Low KH, please give your advice. Thanks

[atxchris1234]

I searched and found no result (to my surprise) Thanks for reading,


I did a check on my levels yesterday and found out a few things which are quite different then they used to be.

First off, its a 30 gal with 250watt 12k DE
I've got about 15-20lbs LR all covered with purple
2-3 inches substrate
CPR HOB protien skimmer
No sump.

Have 1 perc clown
1 Dwarf angel
1 small dwarf lion
Couple crabs, few snails.
Some zoas, Bubble coral, LT plate coral, Frogspawn, BTA, mushrooms, ricordia, toad leather etc.

Okay, so the BTA has been on the fritz a bit lately, so I decided to give my levels a good check. For the first time in a long time there have been some major changes.
Temp 78.1
Sal 1.024
PH 8.3
Nit- 0
Amm - 0
KH- 5



The KH being that low freaked me out a bit. Called the LFS they recommended a kh buffer be used to bring the Kh back up. They say the reason for this is because I have been dosing calcium as well and "most of the time if you dose calcium you have to dose kh as well" This means I'll be supplementing Calcium, Kh, Plus the regular feedings.

I just want to double check with you guys before I start dosing kh and make sure im not making a mistake or if there are other things I should be looking at.

Thanks for the help.

[glennr1978]

How high is your Ca level? Honestly, you probably don't need to dose Ca, regular water changes should be sufficient. Anyway, to answer your question, yes you could use a buffer to raise kh. However, considering your bio load I would think that a few water changes with a quality salt should solve this problem as well.

[ErikH]

Do water changes to bring the quality back to normal. If you are going to dose, test for it. You could dose kalk with an ATO, or home made kalk dripper and not have too much trouble keeping those levels perfect. If you still want to dose, use B-Ionic but still test for it.

[stoneroller]

The reef calculator http://reef.diesyst.com/flashcalc/flashcalc.html is very handy for calculating how much "product" you need to raise KH to your desired level.

Dosing kalkwasser doesn't raise alkalinity, does it?

[CoryDude]

I'll nearly bet your Ca is extremely high. Most likely well above 450 meq/L.

As suggested, don't dose any more Ca and do large water changes to correct the problem. The buffer will help, but won't solve the problem if you continue to dose calcium.

[ErikH]

Dosing kalkwasser doesn't raise alkalinity, does it?

I don't think it will, but don't quote me!

[Bill S]

If you just want to raise alk, you could use anhydrous baking soda. Anhydrous - bake a pound in a glass dish for at least an hour at 300 degrees. Drives off CO2, which lowers your pH if you use it without baking. Look at the reef calculator.

HOWEVER, ALK test kits are notoriously WRONG, reagents don't last long. Also make sure you test for Ca too - don't ever dose anything if you don't test for it. As noted above, regular water changes are the best way to keep things in line.

[atxchris1234]

Thanks a million for the posts. I'll have the water tested for Ca today after work and i'll post up the results. I suppose the only thing that is really confusing me here is that last time I had the ca tested it was about 3 weeks into my dosing, the test came in at 350 ppm which I was told was perfect.

I have been a little lazy on water changes, but I still manage to swap 5 gallons every other week. I figured that would be enough.

Oh well, its a confusing thing this saltwater... Thanks for the advice, i'll have the water tested by my lfs tonight.

[Fish4life]

Kalk does increase KH.

Cheers,

Kurt

[JimD]

Kalk does increase KH.

Cheers,

Kurt

Kalwasser will help 'maintain' Alk once the levels are achieved but it will not dramaticly increase it.

[Fish4life]

Too each his own. My alk went from 7 dkh to 10 dkh after i installed the kalk reactor.

Hope this helps!

Cheers,

Kurt

[ErikH]

The reason for that is because a kalk reactor holds a boat load of kalk! If you add straight kalkwasser to your system via a kalk reactor, it can and will raise your DKH, but that takes a substantial amount. If you use the top off method, you are only using 2 1/4 TSB per 5 gallons of water.... Essentially what I mean is Kalk reactor= tons of kalk where as ATO= very little kalk, diluted into FW.

When I first attempted to dose kalk I put WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY too much. It shot my DKH to 14 or 15.... Tons of water changes later, I got it back to normal parameters, and did MY OWN research and found out I was putting in too much kalk powder into my ATO reservoir...

I have found it easy to dose with a ph monitor. I use ESV, which is not the best brand, but all I have to do is add the above amount and test the PH. If it's not 12, it's too old to use.

[atxchris1234]

The LFS did a test on my water today.

Calcium was 380
Kh was 8

They suggested that I get both of those up just to make sure everything is healthy.

He suggested a target KH of about 11 and a target calcium of about 420.

So I went ahead and dosed for KH.

anything I need to be watching for? BTW my anemone immediately perked up.:applause:

[ErikH]

Have you been doing water changes regularly? That alone will keep your levels balanced without having to dose in a tank with a moderate amount of corals. I would stop dosing, and do regular water changes to see if this problem is fixed that way first. Also, are you testing at the same time? Do you have a fuge light that runs opposite your normal lights? What salt are you using???

[Hamp]

I am a total newbie, but I have been dealing with a similar problem, and thought it might help you. I recently started dosing the b-ionic, and right from the start, my KH shot up to like 13. so I stopped using the first part and continued adding calcium hoping it will drop. Several days later, no drop, so stopped dosing all together. Today I went in and did a full range of tests at LFS including magnesium. My calcium had rapidly dropped in the 2 days that I had stopped dosing to 380, KH stayed at 13, PH 8.3, but my magnesium was at 940 when it should be around 1300(mg/l?). So I know I am having the opposite of your problem, but it seems magnesium is effecting my KH drastically. (If you have a lot of coralline growth I would check this) Also I hear strontium may also be effecting KH levels. Hope this can help.

[atxchris1234]

I do about 5 gallons changed every other week and have never gotten behind more than a week or so. Truthfully I havent checked my levels in about 3-4 weeks, because I used to check pretty much daily and never really had many problems, so I assumed everything was fine. Tropic marin is the salt. I don't have a fuge.

Hamp, where did you go to get a full range test done? I had a test done yesterday, but they didn't test for magnesium or strontium.

[ErikH]

I would stop dosing and get my water in line first. Water changes water changes water changes....

[atxchris1234]

Sounds to me like I need to invest in more test kits.
This way I can monitor all of the parameters daily.

Thanks again for all the help

[Bill S]

A test kit investment is probably a good idea...

You don't have to test daily, once you get things working right.

[Hamp]

Aquatek, talk to Bruce. He has a background in chemistry(I think) and has really helped me through every phase of my tank. He might want to charge a little for the mag test, but it is pretty complicated looking and I would too. I have tested PH, KH, and calcium every day that I have dosed(which isnt long), and not understanding the wierd KH is what sent me to Bruce. That dude can break it down for ya though, and give you some good info.

[SoLiD]

He has a background in chemistry(I think).

So does Bill aka bstreep. (I think) :rofl: :wink_smile:

[bimmerzs]

Hi,

First I would stop dosing, then get your levels tested for Ca/Alk/Ma. As mentioned, I would then get your parameters back to NSW(normal seawater) levels through several larger (20%) water changes. Next after levels are at NSW levels, you should monitor your tank for a week to determine how much Ca/alk/Mg your tank is consuming then continue a balanced dosing schedule if needed . If your tank doesn't have large consumers, then water changes may keep you in check.... but you first must determine that through testing and regular waterchanges. HTH

Cheers,