How do you lower your Calcium levels

HDFATB · #1 10/11/2006, 11:59 AM

Hello
I've been dosing my tank with kalk for some time now and maintaining good levels. I got tired of testing with my liquid test kit so I purchased a pinpoint calcium tester. It worked great In the beginning very accurate. After two months levels started to drop so I increased kalk dosing and added turbo calcium. Levels still dropped I realized the meter had to be faulty so then I tested with my liquid test kit and found that my levels were up to 540ppm. I tried two water changes and levels still haven't dropped In two weeks.
Some of my corals aren't looking very healthy since all this happened Is there a way to lower levels or should I just let It take It's course.

Kurt03 · #2 10/11/2006, 01:13 PM

what is your alk testing at? I dont think that level of calcium would have an effect on your corals. Im guessing your alk is fairly high from the increase in kalk.

Randy Holmes-Farley · #3 10/11/2006, 01:23 PM

540 ppm is not a big deal. I'd just let it drop a bit on its own while dosing baking soda to maintain alkalinity. You can keep dosing some limewater if you want to maintain pH.

This article has more:

Solving Calcium and Alkalinity Problems
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2002/chem.htm

HDFATB · #4 10/12/2006, 10:00 AM

Hey thanks for reply

I tested my alkalinity It was 140 ppm and my ph was 8.1

Randy Holmes-Farley · #5 10/12/2006, 01:50 PM

The alkalinity is OK now, but you'll need to keep it in the range of about 125- 200 ppm calcium carbonate equivalents.