High Ca and Low Ph

[MelanieF]

Another save for my tank from the folks here at RDO...

After reading this thread I invested in a Seachem Alk & Magnesium test kit. My total alk was 3 meq/L, total borate alk = 1 meq/L and thus total carbonate alk = 2 meq/L. Calcium was at 580 and pH was at 8.01 during day and 7.81 at night.

Dosed Seachem's calcium buffer to get the alk to 8.3 and all is looking well. Still trying to figure out the exact rate I need to dose B-Ionic for maintaining that level but it's a step in the right direction....

For those of us w/out any chemistry background this can all be a little intimidating sometimes.

 

[Patsfann]

Sorry for not updating, but I had to let the tank be and get away from the measurments for a while, I was worried that I would become part of the problem.

It turns out that my Salifert ph kit does not seem to be sensitive enough, it always read 8.0 regardless of the ph being higher (8.3) I found this out by having the ph tested at a lfs and using other ph test kits.

Also my electronic ph meter has some "play" in the adjustments, I am not sure if this is normal but I recalibrated it after testing the ph with other kits and adjusted it to read the 8.3 that the other ph kits read. I then went back and checked it with (fresh) ph cal solutions and it read those correctly.

After overdosing somewhat with the ph buffer because of the inaccurate readings, I did some water changes.

The tank now has the following parameters

Temp 80.0
PH 8.2-8.3
Sg 1.028
Kh 8.3 dKH
Alk 2.97 meq/L
Ca greater that 500ppm

Is this high Ca reading because I dont have anything in my tank to absorb calcium? I have been reluctant to add anything to the tank because of my water paramaters. I did take a chance and add some Zoa's and mushroom's they are doing well. Some fish I purchased at the same time did not do well, instant Ick, kick ick worked well but could not save all of them. I've learned a few lessons, about measurments, and quaranteen is not optional.

Any comments especially about the high Ca would be appreciated, thanks for everyones help.

 

[ChrisRD]

Your SG and Ca look a bit high but nothing to worry about IMO. Your parameters look fine to me. The Ca will fall on it's own once you get some coralline or calcifying corals growing in the system. If you're not dosing anything the elevated Ca levels must be coming from your salt mix (assuming the reading is accurate)...

If you've had problems with ich your best bet is to remove any fish to a separate treatment tank and keep the main system fallow (no fish) for 6-8 weeks.

HTH