Calcium nightmare

OK so here is my problem. I am adding twice the recomended doseage of Kent Turbo Calcium and I cannot get my level to go above 200.
History and info:
2 1/2 month old tank 55gal hex
HOT magnum 250 filter w/carbon
two power heads 1 Koralia 3, and 1 Maxi Jett 1200
50+ pounds live rock 4" live sand substrate
175watt MH
Stock:
1 Emerald Crab
1 Pink Spot Goby
1 Bullseye Pistol Shrimp
1 Six Line Wrasse
2 Fake Percula's
1 Blue Hippo Tang
10 Snails I would have more if the Goby would stop picking them of the rocks
10 Hermit Crabs the Goby likes these also
2 small birds nest frags
2 mushroom rocks
1 Kenya tree
1 Softie that I dont know about, it looks like a mushroom (found in your lawn) when the polyps are retracted
I had my water tested when the tank was one month old
NO3 10
7.7 dKH
CA 410
1.025 SG
MG 1260
I did a 5gal water change with lightly mixed RO water after the test to bring my Specific gravity down. I was directed by the LFS to start dosing part A & B. I have been using Turbo Calcium and Super Buffer. I started a weekly dosing of Turbo Strontium
I retested the water one moth later and the results
NO3 2
16+ dKH
170 Calcium
These results are with daily dosing of part A & B. So I dosed the buffer only one time over the next two weeks and added a 1/4 tsp of the turbo calcium daily with no water changes. I only topped off the tank with RO water, no water changes. Here are the frustrating results:
N03 5
18 dKH
Ca 200
SG 1.020
No new pink Coralline algae visible, the shells on the snails look like they are deteriorating.

Quit dosing for a while and let the Alk come down to the 8-11 range. As the Alk comes down it will allow the CA to come up. Keep testing the water and then start dosing again only if needed. SG of 1.020 is a little low in my opinion too.

(wish I could remember who posted this concept the first time, but it helped me)
one way to think of calcium and alk is that you have a bowl full of marbles, two different colors of marbles, right now your bowl has more alk marbles then calcium marbles.
now only so many can fit in the bowl at the same time, so like mike said above, if you let the alk come down, then there will be room for more calcium.

No, imo you need to keep dosing the calcium.  Your calcium is not going to jump up on it's own.  But QUIT dosing any alkalinity.  That means no buffer and no 2-part.  If your numbers are correct you need to add ~20 tsp of turbo calcium to your tank to get up close to 400 ppm.  This will drive down you alkalinity.  Retest everything after you've done this.  Add the turbo calcium at 10 tsp/day.

oh and get your salinity up too.

What kind of salt do you use?  I have found that some salts raise Alk or Ca more than others.  When I used Oceanic for example I couldn't get my Alk up.  I changed to IO and Ocean Pure and haven't had any level issues since.  You may want to try raising your salinity with a diff kind of salt.  Salinity is usually around 1.022-1.025 for reefs.  I keep my tanks at 1.0235

we had this problem in our large cube. the alk was 16 also and calcium was 200. I continued the weekly water changes. Only dosed calcium daily(b-ionic, but you can use any calcium additive as long as it doesnt effect alk), and it took about 3 weeks and FINALLY everything was back to normal. If your corals are not using the alk very quickly just letting it come down will take a while

I use oceanic salt. The recommendation of 10 teaspoons of turbo calcium seems high to me, since the bottle said to add 1/8 teaspoon on a lightly loaded reef per 50 gallons and I thought I was pushing it when I added 1/4 teaspoon. I believe it will take a while for the alkalinity to come down due to the lack of coral.
That is funny I never thought of just taking out some water and adding the salt to that and then pour it back in duh .

The manufacturers directions are very cautious because they don't want anyone that doesn't know how to use the stuff to come back complaining. That dosage is also for a tank that only needs the levels to be maintained. Your is a tank that needs a fairly major adjustment. It's okay to add that much.

Edited by Mark Peterson - March 01 2008 at 4:01pm

oh and i just noticed your name. deep fried oprah? as in the tv host.

monitor your magnesium as well!