Calcium and Alkalinity too high....I think?

[miston]

12 Gallon Nano Cube with
-- 12 to 15 lbs live rock
-- about a 1.5+ inch live sand bed (a mix of CaribSea Arag-Alive Bahahma Oolite and Florida Crushed Coral)
-- 6 scarlett hermit crabs
-- 11 nassarius snails
-- 6 astrea snails
-- 4 cerith snails
-- Yellow Watchman Goby
-- Randalli Pistol Shrimp

Temp 80
pH 8.2
SG 1.0255
Nitrite 0.05
Nitrate 0.1
Ammonia 0.1
Calcium 495
Alkalinity 14.1

Using Salifert test kits, SeaChem Reef Salt with a Typhoon III RO/DI and that's it. I purchased B-Ionic 2 Part Calcium Buffer System, but have yet to even use it.

How do I get my Alkalinity down? Is my calcium too high? Where is this high calcium coming from? I have yet to test my RO/DI waters calcium, since I figured the RO/DI would remove it.

 

[Anonymous]

Always check the most obvious first, how old are your test kits, and if you'll pardon the question, are you sure you are using them correctly? The calculations can be a bit tricky. The Ca level you posted isn't such a much, but the Alk is worrysome if it is indeed that high.

I'd take a sample to your LFS and have them test it, then let's start narrowing things down.

The other issue I see is that you have nitrates, nitrites and ammonia showing up, which I would be far more nervous about, especially the ammonia! How old is this tank?

 

[miston]

tested a second time, now its still 13.28

The Ammonia, Nitrate, and Nitrate are all very low, almost zero. Nitrite and Ammonia increased a bit since the last time I tested (about 8 days ago), since I've started feeding a bit and I killed a mithrax crab and just buried him in the sand.

 

[Anonymous]

Any ammonia reading is an issue to be concerned about miston, but again back on point how old are your test kits, and how long has the tank been established?

 

[miston]

the test kits were purchased in March, the tank finished cycling in August, but I've just added my cleaning crew about a month ago.

 

[Anonymous]

Well, I would still take the (relatively) easy way and have your LFS test the water for you-test all parameters. It's not unheard of for test kits to go bad. Then, if the reading is the same the only thing that comes to mind is the possibility you have gotten a bad batch of salt-that has also been known to happen! Have you ever tested your water after you make it up, but before you add it to the tank to get a baseline?

 

[miston]

no, but I think this has something to do with it:

Buffering in Artificial Seawater

In artificial seawater the buffering can be very different than in natural seawater. In artificial seawater at pH 8.2 made using Seachem salt, where the boric acid/borate system is artificially very high (12X normal)3, the boric acid/borate system would provide a huge b = 2.3 meq/L/pH unit, which is a whopping 78% of the total buffering of b = 2.9 meq/L/pH unit . That amount of total buffering (3.5X the amount in normal seawater) will go a long way toward making the pH much more stable than in natural seawater, and is the reason that Seachem incorporates it into the salt mix. Whether this benefit is worth the concerns presented later in this article about unusually high boron concentrations is up to aquarists to decide for themselves.



But I don't know if I need to change anything?!? I did find this:

I suggest that aquarists maintain alkalinity between about 2.5 and 4 meq/L (7-11 dKH, 125-200 ppm CaCO3 equivalents), although higher levels are acceptable as long as they do not depress the calcium level.

So as long as my calcium is okay, I guess its fine?

 

[Anonymous]

I don't really know, never having personally kept a tank that high so I am not comfy saying "sure that's okay" if you know what I mean. A factor may be that you have no coral, so there isn't much in the way of uptake going on of these nutrients.

Hopefully someone else will chime in here.