View Full Version : high calcium town water
Looks_Fishy
03-09-2007, 3:54 AM
Tonight on the news, there was a story about how there is too much calcium in the town/tap water, and it was giving everyone kidney stones. Okay, not everyone, but heaps of people anyway.
Can fish suffer from there being too much calcium in the water?
Rbishop
03-09-2007, 4:23 AM
Depends on several things. What are your GH and KH readings on your tap and tank; what fish do you keep?
Most of us with reef tanks add calcium to our tanks. :)
liv2padl
03-09-2007, 6:02 AM
there are no negative effects for fish reported in the literature at levels below 1000 ppm calcium. in any event, at higher pH levels, say 7.8 and higher, calcium will begin to precipitate out of solution and it would be difficult to have more than 1000 ppm of calcium of any salt i'm aware of, in solution.
Looks_Fishy
03-09-2007, 6:08 AM
My DH is about 200ppm and my KH is about the same. If I’m reading my test kits right.
Come to think of it, the people on the news probably get their water from a different source from me (they live closer to the city), but I was just asking in general.
After a little internet research I found that the calcium will effect the water’s hardness and alkalinity won’t it? So more calcium, means the water will be harder and more buffered? And some fish don’t like particularly hard water, do they?
I don’t have too much to worry about with my readings, do I?
And fish can’t develop kidney stones from having too much calcium in the water, can they?
(gosh i'm silly):laugh:
liv2padl
03-09-2007, 6:17 AM
calcium only affects the GH of your water. in 'salt' form such as calcium carbonate, it's the carbonate end of the molecule that has an impact on the KH (buffer capacity) and pH of your water. however, there are certain salts which only affect the gH and not the kH .. calcium sulphate for example. you can also have certain 'salts' which affect the KH but not the gH .. sodium carbnate for example. the sum total of ALL the anions and cations in your water, whether they impact the gH or kH or not, do have an effect on your total dissolved solids. this is difficult for the average hobbyist to measure.
in any event, 200 ppm isn't liquid rock and any fish you have or get in the future will be just fine.
Looks_Fishy
03-09-2007, 6:52 AM
200 ppm isn't liquid rock and any fish you have or get in the future will be just fine
lol, :) that's cool, thanks.
Very informative post. I didn't know a lot of this stuff. Thank you.