Calcium a little high

[Marke86]

Ive been using oceanic sea salt. "Which doesnt have much calcium" but my calcium is at 520 the LFS said it was a little high but my GSP are growing fast and my xzenias are dividing rapidly. How could my calcium get so high or is that even considered to high im new to the calcium levels so please help.
thanx
Mark

 

[Doc]

Hell, I target my calcium at 500+ so I wouldn't worry about it. That is perfect. I also like my Dkh to be about 12 or so. corals seem to grow faster that way. Don't worry at all. 600 is on the almost too high end.

-Doc

 

[Altohombre]

Actually Oceanic tests the highest out of any salts for calcium. I dunno where you heard that it is low. It usually tests in the 480+ range. I found some research done on salts on the web where they compared them all.

I have been wondering about calcium a lot myself after switching to Instant Ocean which is lower in calcium. I started using Purple Up yesterday and with the remaining Oceanic Salt in my tank I am worried my tank will get to that 600 range. What are the problems with high calcium? I know about calcium precipitate, but what exactly does that do to harm my tank?

 

[RyanG]

Calcium precip coats everything with a rock hard coat of calcium that is white and its a bitch to remove.

 

[Altohombre]

hmm would this cover every rock or could it just show up in little spots. I have a couple small areas that have a white coating but I figured they were just some coralline die off from my cycle.

 

[RyanG]

I think it coats everything inside and out can F up equiptment too I think,

 

[yote]

Think snow storm,Alto.Not only will it cover the rocks and stuff,but its hard on your pumps.The calcium that builds up in side will eat the impellers out of em.
When I used instant ocean salt,it was a full on battle to get the calcium level to 300.Do a water change and it would drop back to 280.When I switched to oceanic,my calcium started staying right around 420-440.

 

[Altohombre]

So going between Oceanic and Instant Ocean is gonna be a huge difference in calcium it seems. My tank is still half Oceanic and half Instant Ocean at this point. Plus I am using the Purple Up so I am sure my calcium is nice. I still need to try to figure out the Seifert calcium test better.