is my calcium bad?

[untoldlegacy]

i tested my calcium today and it between 560 and 580 i don't have much corraline yet and only soft corals (ill be getting some stonys hopefully in the near future) if i keep doing water changes will this raise it even more? is this level bad?
thanks
U.L

[fsn77]

Well, that is overly high. With levels that high, you may start to notice your sand clumping together and calcium depositing on the impellars of any pumps (return pump / powerheads). It may also be causing your alkalinity to be low -- have you checked that recently?

Have you tested the calcium level in the new saltwater you use for water changes? If it's really high in calcium, doing a water change isn't going to help lower those levels. What brand of salt mix are you using? Are you mixing it in RO, RO/DI, or tap water?

Normally, calcium levels will fall on their own, as coralline algae and calcium needing corals consume it. Since you don't seem to have much of either right now, it may not fall on its own. If you answer the above questions, it'll be easier to recommend a potential solution.

[Amphiprion]

Well, you should only get clumping and precipitation is your alkalinity is a bit higher as well and you are continually adding it--thus causing precipitation of calcium carbonate. Chances are, as fsn said, your alkalinity is correspondingly low, which would explain low coralline algal growth. Both levels need to be balanced for optimal growth. Try to shoot for 380-450ppm of calcium and 7-9 dKH (though some like it higher than this).

[untoldlegacy]

well i did my tests today so ill post post all of it
Amm-0
Ates-20
Ites-0
PH-(im having real trobule with my tests kits, in the morning it 7.9 but if i test around 4 pm i get this almost black-blue color that doesnt look anything like the color codes)
total alkalinity-240ppm
calcium-570
SG-1.025

i use R/O water and reef salt made by Seachem
ive never tested my WC water for calcium before im gonna do a WC change tomorow so ill test it then

im going into the city on sunday and am thinking of picking up a brain coral would this much calcium be bad for it?

[Amphiprion]

Actually, your alkalinity is fine (on the high side), which makes me think one of two possible things-- a) your calcium test kit is wrong or bad or b) your magnesium is extremely high, giving you really high dissolvability. I am leaning toward the former for now. If that level is true, you should be getting a lot of precipitation in warmer areas (heaters, pumps, etc) as well as in the sandbed. Try Salifert calcium kit for testing and see what that gives. Assuming levels are correct, none of them should be harmful to your coral.

[untoldlegacy]

what do you mean by precipitation? i think ill take a sample to the lfs here and see if they pull the same number, thanks for all the help :)

[Amphiprion]

Precipitation occurs when a particular compound is suddenly rendered insoluble in a given solution--in this case calcium carbonate in seawater. It literally drops out of solution in extreme cases, looking like a snowstorm--otherwise, it is fairly passive, depositing on components with higher temps. Please do get another reference. It may at least give more info.

[untoldlegacy]

sorry for being vague but i was more or less wondering what this would do in my tank?

[Catpicklesdog]

I also have a high calcium reading - it's 600. I have hard and soft corals and they are all flourishing well. My alkalinity is 9dKH. I do not add any supplements to my tank and there is nothing wrong with my test kits. I used to worry about high calcium but could not find anything on the web on how to reduce it (only how to increase it!!) The only useful thing I did come across was this http://www.aquariacentral.com/articles/calcium.shtml

[Sihaya]

In addition to that nice page, see if this helps a bit (scroll down to the part on calcium and alkalinity):
http://www.asira.org/practicalchemistrybasics

[untoldlegacy]

thanks for the great links! just one more question, how do you convert my ppm reading to dkh?

[legendaryfrog]

to convert ppm to dkh, divide the ppm by 17.86.

As for the calcium, I think anything under 600 is safe

[untoldlegacy]

thanks everyone i feel much better now :)

[Amphiprion]

Err..much above 450 and you start having other solubility problems. I would look at these articles:

Reef Aquarium Water Parameters (http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php)

Calcium and Alkalinity (http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-04/rhf/feature/index.php)

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