ph and dkh

[victor626nj]

well it is very concentrated stuff man if you use alot it will sky rocket all your parameters...thus screwiing **** up but im pretty sure that it does raise your ph alk and calcium and if you use the brightwell aquaticks one it also raises the mag and strodium

 

[schwaggs]

You absolutly can overdose Kalk. Many tanks have crashed by overdosing kalk.

 

[schwaggs]

kevinbeth;131491 wrote: When i started my new 90 gal tank my ph was at 8.4 but my dkh was low.I have brought my dkh up to 9 now but my ph has fallen to 7.4. Is 7.4 dangerously low? Ihave a bottle of pro-buffer dkh, will that bring up my ph levels?

What did you add and when? Did you notice anything wierd when you dosed whatever you did? Are you sure you are accuratly measuring your pH? How do your corals look?

 

[skriz]

yeah, be careful with kalk. it can easily be overdosed.

Plus, you have to mix it and let it sit atleast a few hours befor you can dose it. I find it best to leave it 24 hrs. And then, you only want to use the clear liquid, not the sludge on the bottom!

 

[kevinbeth]

The tank has been running for roughly 2 weeks, i used everything from my old 75(rock sand water).I hadn't added anything when i tested it.The corals look great.much better than when they were in the 75 (no fish in this tank yet).I used the api kit twice and it said 7.4 i added the buffer last night and now it's 7.8,I know the buffer is just a temporary fix untill i figure out why.

 

[tim8111]

kevinbeth;132180 wrote: The tank has been running for roughly 2 weeks, i used everything from my old 75(rock sand water).I hadn't added anything when i tested it.The corals look great.much better than when they were in the 75 (no fish in this tank yet).I used the api kit twice and it said 7.4 i added the buffer last night and now it's 7.8,I know the buffer is just a temporary fix untill i figure out why.

What kind of chemicals are you dosing. 500 ppm of Calcium might be a tad high. You can't balance high Calcium and high Alkalinity. And pH is related to Alkalinity. Just my thoughts on the matter.

 

[kevinbeth]

I started using the reef salt and my calcium levels have been up there ever since.I was using the buffer to bring up my dkh.Know any good websites to explain the correlation between dkh, calcium , and ph?

 

[xyzpdq0121]

Have you tested your Mag?!?

Any change you do, just make sure you do it slowly. I slacked off on my maintence and testing. When I finally got around to doing a water change and test last week, my dKh was 5 and my Cal was 600 and my PH was having a hard time getting above 8.0. Over the past few days, I have be able to get my Mag up to 1250, my dKh up to 11 and my Cal down to about 420. Ph is still having a bit of an issue but it should rebound here shortly and some of it might be due to the CO2 build up in my enclosed house.

 

[olds350racer]

Victor626nj;131496 wrote: add kalk and slowly bring it up try not to use a buffer .....7.4 is a little low how are you testing it mine gets to 7.7 and i dont like that too much cause it will go up to 8.2 threw the day ...i have many swings in my ph and i think it is affecting my corals .....do you have a fug cuase if you do you can do a reverse light cycle

Victor, is there something I'm missing here? Why do you say not to use buffer? Are you saying "don't use buffer" or "don't use as the primary means to raise pH"? The reason I ask is that I dose sodium bicarbonate to balance my calcium. If I notice a downward pH trend, I replace the sodium bicarbonate with enough sodium carbonate to "bump" my pH back up. Is this not a good approach? If not, why?
Thanks
PS - Sorry for the hijack of the thread.