Looking to buy salt and found this...

High Calcium will tend to drop Alkalinity unless there is sufficient Magnesium in the tank.

It is also bad for SPS corals. Calcium is actually a poison for them. They need some to grow but the reason they grow with it is because they purposely want it out of their bodies. The process of removing the Calcium is how they build their skeleton. People who crank up their Calcium reactors to get enhanced growth, will accomplish their goal. However, they do so at the risk of killing the coral or affecting it's longevity.

 

I am relativly new to corals and stuff like that. I have always been a fish only with liverock. I am now just touching into this area. I guess I should check my ALK soon, will low ALK cause any neg. effects on corraline algea?

 

[quote author=TA-Designs link=board=Salt;num=1094150524;start=0#9 date=09/30/04 at 15:26:27]Yes. In another section I have been reporting my calcium as 650 - 700! I have my gravity at 1.24 I am doing a 30gal water change tomorrow and I already mixed the salt to 1.23 (I want to lower it a little) [/quote]

Not trying to nit pick or anything, but do you really mean a salinty of 1.024?

If it really is 1.24 then that's the answer to your high calcium levels

John

 

It can....coralline algae likes BALANCED chemistry between Calcium, Alkalinity, and Magnesium. Throw in low Phosphates, good flow and time and you have a recipe for good coralline growth.

 

John,

I suspect he meant 1.024 but I could be wrong.

 

Yes. 1.024 is this horribly wrong? I used to keep it at 1.019- 1.021 years ago, but I heard somewhere to keep it at 1.023 - 1.024 maybe on the salt mix bucket? Where should I keep the level at?

 

1.024 - 1.025 is natural saltwater levels and what I recommend to our customers

 

No, nothing wrong with 1.024, but in a previous post you wrote 1.24. I was just checking to see whether it was a typo

John

 

Oh I was really getting nervous, I was starting to figure out how I could add some more fresh water that I have mixing overnight. Ok. So is that optimal or should I go a little lower?

 

By the way, my last three 30gal water changes have been done with rain water! Who needs a RO unit! when we have nature. I also run carbon and a filter pad in it for a while before I use it.