Help - Kh problems

[Kymaro]

Hard for me to explain.

I have been fighting to keep my KH at recommended levels. Mine runs regularly at 6 to 7. My lfs advised me to use Eight.four by aquavitro. I have a 46g and I'm dosing with 10 ml daily (for a month now). I was advised if my KH ran around 7 and everything looked healthy not to be concerned. I understand that there is a balance between KH and Cal/Mag. I have a few beginner corals and have started monitoring my cal/mag. Im flustered that I feel something is not right but I am being told "it's ok" Although everything looks healthy and colorful my cal/mag levels keep rising. I read: Corals can not use the Cal/mag in water if it doesn't have the proper amount of KH.

Here are my levels as of tonight:
pH:7.5
Ammonia: 0
Nitrate: 2
Phosphate: 0
KH: 6 (dosed 8.4 this morning)
Calcium: 450
Magnesium 1300+ (off the chart???)
Temp 81.5 F
Salinity 1.026

Inhabitants: Green Anemone, RBT anemone, Green Hammer, Green Nepthea Leather, Green Star Polyps, Palythoa Polyps, Pink Clove Polyps, pulsating xenia. Fish: Ocellaris Clown, Purple Dotty Back, Yellow Jaw Fish, Royal Damsel and a Peppermint Shrimp. A few cleaner crabs and about a dozen cleaning snails.

Everyone is feed Mysis feast and Phyto feast daily

I recently did a Chemi-Clean (about 3 weeks I think) to kill of red-bacteria. Everything survived and the tank is clear.

Oh my water is RO water mixed with Instant Ocean (Not the reef type), I have been mixing my own salt for about a year now. I'v added a few pictures if it helps any. I perform 10g water change weekly (more so every 5 days)

(Hammer head was almost dead from ChemiClean but is turning around nicely)

 

[bertoni]

Many tanks consume 2-3 dKH per day. I'm not sure what you mean by "dosed 8.4". There's a supplement called 8.4, I think, or did you mean that you dosed the alkalinity up to 8.4 dKH.

The pH is low, but that might be related to the low alkalinity. Personally, I would try measuring and dosing alkalinity in the morning and evening, and dosing accordingly for a few days. That should get a good trend line, and we'll be able to tell more about what's happening.

 

[Kymaro]

Eight.four (8.4) is the name of the supplement used to raise carbonate alkalinity and also raises & buffers pH. I administer into my tank at 10 ml daily. I can not find a specific "amount" of (dKH) it actually adds to my tank. Only that it supplies a balanced (carbonate/bicarbonate) buffer. Instructions say -once per day-. I will call the manufacture to see if it's safe to use twice a day. Is there something better or more specific to raising the KH? In the mean time should I be concerned with the elevated Calcium and Magnesium? :hmm2:

 

[bertoni]

I can't find any documentation on the concentration of that product. You can use baking soda for a while to see what's happening. This calculator will work:

http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html

It requires a guess as to the water volume, but dosing and then measuring the alkalinity a few minutes later should tell you how close the estimate was.

The calcium level is good as is, and the magnesium level should be safe enough for now. I suspect that the problem is that the tank needs a lot more of the eight.four per day to stay in the acceptable range. I'd try testing and then dosing on a regular schedule, at least once a day, for a few days or so.

 

[Kymaro]

Thank you, Bertoni. I heard of using baking soda but never really was able to find some form of "formula" to dose with. I think I will try the Baking Soda and continue dosing the eight.four daily. The company for the Eight.Four stated they only recommend dosing 10 ml a day and if that was not working I needed to find what was the cause of the imbalances.

Thank you for the reassurance that the cal/mag is currently safe for my tank.

 

[bertoni]

Hmm, the problem isn't any "imbalance". The problem is a higher rate of consumption. I don't even know what they might mean by "imbalance".

 

[Kymaro]

Is there anything specific I should be on the look out for that would be consuming my KH? I know bacteria does, which I siphon my rocks at each water change. And there does not seem to be an 'over-growth' of any 1 thing. I don't think I have the tank over loaded, my tank inhabitants are listed about and everything is small in size.

 

[bertoni]

Coralline algae can consume a lot of calcium and alkalinity, as do stony corals. Those are the usual suspects.

 

[Kymaro]

I want to end this tread with the latest update:

Thank you Bertoni, I used the additive of Baking Soda and brought my dKh up to 8 with minimal effect to my pH. I am now continuing using the product "Eight.Four" daily. It has almost been a week and so far my dKH has remained stable at 9 and my pH at 8. Thank you.

 

[bertoni]

You're welcome. That sounds like good progress!