Calcium help

[Moorepower]

Im not that new to reef tanks had one before for over a year

75 gal tank about 15 gal sump ( 1 canister filter about 150gph use for my chem pads)

Have soft and hard corals, clowns, anemones, polips, mushrooms, decorator crab, snails and other cleaners

Having trouble raising my cal levels
Current levels
Cal 280
Po4 .64-1pp
Kh 180-240
No3 0-20
SG 1.023

I did a 20 gal water change last week and added instant ocean reef accelerator and cal booster ( cal was 280 on Tuesday) I added enough cal booster for 150 gallons since I was so low and I'm surprised it's at the same level when I tested today?

Chem pads I'm using are nitrate pad and pura filter pad to remove (solids organics ammonia phosphates medications led copper and silicate) using the 2nd pad because I had a heater break in my sump and release a black sludge in my sump. Non was in my tank but my anemones and all coral where closed up. Lost about 4 pieces of corals that was about 2 weeks ago did like a 50% water change

My first tank I owned I had no problems keeping cal levels up high. Don't have a magnesium tester yet will get one today.

So should I do another water change when my new ro/di unit comes? How often can I add the cal booster? The package and online search does not say how often I can use it?

Never used the pura pad before could it be sucking out calcium? Label says full spectrum chemical filtration good for reef fish pond invertaberys and says nothing about calcium on the label

[Moorepower]

Was about to clean my canister filter today and replace the nitrate pads and chemical pad been 2 weeks since I had the accident

[Moorepower]

Any help would be great

[fijisrfr]

Do you test for mag? Low mag can lead to low ca.

[Moorepower]

I don't have a mag test yet. I'm going to pick one up today. Didn't buy one yet because I never had a problem with my first tank ( I had a mag test then). If mag is low should I do a water change also?

[thegrun]

If your magnesium is low you do not need to do a water change, simply raise the magnesium (a maximum of 100 ppm per day). Be warned it takes a lot of supplement to raise your magnesium levels. Also, why is your SG so low? For corals and invbertibrates it should be up to at least 1.025.

[Moorepower]

I normally keep it 23-24 in my tank. But if you think 25 is the best I will slowly raise it also. Even with adding magnesium it takes a lot of supplements? Going to buy mag test now will post in a few hours

[Moorepower]

Ok checked my mag I'm at 1020 the LFS said to get Kent marine Tech M Mag. The bottle says use xxxx per gallon to raise it 18.3 ppm a day. Your saying I can do about 100ppm per day. So is it safe to double the amount they say to use or more? Or just only do the 18 per day? I thought it was my mag when I made this post but from the past I never had a problem with my mag before so I thought why spend the money on the tester lol

[nlgill13]

what type of salt are you using? Usually aquarium salts will have Mag 1300+ ppm, Cal 400+ ppm and Alk 8+ dKH.

SPS and LPS will deplete these levels (especially Cal and Alk) over time. This is when its necessary to dose these supplements. In your case, I would dose 4x the 18.3 ppm amount of mag each day until the level is back above 1300 ppm. It might also help to do another water change (probably just a 25% WC).

[Moorepower]

Do a water change before I keep dosing the mag? Does not make sense to raise it then do a WC. I use instant ocean sea salt 160 gallon bucket. I needed some salt real fast and it was at a good price $40. The only thing I'm doing different then my last tank is that pad to remove the chemicals from the heater breaking. I might take the pads out since everyone looks a lot better I'm sure it has cleaned out most of the poisons

[nlgill13]

I would do a WC first. I also use instant ocean and have found that the mag is really high. This would be good in your case.

[Moorepower]

Ok I will do a water change and remove the chem filter pads on Sunday if my new ro/di unit pumps out enough water lol. I'm doing a test to see how long it takes to make water. And after my water change I will test the mag again. That's the only thing I can think of that's killing my levels is that pad

And I will slowly raise ,y tank to .025

[nlgill13]

I would suggest waiting a day after a WC to do water tests. This way all the new water and old water have mixed together.

One way to raise your salinity is to take set aside a couple of gallons of premixed saltwater (at 1.025) and use it as top off water until your salinity is back at 1.025.

[Moorepower]

Ok. Ya last tank I kept it about 23/24 and everyone was happy coral grew like crazy.

Now everything is crazy mag and cal is low. My puffer sleeps on my tank heaters. Lol. That's him as my avatar

[nlgill13]

hmmm puffer sleeping on a heater, seems strange. If you have enough room in your sump, you might want to put the heaters in there.

Natural sea water is closer to 1.026, but most coral can handle anywhere in the range of 1.023-1.026 without much difference.

[Moorepower]

I have room for maybe one. Lol but I think I want to leave one in there for his bed. He was sleeping right behind my powerhead. And my hippo tang I have a small and bigger one they like to squeeze inside a rock I have it's funny the big one backs into the hole and his tail sticks out the other side of the tight hole

[jamesbaur13]

I looked up what you asking about, here's what I came up with...

http://www.webmd.com/osteoporosis/de...es-dropdown=MA

[Moorepower]

Not sure what that link was for? my fish don't smoke. I did see my pompom crab trying to make money with a X rated cheerleader web site but I shut that down fast lol

[RA]

As others have mentioned you need to get your salinity to 1.025. If it is lees than that then everything will measure low. Also do you have a refractometer to measure salinity? If not it could be off from what you think it is. I know this was already asked but what salt are you using? Cheaper salts are usually low on cal and mag.

[Moorepower]

Not sure i want to buy a refrac yet. I use instant ocean salt

[Laddy]

Get back to basics and take a step back. I don't think your salinity needs to be raised. Buy Mg at Bulk Reef Supply, mix in a gallon water jug with RODI, raise your tank perimeters to roughly 1300; when doing water changes add MG to raise the levels to the tank water you'll be removing.....a lot of people fight their perimeters by doing large water changes with water mixed below what they want. THEN start retesting for Ca. Hope this helps.