KH at 13 and rising?

[Flushdraw]

I've been setting up a new 75gal reef for the last two months. It contains

tons of live rock taken from established tanks, and few misc. corals. No

fish, snails, crabs, etc are in the tank. No sand bed at this time either. I've

been adding Iodite, calcium, and Kent superbuffer DKH only when

needed. Target KH is 10-11.



Well, I dosed the tank with Tropic Marin's bio calcium this morning at the

recommended dosage, and tonight my KH was up from 10 to 13! The last

time I added buffer was several days ago.


The tank looks healthy, but I'm worried. What can make KH rise, and how

do I get it down? Should I just wait? Any help is appreciated!

Flushdraw

[briancarlile]

Tropic marin bio calcium is a Calcium Carbonate supplement. So it not only adds Ca, but also slightly increases the Kh. The other noce thing about the product is that it contains all 70 trace elements (just like TM salt). A 13dKh is nothing to worry about, in fact you can safely run a tank at 14 if you want. As your Kh increases beyond 14-15 it tends to have such a stabilization effect that it inhibits your pH from increasing above 8.0-8.1, but it also inhibits it from dropping as well. This effect can be desireable to Fish Only tanks, or in aquariums with stressed or sick fish.

my advice is to roll with it for a few days, and discontinue superbuffer til needed.