To raise calcium or not?

[boiblusd]

Hi all. I'm kinda stumped at the moment. I have a 29 gallon reef not to many corals yet some xenia, shrooms, two clowns, and then snails and hermits. My stats are as follows 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 10> Nitrate, 8.2PH in the afternoon, Temp 80.

I just tested my calcium and it is at 380-390 ppm my alk is 4.69 or 13.1 dkh. I havn't dosed anything in almost a month. I havn't really noticed my alk dropping but my calcium has gone from 420 down to what it is currently.

I was wondering if I should start dosing calcium to raise it or leave it alone.

I found a link on another thread that tells you how much of a product to add to raise your level to what you want and its saying a balanced ca level with my alk would be around 450. What do you all think I should do? I really don't want to snowstorm my system by any means. Any thoughts would be great. Thanks.

[Shablin]

Your Calcium is at the minimum for stoney corals; if you don't have any, don't worry much about it - you'll get enough from water changes.

[ri]

Because your coral load is fairly light, calcium and alkalinity level won't drop too quickly. To keep things balanced, I would increase the calcium level a bit. I would shoot for around 425.

You could also have a bad Alkalinity test kit. Try testing some freshly made saltwater... should be (much) lower.

HTH

ri

[boiblusd]

I did do just that. Freshwater is testing much lower. I think way under 5 dkh I think. Can't really remember, but it was much lower.

[boiblusd]

No worries about creating a "snowstorm" with raising my ca with that high of alk?

[Shablin]

ri:

if there are no stoney corals, why worry much about the calcium? 400 or even 380 is well within reason; its also comparable or better than many salt mixes provide.