First water change tonight, Calcium and Salinity Help

[dba]

My cycle is done

Ph = 8.3
Ammonia = 0
Nitrites = 0
Nitrates = 5-10 ppm
Phosphates = 0.03

I started testing for calcium and my calcium level is off the charts(600+)

I am dealing with 2 problems, calcium and salinity..

Question #1.. my salinity is 1.026, I want to bring it down to 1.024.... what should the salinity be in my new water if I am going to do a 30% WC?

Question #2.. is a WC the only thing I can do to bring Calcium down?


Thanks in advanced.

 

[cmantis]

http://www.saltyzoo.com/SaltyCalcs/SalinityAdjust.php

 

[B.BASH]

relax 1.026 is ok if you have no corals dont concern yourself with calcium right now what livestock do you plan to have also you should'nt worry about water changes if you have no livestock all your parameters are ok nitrate should be around 5 give your bacteria a chance to get a foothold

 

[dba]

B. BASH,

as of today I have

2 yellow tail damsels
1 Clown
1 Emerald Crab
3 hermit crabs
3 Nassarius Snail
1 leather mushroom (came with live rock, it was dying at first but now it's bigger and healthier)


The reason i am testing calcium and alk is because I want to introduce corals eventually and want to get my tank stable on levels for a little while before i introduce some softies

 

[lnevo]

You need to slow down. Thats a lot of bio load for a tank that just cycled. Softies don't care so much about calcium. I wouldn't worry about it yet. For now especially with the fish you've added, just watch your ammonia nitrite and nitrate levels and be ready to change water if you see any spikes. I would go ahead and add some softies in like two weeks and such. After you've been going like 3 months start worrying about levels of calcium and alk, and only then if your gonna do lps and sps. Water changes alone should provide you sufficient stability for a new tank.

 

[dba]

You need to slow down. Thats a lot of bio load for a tank that just cycled. Softies don't care so much about calcium. I wouldn't worry about it yet. For now especially with the fish you've added, just watch your ammonia nitrite and nitrate levels and be ready to change water if you see any spikes. I would go ahead and add some softies in like two weeks and such. After you've been going like 3 months start worrying about levels of calcium and alk, and only then if your gonna do lps and sps. Water changes alone should provide you sufficient stability for a new tank.

the damsels have been in for a bit, the CUC has been in for 4 days now.. clown today..

another reason i am worried about calcium, i had bleaching on my LR

(see this post http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/reefs-beginners/146128-help-whats-happening-my-lr.html)

some research i did has lead me to believe that this is because of high calcium.

 

[Adamp_holydiver]

Your alk and ph must be off too

 

[Adamp_holydiver]

Cal alk and ph is tied together like tires engine and transmission they work together that may help but yea softies are ok with everything but live bleaching might be a little concerning

 

[dba]

my ph is 8.3

 

[Adamp_holydiver]

Oops I'm sorry I missed that

 

[Adamp_holydiver]

Did you check mag level ?

 

[dba]

i don't have a test kit for mag, going to get it soon.

 

[Adamp_holydiver]

i talked to my "mentor" about it and if you tank is fairly new like only a few months you sould just keep up with doing water changes regularly every 7 to 10 days ( depending on how many fish, crab, shrimp, snails, tinny star fish, etc ) eventualy everything should level out nicely.
how ever are you adding any additives if yes then stop

and make regular cal tests

only time and WC can fix this

 

[Adamp_holydiver]

how ever read this this helped me when i started
http://web.archive.org/web/20021127040526/http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2002/chem.htm

you should have it between 400 and 500 for excelent growth i think

 

[B.BASH]

personally i would wait 3-4 weeks after a cycle to start doing water changes during this time feed your fish once daily keep an eye on your nitrate if they get any higher do a water change your bacteria need to get established clean water has no nutrients for that bacteria to feed off therefore wc is slowing that process after that do reg weekly wc of 10-20% after several wcs your cal will level out then you need to keep things stable cal 420 alk 9-10 mg around 1300 then start adding corals slowly and monitor your paramaters and adjust accordingly as you add livestock your demand for these nutrients will change stable parameters are key to success