Calcium dropping Alkalinity rising

joeboots82520

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I have been watching my calcium level drop for the last 3 weeks and cannot figure out why.
Info I can provide:
My dosing containers have been dropping at the same levels as usual and equally. Both pumps are operating and are controlled by my apex.
Reading and changes
Oct 14
cal 404. alk 7.28
Oct 25
cal 350. alk 7.67
Nov 3
cal 347. alk 8.01
Todays readings were taken earlier then I usually test in between the end of my alk dosing and before my cal starts dosing for the day. The other two readings were taken between 1-2pm on the respective days.

I do water changes every 5-7 days haven't changed salt mixes and I have been using the same bag for approx 2 months.

The only things I can possibly think it could be is somehow I forgot to add one scoop when mixing up the two part which is highly unlikely or my test kit is giving a bad reading (using hanna checker) and I know people dont like them but I have been using it for two years and when I first started using it checked it against my Red Sea kit and was getting fairly accurate readings so stayed with it.

The reagents exp date is not until 2018 but I have new reagent packs on hand which is going to be the first thing I try.

If anyone has any other suggestions or ideas it would be appreciated. Also at this point what should I do to correct this issue if it isn't just a bad test reading?

Thanks for any input.


UPDATE: it was the reagent I noticed that where I had the bottle stored under it was a dried crystallized spot....the botte was apparently leaking and being open must have affected it. Sorry for the false alarm.
 
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Randy Holmes-Farley

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UPDATE: it was the reagent I noticed that where I had the bottle stored under it was a dried crystallized spot....the botte was apparently leaking and being open must have affected it. Sorry for the false alarm.

No problem. I general, if things seem off, just dose a bit more of one or the other. :)
 
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joeboots82520

joeboots82520

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yea thats what I figured but wanted reassurance....I checked the amount needed on the brs calculator to get back to my normal level and it was something like 700ml worth of calcium chloride which is two weeks worth of dosing for me freaked out a bit
 
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