Buffer Time or Water Change?

[Reef Goalie]

I was getting "crazy" readings on my water so I took it to a local fish store to get tested. I started getting worried when I heard "WOW I never saw this before!" from the technician.

My calcium tested out at 1000. Yes, 1000. Not sure what I did to get it that high but it was. I used Seachem Calcium booster a few times after a recent tank cleanup. My tests at home were off the chart (Seachem) so I went to the store. My alk is 2. All other parameters are normal (1.029 a lil high, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, <10 nitrate, high for me but I just put new rock in this week)

The recommendation was massive water change (40 gallons out of my 75 gallon tank) and buffer use to get the alk up.

What are everyones thoughts here on getting the water back to normal range (400-450 calcium and 3-4 alk) ?

 

[brandonberry]

How much of the calcium booster did you use? I can't imagine that it could really be that high. It is my understanding that once it starts approaching levels in the 500s it will begin to precipitate all of the alkalinity out. If it really is that high, it likely precipitated a lot of other stuff out as well such as magnesium. I would think your tank would have crashed before it hit 1,000 ppm of calcium. What does your livestock look like? If they look healthy, I'd recommend 30% water changes each week until you are getting normal readings of calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium. If things are looking rough, you may want to go ahead and do a 50% water change. Just be sure pH, salinity and temp are matched up well to avoid further stresss on the animals. In addition to the water changes, you should add buffer to get your alkalinity up. Baking soda will work well for that. If your magnesium is really low, you should consider bringing that up as well, however the water changes will help out a good bit with that.

If you have not read Randy Holmes Farley's articles on calcium, alkalinity, magnesium, etc. you definitely should do that. In addition, this reef calulator is a very handy tool when dosing any reef supplements:

http://jdieck1.home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chemcalc.html

 

[Anonymous]

I don't think that reading is possible. What test kit were they using?

Recommending buffer is also a little weird as they tend to only be a temp fix.

Read Randy's articles available through the link to the calculator above before you do anything.

 

[Anonymous]

Reef Goalie, how do the tank inhabitants look?

 

[Reef Goalie]

Everything looks fine. Corals and fish both doing well.

Thats why whatever I do to get the Ca down and the alk up, I'm gonna do it slow. I added some buffer and pure RO/DI water (evap loss) to get the salinity closer to 1.025 but again, going slow.

I am not going for the 50% water change all at once as suggested. A little at a time should work fine.

Any suggestions and comments are stll most welcome! I'll keep everyone posted on progress.

 

[Anonymous]

What test kit did they use? Do you know someone with a quality kit you could borrow?

 

[Reef Goalie]

The water has been tested with both Seachem and Salifert kits.

Any suggestions for another kit to test with?