should i start to dose cal?

[olie]

i have had my tank cycling for 3 weeks do you guys think i should start to dose cal in the tank?and is the alk to high?

ph 8.2
nitrate betwen 50 and 100
nitrite 0
alk 11.8
ammonia 0
cal 170

[Ricunger]

I like my alk to be around 9 ish. That calcium has to get raised i would start to add it daily in small doses to bring it up.

What are your mag levels? & what salt mix are you using thats odd it so low. Also tell me what test kit you are using for the calcium.

[Tswifty]

Until you have corals in the tank, water changes should be sufficient to maintain your levels.

That Ca level is ridiculously low, I would question that reading. Especially if you have nothing in the tank drawing on the Ca.

What type of salt mix are you using?

[olie]

i am using Instant Ocean Salt and the test kits are salifert test kits

[Tswifty]

Here are the levels you should be getting. I would take a water sample to your LFS to have the results confirmed.

Originally posted by Billybeau1
Here is a list of what I measured for the big three in a number of the salt mixes we use today. This is intended as a guideline and I, in no way, guarantee these figures. All I can say is they were all tested under the same conditions, with a number of different brand test kits, using the same methods for each test. I believe these numbers are reasonably what you can expect from these salts mixed at 35 ppt or 1.0264

A special thanks to Bertoni for putting it in nice form.

[rickofco]

what is your sg and how are you measuring it(is it high enough).

[otrlynn]

Originally posted by olie
i am using Instant Ocean Salt and the test kits are salifert test kits

I recently discovered, through posting here, that I wasn't using the Salifert test kit correctly. I questioned what the end point when dripping in solution #3 should be. For me, the test went from pink, to purple, to purplish blue, to true blue. I was taking the reading when it hit the purplish blue. I was told that the true reading is when it is really blue and no further color changes occur. The suggestion was to stop and record the point at which you believe it is blue, then add a couple more drops. If there is no futher color change, then your first reading was correct. If it is still changing, you haven't hit the endpoint yet. My point is that perhaps you Ca is really higher than you think, depending upon how you are testing.

[reefergeorge]

Thanks for the chart Tswifty8. I use IO, and my perams are exactly as posted with 10% weekly.