should be 430-450. Not sure how to reduce that or if I should leave it?? I have not added any calcium in the tank or anything. Better to be high than low or is this too high?

Poppy

[Jason McKenzie]

Tap Water will result in Phosphates and other nasties that are not commonly measured by Reefers, I would concentrate on Phosphates and silica test kits if using tap water.

As for the CA I would also check you PH and ALK. I don't really like recommending additive at the stage your tank is in. So first I would check the Following
Ammonia (I assume you have already)
nitrite (I assume you have already)
Nitrate (I assume you have already)
CA
Alk
PH
Phosphate
Silicate
magnesium ( not a must but good to know)
Iodine ( have never found a test kit I could even get a good reading from)
Strontium ( not a must but good to know)

These would be your basic water tests with a few extras.

J

[Poppy828]

Yes Jason I have tested the following:

Ammonia- 0
Nitrite- 0
Nitrate- 0
CA- 570
ALK- 8
PH- 8.3
Salinity- 1.025

Have not tested for phosphate, silicate or the others you listed. I will pick some test kits up for these this weekend just to be safe. I am also looking into the RO filters as we speak. I want this experience to be a fun and enjoyable one that my wife and I can both be proud of the results. Thank you for your help.

Poppy

[Craig Manoukian]

Why is the CA so high? Natural Sea Water is in the 400 range.

[Birdlady]

Craig, back on Aug 7th, Todd posted this....

" Salinity- 1.023
PH-8.1 (I think I need to raise this a tad)
Ammonia-0.0

I have added about 5ml of calcium, iodine and strontium/molybdenum. I did add 4 teaspoons of PH & Alkalinity buffer to help the PH. Please let me know if these readings are close to where I should be. The water temp is right at 80 degrees currently."

Could it take this long for additives to impact his numbers?

[Craig Manoukian]

I would think the CA would have been absorbed into the water column within 24 hours.

[Poppy828]

I had thought the same Craig. Not sure why the CA is so high. I am thinking the supplement has just taken a week to cycle as Birdlady mentioned. Not really sure as this is my first attempt at this. I will do another CA test this morning and see what I get. Maybe I did the test incorrectly yesterday. I'll post my findings shortly.

T

[Poppy828]

I now have a reading of 540. Has come down some but still high. Any suggestions on fixing this or just leave it and let the tank cycle on it's own????

[Poppy828]

Could the high CA be caused by tap water? I am not a water guy so I have no idea. I have to add water each day from the evap. Just trying to think of all avenues on what could cause this. Thank you all for your help.

T

[Shane]

Looks great!