PDA

View Full Version : KH problem


KSzegi
09/27/2010, 12:57 PM
When testing my water today I found that the KH was only 6-7. Using the API test ... I say 6 to 7 because at 6 it was yellow but not bright - at 7 it was the bright yellow. I have been consistently testing at 9 or 10 for the past 10 months. I am wondering what has caused this drop and how to best raise it without raising my PH - which is already slightly high at an 8.5 (has also run 8.4 - 8.5 for the past 10 months).

I have not made any changes to the tank. Last water change was on Wednesday .... approximately 45 gallons (180 gallon tank about 210 total with sump/fuge). Have not changed the phosar or chemi pure in two months.

The only other problem was for some reason my salinity had jumped up to 1.028 (normally 1.025). Am correcting that now by removing some water and dripping in rodi replacement.

I know it's not low enough to panic yet but it seems like a huge drop from what it was in a weeks time with no changes .......

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

bertoni
09/27/2010, 04:27 PM
Well, many tanks consume 2-3 dKH per day. How much has been dosed into the system for alkalinity, and is there any coralline algae or stony coral growth in the system?

KSzegi
09/28/2010, 05:06 AM
I have not had to dose the tank at all yet. I have only been doing water changes of about 20% every two weeks. Yes there is considerable coralline algae on the rocks but I do keep it cleaned off the glass. And yes on the stony corals also - several rapidly growing acros and also quite a few lps. Is it possible that the tank has just reached the point where the growth is enough that it is starting to use that much more dKH each day? I would have thought that the dKH numbers would have gradually started getting lower but I can honestly say that even though the tank is not heavy with corals, they have really seemed to be growing an amazing amount, especially over the past month or so.

My concern is also that the balance of the Ca/alk/ph is off. My PH is still running at 8.5 and my Ca is 500 - 550. Mg. 1500.

Do I just start dosing the alk for now to bring that back up and monitor .... or do I concern myself that there is some other problem?

HighlandReefer
09/28/2010, 05:41 AM
Sounds like your tank is now to the point where it needs supplementing or your test kit has reached its life expectancy and needs to be replaced.

bertoni
09/28/2010, 03:09 PM
I agree. I suspect the coralline is just taking off, but you could check some freshly-mixed saltwater as a sort of sanity test, or get a LFS to check a sample.

KSzegi
09/28/2010, 03:21 PM
Thanks for the input. Mixing up a fresh batch of saltwater tonight and will test that. Will also get a new test kit and perhaps run a sample into the lfs. Did dose with 4 tsp. of baking soda today ..... will test tonight and maybe confirm my results with another source before dosing more tomorrow.

bertoni
09/28/2010, 03:39 PM
You're welcome!

Sounds like a good plan. :)