I don't get my Chemistry

richiet

richiet

Member
So I just picked up a Salifert set of test kits because something was "off" in my tank. So here is what I got:

Mg - 1605
Ca - 540
KH - 17.0 dKH
pH - 8.12

I don't have any fish in the tank at the moment, but the softies and polyps I have all look "good". Good polyp extension and color. I know the KH is crazy high, but the Ca and Mg are just a little off, correct?

How do I get the KH down?

I have a 12g Nano so I've been doing 3-4 gallon water changes for the last 3 days. Will this eventually bring it down?
 
remember that your salt also has these chemicals which isnt gonna bring them down but keep them where they are at if you can avoid water changes for a little bit and keep an eye on your levels they should lower eventually jmo thats what i have noticed
 
Water change!! this just happened to me! you need too do a water change ASAP as your KH can make your Calcium precipitate at that level. It took me a bit to recover from! Ok so just read the bottom of your post! Ok do not dose anymore in your tank just do water changes. your tank is so small you should not have to dose anyways a good water change every two weeks with good quality salt will be fine!!
 
Nope, not dosing anything. I have been doing weekly water changes consistently. In the past month I did add the recommended dose of Reef buffer 2-3 times because I was having pH issues (<7.7 pH). I figured I was having a problem with my Ca/Mg levels, hence ordering the better test kits.
 
I should mention, before I did the last three daily water changes I was seeing cloudy water (I'm assuming Ca was precipitating out). As of today, the cloudiness has gone away, so I'm assuming I'm heading in the right direction. I just wanted some pro-advice as to whether I should be doing something else.
 
just like Navycook said, if you are dosing, stop dosing.
what kind of salt do you use?
do you top off?
what's your salinity right now?
if you are not topping off, your reef salt is concentrated and so will all your other levels.
 
the reef buffer raises your alkalinity.
Rich, don't chase your pH, many people have crashed their tanks trying to chase their pH. as long as you have proper levels of Ca/Mg/Alk, your pH should be fine, even if it's 7.7 you don't have to try to correct it with chemicals. sometimes low O2 level causes low pH, that's why it lowers at night in a reef tank, because corals stop photosynthesis and start to use oxygen instead.
As long as your Ca/Mg/Alk are fine, you don't need to dose anything to raise your pH, because oxygen might be the cause.
If you are doing your weekly water change, you shouldn't need to dose anything.
 
My Salinity is at 1.025 ( I use a correctly calibrated refractometer). I've been using IO Reef Crystals. I top off daily using fresh RODI so I should not be concentrating any minerals. I figured out the pH issue the other day, but at that point it was too late. But basically I wasn't letting the CO2 escape and with the extra heat I was just creating a green house effect in my tank. I have the lid cracked now and it seems to be much more stable.

All that being said, should I let the Alk come down on it's own or continue the water changes?
 
if you have more sensitive corals in there like SPS corals, I would do a partial water change. Softies are more forgiving, so you might be okay. but if the livestock appears stressed, I would definitely do a water change.
 
Everything seems to be doing pretty well. Zoas have been sprouting babies more than before. I was more concerned about my RBTA, but even he is open up pretty big during the day. I might try a smaller water change tonight and then start back on my weekly schedule.
 
I would also try testing with a different tester. 17 seems very high for alkalinity and I would think your corals would be stressed. I would try to confirm that reading with a different tester. I have alot of SPS, so I make sure I have 2 different tester for the alkalinity because that is the biggest thing I dose.
 
The API test was even higher, but I don't trust them very much. What is a good third option. I did run the test twice and then checked the standard as well. I also was pretty sure things would look worse than they do.
 
If u have nothing but softies in ur tank I would probably wait 2 weeks without a wc. That way ur levels would drop. Cuz if u keep doing wc it will keep adding more but that's my opinion. And another test kit. I heard the red sea ones r pretty good.
 
It's weird, coz when I mix my batch, my fresh saltwater mix's alk never goes over 9dkh and I also use reef crystals. I wonder if you got a bad batch of salt, or bad testers, or maybe it was just the reef buffer that raised your alk.
Fresh saltwater should have much less alk than 17, so if you do a water change, it should help normalize parameters. But if your corals do not look stressed, then you can just go back to your normal schedule.
 
ColaAddict said:
the reef buffer raises your alkalinity.
Rich, don't chase your pH, many people have crashed their tanks trying to chase their pH. as long as you have proper levels of Ca/Mg/Alk, your pH should be fine, even if it's 7.7 you don't have to try to correct it with chemicals. sometimes low O2 level causes low pH, that's why it lowers at night in a reef tank, because corals stop photosynthesis and start to use oxygen instead.
As long as your Ca/Mg/Alk are fine, you don't need to dose anything to raise your pH, because oxygen might be the cause.
If you are doing your weekly water change, you shouldn't need to dose anything.
Click to expand...

Great advice.
 
If you want to step down your dkh simply put either a bit of lemon or lime juice in your tank wait a few hours and retest. In my 30 gal tank 2ml or so of lemon juice dropped my dkh by 1 or 2.
 
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