tenurepro
New member
Hi folks... new to dosing, and having an issue that has me going nuts!!!
ok... using Redsea reef foundation dosing (Ca + KH) and test kit on 2 wk old tank (with livestock moved from smaller tank). The problem, in a nut shell, is i am trying to set my tank to Kh target of 12.6 for accelerated growth of sps frags, but my dosing doesn't seem to actually raise KH.... could something be buffering Kh changes ?
so, on the 26 of june, tank parameters were:
KH 9.8, Ca 430 ppm. that required an increase of 2.8 kh and 35 ppm Ca... i decided to spread the needed amount of buffer A (Ca) and buffer B (Kh) over 4 days to avoid shocking the system. The powders were dissolved in rodi water per kit recommendation (500 g/l for Ca, 100 g/l for Kh). For my 200L tank, this required adding 164 ml of buffer B (kh) and 35 ml of buffer (A (Ca) over 4 days, which i added to the tank in a high flow area.
so, today (2 july), i check the parameters again hoping that i will be close to targets. Ca was 455 -> almost bang on (target 465 ppm), but KH was 10! (instead of 12.6). That meant that my tank essentially buffered the addition of 2.8 kh over 4 days.
a little annoyed, i decided to add the equivalent of 1.4 KH to the tank today (1 single dose of 82.35 ml buffer B - trickled in a high flow area of the tank). I did that about 6 hours ago, and i just tested the parameters, and the Kh is actually still 10 ....
Ok, whats happening. i tried another kit (API) and validated that tank Kh was 10, so it is not a testing issue. i also decided to trouble shoot my mixing of buffer B. I took a 200 ml cup of tank water and tested Kh -> 10 as expected. i then added 1 ml of buffer B to the cup of tank water... this should contain 0.1 g of KH, which should raise alkalinity by 4+ degrees. I tested the alkalnity of the cup, and it was indeed over 14 Kh.
so, i know that the buffer was mixed correctly and that the test kits are accurate. my only conclusion is that the tank is consuming a large amount of alkalinity, or that something is buffering the change in alkalinity? (deep sand bed - arag-alive fiji pink?... could the skimmer be taking out my Kh molecules ? )
So not sure what to do...
i guess i can keep adding the daily max of Kh and test to see if KH will creep up.
that begs another question... is the daily increase of KH based on actual changes in KH of the tank, or supplement added--->
So, should i only add the maximum amount of buffer that should theoretically increase Kh by 1.4 (not factoring consumption / buffering), or should i keep adding buffer till i actually change the tanks Kh by 1.4?
thanks for your help!
ok... using Redsea reef foundation dosing (Ca + KH) and test kit on 2 wk old tank (with livestock moved from smaller tank). The problem, in a nut shell, is i am trying to set my tank to Kh target of 12.6 for accelerated growth of sps frags, but my dosing doesn't seem to actually raise KH.... could something be buffering Kh changes ?
so, on the 26 of june, tank parameters were:
KH 9.8, Ca 430 ppm. that required an increase of 2.8 kh and 35 ppm Ca... i decided to spread the needed amount of buffer A (Ca) and buffer B (Kh) over 4 days to avoid shocking the system. The powders were dissolved in rodi water per kit recommendation (500 g/l for Ca, 100 g/l for Kh). For my 200L tank, this required adding 164 ml of buffer B (kh) and 35 ml of buffer (A (Ca) over 4 days, which i added to the tank in a high flow area.
so, today (2 july), i check the parameters again hoping that i will be close to targets. Ca was 455 -> almost bang on (target 465 ppm), but KH was 10! (instead of 12.6). That meant that my tank essentially buffered the addition of 2.8 kh over 4 days.
a little annoyed, i decided to add the equivalent of 1.4 KH to the tank today (1 single dose of 82.35 ml buffer B - trickled in a high flow area of the tank). I did that about 6 hours ago, and i just tested the parameters, and the Kh is actually still 10 ....
Ok, whats happening. i tried another kit (API) and validated that tank Kh was 10, so it is not a testing issue. i also decided to trouble shoot my mixing of buffer B. I took a 200 ml cup of tank water and tested Kh -> 10 as expected. i then added 1 ml of buffer B to the cup of tank water... this should contain 0.1 g of KH, which should raise alkalinity by 4+ degrees. I tested the alkalnity of the cup, and it was indeed over 14 Kh.
so, i know that the buffer was mixed correctly and that the test kits are accurate. my only conclusion is that the tank is consuming a large amount of alkalinity, or that something is buffering the change in alkalinity? (deep sand bed - arag-alive fiji pink?... could the skimmer be taking out my Kh molecules ? )
So not sure what to do...
i guess i can keep adding the daily max of Kh and test to see if KH will creep up.
that begs another question... is the daily increase of KH based on actual changes in KH of the tank, or supplement added--->
So, should i only add the maximum amount of buffer that should theoretically increase Kh by 1.4 (not factoring consumption / buffering), or should i keep adding buffer till i actually change the tanks Kh by 1.4?
thanks for your help!
