High cal and high alk.

cjp847 · 04/16/2019, 07:59 AM

Hi everyone, I'm a little confused. I have a 40 breeder with some soft corals and some lps. And I've been checking my values, my cal is 556 and my alk is 14.0. My sal is 1.024 as of today. I've been testing everyday for the last week. My readings have been as high as 16.0 on the 12th on Alk and 556 on cal. I've done water changes. Am I missing something? Oh yeah I have 2 clown , 1 cardinal , 1 goby and a small cleanup crew. These are my readings from the last week as of the 12th... 4/12 alk 16.8 cal 316. 4/13 15.8 403 4/14 14.4 530( 4/14 15.5 492, I took another reading at 8:30 pm) 4/15 14.0 563 4/16 14.0 566. I'm not dosing anything. My mag is around 1290ish (Salifert test kit), Cla and Alk test kits are Hanna. Any advice ? Thank you

Uncle99 · 04/16/2019, 09:49 AM

Likely testing errors
No way to get those numbers unless dosing, Alk above 14 will either cause softies to drop, droop or die.

Hanna is a great Alk checker, but not following exactly the instructions creates various results

Hanna CA checker is too involved and relies on a small sample, Salifert is better

My question is how do your corals look?

cjp847 · 04/16/2019, 12:50 PM

The corals look great. I was thinking the same thing.

cjp847 · 04/16/2019, 12:52 PM

Uncle99, Thanks for the response.

pisces 12 · 04/16/2019, 04:14 PM

Don't go by the Hannah calcium test kit i find it to be way off alk kit is fine ,make sure your reagents are good and follow instructions carefully if those numbers were correct everything would be dead good luck

cjp847 · 04/16/2019, 04:42 PM

Pisces 12 thanks, I think I'm just going to get the selifert kits.

bertoni · 04/16/2019, 07:42 PM

People ran tanks at 18 dKH for months 30 years or so ago. I suspect testing problems, as well, but those values are possible. Salifert kits generally have worked well for me. IO makes good kits, too, in my experience.

cjp847 · 04/16/2019, 08:14 PM

I just tested with my API kit and it looks like the Hanna test are off. Calcium is 440 22drops, and alkalinity is 12 kdh 12 drops. I even made up a 1 gallon of fresh saltwater and it tested 13.9 alk and 526 cal. Salinity was 1.025. I'm definitely going to order tonight the salifert kits. Thanks for the feedback.

04/16/2019, 07:59 AM	#1
cjp847 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2015 Posts: 10	High cal and high alk. Hi everyone, I'm a little confused. I have a 40 breeder with some soft corals and some lps. And I've been checking my values, my cal is 556 and my alk is 14.0. My sal is 1.024 as of today. I've been testing everyday for the last week. My readings have been as high as 16.0 on the 12th on Alk and 556 on cal. I've done water changes. Am I missing something? Oh yeah I have 2 clown , 1 cardinal , 1 goby and a small cleanup crew. These are my readings from the last week as of the 12th... 4/12 alk 16.8 cal 316. 4/13 15.8 403 4/14 14.4 530( 4/14 15.5 492, I took another reading at 8:30 pm) 4/15 14.0 563 4/16 14.0 566. I'm not dosing anything. My mag is around 1290ish (Salifert test kit), Cla and Alk test kits are Hanna. Any advice ? Thank you

04/16/2019, 07:42 PM	#7
bertoni RC Mod Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mountain View, CA, USA Posts: 88,616	People ran tanks at 18 dKH for months 30 years or so ago. I suspect testing problems, as well, but those values are possible. Salifert kits generally have worked well for me. IO makes good kits, too, in my experience. __________________ Jonathan Bertoni

04/16/2019, 09:49 AM	#2
Uncle99 Crab Free Zone Join Date: Sep 2017 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 2,906	Likely testing errors No way to get those numbers unless dosing, Alk above 14 will either cause softies to drop, droop or die. Hanna is a great Alk checker, but not following exactly the instructions creates various results Hanna CA checker is too involved and relies on a small sample, Salifert is better My question is how do your corals look?

04/16/2019, 12:50 PM	#3
cjp847 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2015 Posts: 10	The corals look great. I was thinking the same thing.

04/16/2019, 12:52 PM	#4
cjp847 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2015 Posts: 10	Uncle99, Thanks for the response.

04/16/2019, 04:14 PM	#5
pisces 12 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: mineola , L ,I N.Y Posts: 94	Don't go by the Hannah calcium test kit i find it to be way off alk kit is fine ,make sure your reagents are good and follow instructions carefully if those numbers were correct everything would be dead good luck

04/16/2019, 04:42 PM	#6
cjp847 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2015 Posts: 10	Pisces 12 thanks, I think I'm just going to get the selifert kits.

04/16/2019, 08:14 PM	#8
cjp847 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2015 Posts: 10	I just tested with my API kit and it looks like the Hanna test are off. Calcium is 440 22drops, and alkalinity is 12 kdh 12 drops. I even made up a 1 gallon of fresh saltwater and it tested 13.9 alk and 526 cal. Salinity was 1.025. I'm definitely going to order tonight the salifert kits. Thanks for the feedback.