Calcium and kh question

[jcurella]

I'm pretty sure I need to lower my calcium and kh.
Bought a test kit tonight and these are the results:
Calcium 520
KH 16

All other parameters seem to be good.
Salinity 1.021
ammonia is 0
nitrite is 0
Nitrate is 40 ppm which is a little high but still acceptable for fish.
I'm pretty sure I need to lower my kh and calcium. How do I do this?

Tank is 40g with about 35lbs of lr, hob filter, and protein skimmer.
No hard corals just mushrooms.
Co coraline algae either. :(
Is there and additive I need? Or should i do more water changes.
I use ro/di for water changes and topping.
Thanks.

[bertoni]

Those levels are very high for SG at 1.021. I'd try checking some freshly-mixed saltwater. Nothing's been added in the way of supplements? pH buffers will drive the alkalinity up, despite any advertising.

[C.Eymann]

What brand of salt? What brand of test kit?
Is supposed "live rock" real or man made? New?

[jcurella]

Live rock is real. Can't remember the brand of salt. Test kit is red sea. No additives or buffers.
I might do a 25% water change tonight. You think that might help? What brands of salt do you recommend? Going to petsmart.

[pangetikaw]

tagging along

[tigersmith]

It's way high. Where is your magnesium at? I would just do water changes slowly to get it down. I would use a salt brand with lower ALK and CA. Regular Red Sea salt. Alk is between 7.8 dKH to 8.2 dKH depending on the salinity you mix. Aquaforest reef salt is also a good alternative. I would not add any hard corals until you get those down. Also bump up your salinity between 1.024sg to 1.026sg if you are planning to keep hard corals.

[ADVRESOURCE]

Too high on the alk. Water change is a must.

[downbeach]

I'm guessing that the device you're using to measure your SG is off, causing you to add too much salt mix, and by extension too much Ca, Alk and Mg. If this is the case, WC's may not help until you can get a correct reading. What are you using to measure your SG? Has it been properly calibrated, i.e. if a refractometer, with a seawater standard solution like this (http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=18718)?

[jcurella]

ok, I did a 25% water change last night, and these are the new parameters:

Calcium (ca2+) 560
kh 16
PH= 8.0
Ammonia= .25ppm
Nitrite= 0ppm
nitrate= 40ppm
Salinity= 1.021

As you can see ammonia has actually gone up from .0 to .25ppm. Calcium has actually gone up from 520 to 560.

*** is going on here? I'm using 2 coral life hydrometers and get the same reading with both of them. I used them to test the newly mixed water and they read 1.022, so I'm pretty sure they are accurate.
What the heck is making my water so hard? Most people I read about have the exact opposite problem with calcium and KH being to low.
Again, I'm using an ro/di unit for the water, so it should be fine.
The brand of salt I used for last nights water change was instant ocean. I know it's not a great bran, but i wouldn't expect it to make my tank worse.

[Dave0331]

I know it says you have been member since 2012. But are you doing your tests correctly? Have they expired? Also I would switch over to aqua forest. They give you a piece of paper. With all the Paramaters of that exact batch you buy

[jcurella]

Going to attach some photos of my tank so you can get an idea of my setup and load out.

http://i623.photobucket.com/albums/tt318/jcurella/Mobile%20Uploads/IMAG0617.jpg (http://s623.photobucket.com/user/jcurella/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMAG0617.jpg.html)

[jcurella]

http://i623.photobucket.com/albums/tt318/jcurella/Mobile%20Uploads/IMAG0618.jpg (http://s623.photobucket.com/user/jcurella/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMAG0618.jpg.html)

[jcurella]

http://i623.photobucket.com/albums/tt318/jcurella/Mobile%20Uploads/IMAG0619.jpg (http://s623.photobucket.com/user/jcurella/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMAG0619.jpg.html)

[jcurella]

Yes, I'm doing the test correctly. even did them multiple times for consistency. Check the dates on the test bottle and they are all good for another year.
actually just bought the calcium/kh test a few days ago.

[Dave0331]

Correct me somebody if I'm wrong. At least in my area petsmart petco don't have any good saltwater mixes. At least reef salt anyway. They usually only have the generic brands. You want something. Like aqua forest reefsalt aquforest reefsalt with probiotics if you don't dose or I used to use with good results coral pro reefsalt. Also it does look like you do have coral I think I see mushrooms maybe I'm wrong but at corals need to have 1.025 salinity to match ocean levels. They won't do good with 1.021. That's only good for fish. So it lowers risk of ich from what I heard. I can't figure out how your levels are so high. I have a problem keeping them high since they drop so much because I have a lot of coraline algae. I would definitely keep doing water changes until cal is at least below 500. If you don't have Lps or sps even lower unless you have a lot of coraline algae. And kh at least under 10. Don't add any chemicals either let it do it naturally with water changes. That's what I would do if I were in your shoes.

[jcurella]

Ok so the plot thickens...
I brought a sample of my tank water, and a sample of my ro/di water into petco last night
Wanted to see if maybe my ro/di unit is failing.
They have the cheap strip test :(
Anyway the guy tested my ro/di water with a fresh water hardness test and said that my ro/di water is way to hard. Not sure if the measurements should be different for salt water.
Then he tested the alkalinity for my tank water and said it was perfect at 300ppm?
I've never heard of alkalinity being measured in ppm? My alkalinity test measures at dkh (1 drop equals 1dkh until color reaches green.)
I keep getting 16 drops, and it's a brand new red sea teast kit. So my DKH should be 16 right?
Am I missing something here? This is driving me nuts...

[bertoni]

There are a number of units used to specify alkalinity. This article has a section on units of alkalinity:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-08/rhf/index.php

300 ppm is high. The acceptable range is 125-200 ppm, and I think your dKH number is about right. 300 ppm is very roughly 16 dKH. 300 ppm probably is safe, though. You can use your alkalinity kit to get some idea of the alkalinity of your RO water. That'd be the next step. If your RO filter is not working, that'd explain a lot.

[jcurella]

Thanks, my alkalinity kit is for salt water. Will it work for fresh water from my ro/di unit?

[bertoni]

It'll be somewhat inaccurate, about 10% off, most likely, but the results might still be interesting.

[jcurella]

Thank you! I'm actually omw to a lfs right now to get it tested again. They have better test kits there than petco.
I will definitely test my ro/di water when I get home though.

[jcurella]

OK lfs guy said my nitrates are at 80, alkalinity is at 16 dkh (same as my test results) calcium is at 480 (less than my results of 560.)
He told me my dkh, and alkalinity are actually fine, and not to worry about what I hear in forums.
He said I should worry more about my nitrates than anything else. Does this sound legit?

[Fish4udog]

High nitrates are killer close to zero is ehat you want my are at 5 ,kh 9.3 ,ca-450 1.025 salinity is where i run my tank every tank is different get the nitrates down 1st

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[Fish4udog]

Also how big is your tank and what is in it be a good start

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[bertoni]

16 dKH probably is safe enough, although I'd let it drop to 11 dKH. The ocean runs something around 7 dKH. That nitrate level could be a problem for stony corals, and might affect coral coloration in general. Your mushroom corals might be a bit more brown than they would be otherwise, but might grow more rapidly. Fish won't care about the nitrate.

Is the tank having any sort of algal or bacterial problem?

[blasterman789]

Had a bad bag of Coralife salt that mixed at 16 dKH. Killed all my SPS.

I would do a water change with instant ocean.

[tmz]

Did the lfs check the sg. Hydrometers can be way off.
50ppm equals 2.8 dkh btw.
The OP said he was using IO. Never had a high alk issue issue with coral life in 10 years of use ;bad batches are a possibility with any salt though. Coral life comes in at 9 dkh at 1.026 sg while IO usually runs around 11dkh. Neither of these is near the 16.8 being reported.