Calcium to high..Why?
- Thread starter Raven
- Start date
Mike
Retired Moderator
The magnesium/alk/ph and calcium all depend on each other for stabillity, so chances are the other perams are out too.
Thanks warr - i've tested with two diff test kits. Thus i am sure about the readings....
Mekaeel
Moderator
then i would suggest going with post no 5
Like the Englishman said the first time he saw a giraffe - there ain't no such animal...
If the calcium was really that high you would have serious calcium carbonate precipitation - is the water a milky color, and are the pumps, etc. covered in white precipitate? If not, I would suggest that you have a third test done, as it's really unlikely that the calcium level is really that high.
The other possibility is that there could be something in the water which is giving a false high reading on the test kits.
Hennie
Like the Englishman said the first time he saw a giraffe - there ain't no such animal...
If the calcium was really that high you would have serious calcium carbonate precipitation - is the water a milky color, and are the pumps, etc. covered in white precipitate? If not, I would suggest that you have a third test done, as it's really unlikely that the calcium level is really that high.
The other possibility is that there could be something in the water which is giving a false high reading on the test kits.
Hennie
Nope - no white precipitate, no milky color in the water....
Meaning that the readings are wrong (both mine and the LFS)..
Meaning that i've paid R250 for nothing....
Any advice for a new test kit - and what to do in mean time?
I'll stop dosing the kalk for now.
I'm in Bloem for most of this week, but I can bring a test kit with me when I go to Vaal Park this coming Friday (6th June) - if you want to pop around with a water sample I can test it for you with a kit that I know is giving reasonably accurate results. Let me know...
Hennie
Hennie
From my understanding of calcium, is that it becomes insoluble at higher pH and or alkalinity. So if there were a situation of precipitation the pH/alkalinity should be relatively high. On the flip side, if the pH is low, calcium is more soluble. aka calc reactor. Making it possible to attain readings in the 500ppm region. Do you not have a swimming pool test kit to check your water.
Quinton
Smarty-pants Newbie
520 ppm Ca is not that high if your kH is also high. See this (excellent!) article by Randy Holmes-Farley (aka "the kalk guru") for a detailed explanation:
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2002/chem.htm
My guess would be that you simply overdosed with kalk. If your KH is also high, you can just leave it and it will all come right. See the article for details.
Q
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2002/chem.htm
My guess would be that you simply overdosed with kalk. If your KH is also high, you can just leave it and it will all come right. See the article for details.
Q
Don't you think that the pH would have gone through the roof long before the Ca became that high...
Oh, and here's a link to another article by Dr. Randy, which explains the concept of supersaturation of calcium in sea water even better
Hennie
Hennie
I don't think so. The higher the pH the less soluble calcium.
A sky high pH would not tolerate high calcium levels. ie bi carbonate ions become carbonate ions. Precipitation would then mean lower alkalinity and calcium. The only time this would be concurrent would be shortly after a heavy dose of kalk providing that the alkalinity and pH is low (tank) before the dose. And this would only be temporary (few hours)Equilibrium state would be achieved fairly quickly.
If as Raven indicated calcium levels are consistently (excluding test kit faulty) high then the way to get them back to normal would be to slowly dose with baking soda.