calcium rising???

wisco-reef · 03/06/2009, 10:39 PM

On thursday everyone of my fish died for starters, I posted alot of threads ever since that day, and all of my water parameters were fine. All of the coral look's good execpt my colony of toad stoole. Their laying down instead of standing up but their poylops are still coming in and out like they usually do. They are also giving off what look's like dead skin. I'm not sure if that's them just agitated or what. Anyway I did a 10gl water change yesterday and tested my water today and everything is right where it should be expect calcium. It's at almost 600. Since Thursday I've been running my skimmer 24/7. So I was wondering if anybody has and information or suggestion's as is to why my calcium is still so high. But on the plus side my Red Slime is doing great, infact it's really taken off since Thursday. I'm just trying to lighten the mood after the loss of afew nice fish. Thanks.

Saltliquid · 03/06/2009, 10:55 PM

Thatâ€™s a shame wisco-reef.

Especially if you were getting a little attached to some.

The mainly live rock based systems can be bit of a pain, if that is what is running your tank.

Unclean external filters can be as bad at times.

I use dry sections to compensate for these things that are unexpected.

If you use calcium based substrate and live rock in your tank and not a huge amount of coral and not a lot of coralline growing,than that is why you have over the top calcium.

These types of substrate can be annoying with lulls in PH, acidity variations, and produce intense cal levels.

I bet there would be a bit of a co2 thing happening in your tank as well.

I hope your temp is good and if the cal is way up sometimes the water becomes to hard for available oxygen.

My tank has certain filtration to encourage 600 plus cal,but the dry sections sought out possible probs.

Sorry about the fish.

drparker · 03/07/2009, 01:20 AM

Have you verified your test kits are good by using other kits or having your water tested by someone else. As calcium gets higher it's harder to keep alkalinity up without getting precipitate happening in the tank. You might want to post this ? with all your parameters in the chemistry forum. What is your substrate? What salt are you using? Do you dose or add anything? do you use kalk for top-off? Red Slime is a bacteria so if it has "Taken Off" then some nutrient is feeding it.

otrlynn · 03/07/2009, 08:17 AM

I am sorry about your fish--that is a bummer. We have all had fish die; the thing is to try to figure out what happened and solve the problem before (slowly) adding fish. I'm not sure how calcium could be that high unless you were dosing 2-part or adding a calcium supplement, so I would try to verify your numbers by using another test kit. But if it were really high, it could drive down the alk, which could contribute to fish deaths. Check out this thread from the Reef Chem. forum. Are you using one of the salts that is high in calcium? If so, that could account for why your Ca is on the high side, but still 600 is suspect. If you post your current parameters, perhaps you can get more help here.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...readid=1287118

03/06/2009, 10:39 PM	#1
wisco-reef Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 117	calcium rising??? On thursday everyone of my fish died for starters, I posted alot of threads ever since that day, and all of my water parameters were fine. All of the coral look's good execpt my colony of toad stoole. Their laying down instead of standing up but their poylops are still coming in and out like they usually do. They are also giving off what look's like dead skin. I'm not sure if that's them just agitated or what. Anyway I did a 10gl water change yesterday and tested my water today and everything is right where it should be expect calcium. It's at almost 600. Since Thursday I've been running my skimmer 24/7. So I was wondering if anybody has and information or suggestion's as is to why my calcium is still so high. But on the plus side my Red Slime is doing great, infact it's really taken off since Thursday. I'm just trying to lighten the mood after the loss of afew nice fish. Thanks.

03/06/2009, 10:55 PM	#2
Saltliquid Registered Member. Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Brisbane Australia Posts: 911	sad Thatâ€™s a shame wisco-reef. Especially if you were getting a little attached to some. The mainly live rock based systems can be bit of a pain, if that is what is running your tank. Unclean external filters can be as bad at times. I use dry sections to compensate for these things that are unexpected. If you use calcium based substrate and live rock in your tank and not a huge amount of coral and not a lot of coralline growing,than that is why you have over the top calcium. These types of substrate can be annoying with lulls in PH, acidity variations, and produce intense cal levels. I bet there would be a bit of a co2 thing happening in your tank as well. I hope your temp is good and if the cal is way up sometimes the water becomes to hard for available oxygen. My tank has certain filtration to encourage 600 plus cal,but the dry sections sought out possible probs. Sorry about the fish.

03/07/2009, 08:17 AM	#4
otrlynn Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Chester County PA Posts: 1,508	I am sorry about your fish--that is a bummer. We have all had fish die; the thing is to try to figure out what happened and solve the problem before (slowly) adding fish. I'm not sure how calcium could be that high unless you were dosing 2-part or adding a calcium supplement, so I would try to verify your numbers by using another test kit. But if it were really high, it could drive down the alk, which could contribute to fish deaths. Check out this thread from the Reef Chem. forum. Are you using one of the salts that is high in calcium? If so, that could account for why your Ca is on the high side, but still 600 is suspect. If you post your current parameters, perhaps you can get more help here. http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...readid=1287118 __________________ Lynn 1 horse, 1 dog, 2 cats, small pond with a few koi. The fish tank is gone.

03/07/2009, 01:20 AM	#3
drparker Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Palatine, IL Posts: 2,652	Have you verified your test kits are good by using other kits or having your water tested by someone else. As calcium gets higher it's harder to keep alkalinity up without getting precipitate happening in the tank. You might want to post this ? with all your parameters in the chemistry forum. What is your substrate? What salt are you using? Do you dose or add anything? do you use kalk for top-off? Red Slime is a bacteria so if it has "Taken Off" then some nutrient is feeding it.