I'm going to try not to make this confusing, lol. I switched from using a Red Sea kit to using a Hannah checker for my calcium a couple of months ago. I don't remember exactly what happened, but at some point I started doubting the accuracy of the Hannah checker. I went back to my Red Sea kit and it showed that my calcium was well over 500, high enough that the solution never turned purple. Almost two weeks ago, I shut off my dosing pump for the calcium and other than a 20 gallon water change I have not added anything else to the tank. Tank. I've been checking my calcium periodically and the Red Sea kit still showed over 500 PPM. Tonight, I also checked my hand and checker again and it showed 399. I tested some recently mixed salt water I had and it showed 455 when my Red Sea kit showed 430 for the same batch of salt water. My alkalinity continues to drop so I don't see how it's possible that my calcium is not dropping at all. I hope one of you geniuses can tell me what I'm missing. My alk is currently 8.6 and magnesium is 1400
Calcium issue
- Thread starter Dmac
- Start date
If you have the Hanna with the graduated pipette it can be very accurate. With the sample size so small, any variations will throw off the results.
Are you using RO or distilled water?
Are you making sure you're putting exactly 10ml in?Just a tiny bit less will drive up the result.
Are the curvettes clean and residue free?
With the pipette could you have pushed the plunger down to far taking the sample?
Another thing you can do is take a sample to a member or a lfs for testing.
Are you using RO or distilled water?
Are you making sure you're putting exactly 10ml in?Just a tiny bit less will drive up the result.
Are the curvettes clean and residue free?
With the pipette could you have pushed the plunger down to far taking the sample?
Another thing you can do is take a sample to a member or a lfs for testing.
I'm using distilled water and I keep all cuvettes clean with distilled water. I double checked all testing procedures and give no issues. I'm not as worried about the Hannah checker though. I'm curious why, according to my Red Sea kit, my calcium is so high and hasn't dropped in almost two weeks when though I stopped dosing. This is even more odd because it read a different sample just fine. This leads me to believe it's accurate and that somehow my calcium is just crazy high. Don't know what to trust here. I definitely agree I need to take a sample somewhere else though.
My calcium is bouncing all over too. I’m just going to let it ride as long as it stays above 450
i researched problems with high calcium and couldn't really find anything beyond screwing up the alk ratio and being a little hard on the pumps.
but im not a water geek so idk. my corals look fine
but im not a water geek so idk. my corals look fine
I never test calcium. I find it infuriating (especially those titration tests). Hanna reportedly is also all over the place so I never got their kit. When I used to dose and test calcium, I was happy if I was in the ballpark of 400-500.
