SRC Member sugi Posted January 22, 2004 SRC Member Share Posted January 22, 2004 Hi guys, I have been facing with low KH probelm. I believe this has been going on from 4 months ago. My KH reading was about 7dKH about 4 months ago. So deceided to get carbonate and KH buffer, liquid type I used the 500ml botlle last month but reading still about 7dKH. I decided to go another testor and it is true that it's reading is still 6.5dKH. I just bought Seachem carbonate and KH buffer. I hope I can increase the water hardness. But I am afraid, it is because of other perimeter that I am unable to bring up the KH. Is KH related to any other water perimeter ? I did not any other thing into the water beside food and calcium. Please any advise ? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JuzzMarine Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 hi Sugi, Normal reef range dKH is within range of 5 to about 7 dKH, with pushed values being from 10 to about 11dKH. While maintaining alkalinity in the higher part of the normal range facilitates coral skeleton formation. (line taken from The Coral Reed Aquarium by Dr Ron) Base on the above you are safe to say. How old is your tank? Maintaining dKh is only 1 part of reef keeping only. So what about your other parameter. ie. PH, Calcium and so on. I use Kent marine buffer (powder form), quite effective for me. Able to bring value to 9dKH. You may consider using Kalkwasser too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRC Member dradttg Posted January 22, 2004 SRC Member Share Posted January 22, 2004 In order to rise the Carbonate hardness, you need to add the buffer consistently (about twice a week). My tank used to be 7 dKH but after constant buffering it was rised to 10 dKH. At present, my tank is 16 dKH even though I have not been adding the carbonate hardness buffer for at least 2 months. I think it could be due to my dosing of calcium twice a week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JuzzMarine Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 In order to rise the Carbonate hardness, you need to add the buffer consistently (about twice a week). My tank used to be 7 dKH but after constant buffering it was rised to 10 dKH. At present, my tank is 16 dKH even though I have not been adding the carbonate hardness buffer for at least 2 months. I think it could be due to my dosing of calcium twice a week. Hi dradttq, Base on my understanding, having too high dKH may not be a good thing. This show that you have too much carbon dioxide in the water and this in turn will bring your PH toward acidic. A simply illustration, During the day on a real reef (and in home aquarium), animals respire and algae photosynthesize. Although the respiration produces carbon dioxide, photosynthesis uses it up faster than it produced. This means less carbon dioxide, PH rises (about 8.4). During the night, both algae and animals respire, producing significant amounts of carbon dioxide, thus PH drops (about 7.9). This fluctuation of PH from a low value in the morning (as low as about 7.9) to a high value in the evening (up to about 8.4) is normal and is nothing to be concerned about. So some people like to control this fluctuation to minimium by having reverse lighting on their refugium or simply run them 24/7. Too much LS in an enclosed system, means more respiration, more carbon dioxide, more carbonate, but tends to push PH towards acidic. That's why people dose Kalkwasser to maintain PH, alkalinity and calcium, thats the beauty of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRC Member dradttg Posted January 22, 2004 SRC Member Share Posted January 22, 2004 I have been monitoring my pH too. So far it has been staying b/n 8.1 and 8.2 without any buffering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRC Member sugi Posted January 22, 2004 Author SRC Member Share Posted January 22, 2004 Juzzmarine, My tank is almost 1 year old. I do not have problem on the PH. It has been stable at 8.1 - 8.3 As for Calcium, it is rather high now. Over 500, probably borrowing another tester from friend to determine the value. I do not have much problem of corals dying. Probably I should get Kalkwasser too when shops opened. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRC Member dradttg Posted January 22, 2004 SRC Member Share Posted January 22, 2004 Juzzmarine, My tank is almost 1 year old. I do not have problem on the PH. It has been stable at 8.1 - 8.3 As for Calcium, it is rather high now. Over 500, probably borrowing another tester from friend to determine the value. I do not have much problem of corals dying. Probably I should get Kalkwasser too when shops opened. Thanks IMO I dont think you should try Kalkwasser since your pH is stable. There is a risk of overdosing and killing all your LS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuEl Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 Hi sugi! Hi five man..you're facing the same problem with me.. From what I am doing now, I can say adding ridiculous amounts of reef builder to increase carbonate hardness will not help. Neither will dosing kalk..your calcium levels will only escalate more,... Only thing you can do now is to change about 70% or more of your tank water. Do it SLOWLY. I'm changing 1/5th of my water every 3 days now. Quote Always something more important than fish. http://reefbuilders.com/2012/03/08/sps-pico-reef/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRC Member sugi Posted January 22, 2004 Author SRC Member Share Posted January 22, 2004 Hi Fuel, So you have no idea what was going on to our tank ? I had done 20% of water change last weekend Anyway I will try to do it every week, instead of 3 days. So Fuel, Does your corals/ fish are healhty? Do you see any sign of problem on your lifestock ? RDgs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JuzzMarine Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 Juzzmarine, My tank is almost 1 year old. I do not have problem on the PH. It has been stable at 8.1 - 8.3 As for Calcium, it is rather high now. Over 500, probably borrowing another tester from friend to determine the value. I do not have much problem of corals dying. Probably I should get Kalkwasser too when shops opened. Thanks Hi sugi, Since your PH is within range, calcium slightly high(maybe can feedback when you remeasure) but not a problem. May I know what's your LS level? If you have lots of coral or other organisms that withdraw calcium from the water, then no harm dosing Kalkwasser, but do it slowly. If not, IMO to continue to use your seachem marine buffer to try building up your dKH(since you already bought it, must well use it) and see how is it. What's the previous brand of marine buffer you have used? Lastly if all above fail, do water change as mention by fuel, the tradition way Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuEl Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 No point trying to buffer the dKH...i tried it after i changed like 30% of my water....and my corals responded badly again even though i dripped it in over 4-5 hours... Leave your kH at 7...it is perfectly FINE. Just keep changing water... At that kH your corals will grow slower only..they wun die. I'll probably keep changing water for the next 1 month before i decide to do anything. Quote Always something more important than fish. http://reefbuilders.com/2012/03/08/sps-pico-reef/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRC Member alanseah Posted January 22, 2004 SRC Member Share Posted January 22, 2004 well u need kh anf ph buffer... these buffer will help buffer your kh and ph in this way u r able to maintain your ph and kh.. go get the kent super kh ph buffer... very gd.. and dose then once a week prefer at nite... and then use Kalkwasser to slowly dose your tank.. also once a week... as Kalkwasser will help u maintain your kh and ph... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRC Member riot Posted January 23, 2004 SRC Member Share Posted January 23, 2004 hmm i thought KH has some relationship with Calcium? If your calcium levels are too high, it will bump down your KH levels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRC Member fnscasey Posted January 25, 2004 SRC Member Share Posted January 25, 2004 I doubt dosing any dKH buffer will bring up your alkalinity level if the calcium level is high !! I have experience this using the Kent Marine superbuffer dKH to bring up the alk level as my calcium is high. What u should do now is to stop dosing any chemical additives ! Let the calcium levels fall naturally as the calcium is used by corals, as well as invertebrates, clams, desirable algaes, and other tank inhabitants. Once the calcium level falls, dosing KH buffer is more efficient. To safely avoid dangerous imbalances in the Ca-Alk dynamic, aquarists simply need to avoid pushing either component to an extreme end or both simultaneously high. Within the accepted ranges (350-480 ppm Ca and 8-14 dKH Alk), one parameter can be pushed to a high end while the other is allowed to stray toward the middle or lower end.More importantly, consistent levels of both are far more supportive of growth in calcareous organisms than the inconsistent but high average of either component otherwise. I am a firm believer that alkalinity levels are more critical than calcium levels, so boosting calcium while letting alkalinity do its own thing is not the way to go. There is also the unfortunate fact that calcium and alkalinity levels tend to counteract each other where increasing calcium forces alkalinity to decrease and vice versa, even if this is not what is desired. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuEl Posted January 25, 2004 Share Posted January 25, 2004 I've stopped dosing any additives already. Yesterday I performed a 50% waterchange using Tropic Marin salt...very backache now... Weird thing is......I measured kH this evening...got a reading of 7.4. EXACTLY the same as the reading before i did the waterchange. What am I doing wrong? Argh...maybe I should'nt bother about kH anymore since it has given me more problems than benefits since I started measuring it. Now all I get are shrunken mushrooms and closed zoanthids. Quote Always something more important than fish. http://reefbuilders.com/2012/03/08/sps-pico-reef/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRC Member SharkBait Posted January 25, 2004 SRC Member Share Posted January 25, 2004 7.4 is actually ok..whats your calcium level? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuEl Posted January 25, 2004 Share Posted January 25, 2004 Before I did water change it was about 480ppm...now it should be around the normal range? Quote Always something more important than fish. http://reefbuilders.com/2012/03/08/sps-pico-reef/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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