Dkh 13.7 advice requested (1 Viewer)

[Tray]

I have a dkh issue that I don’t know what to do, experts please educate me. Red Sea 625 xxl started late August. Added brs, marine depot, dry rock “Tonga, Tonga plates, punkei, and base rock about 150 lb, used 180 pounds of tropical reef snow flakes, however I did not rinse anything, strait from box to tank. “ I know I scewed up”, nevertheless I felt with cloudy tan water for a month, with the help of the tunze 9430 everything became crystal clear. Cylcled to 0 amonina, 5 nitrate, 0 phosphate, 8.1 ph. Calcium 400 mag 1400, dkh 13.7. This has been the readings since I started testing. Added 5 or so fish , and a bunch of coral frags zoas and sps mostly..( yes I know I am a idiot), I have done 30 percent w/c every month since August using Red Sea pro salt. I have validated the dkh with Hana, Red Sea rest, api, all day about the same thing on dkh. I started dosing a few days ago using Sea chem fusion 2 part 60 mil per day to see if anything might bring it down. Yes I know 2nd part is alk, but I was hoping it would have some magical ingredients to stabilize the dkh. So far no magic. I have no idea how to lower it. Any advice is welcome. Just to clarify, I am dosing part 1 and part 2 equals at 60 mil per day.

 

[FarmerTy]

Stop dosing. [emoji6]

Also, use a different brand of salt, Red Sea Pro mixes with crazy high alk. Otherwise, if your corals aren't dying, let the alk come down naturally with uptake.

If things are dying, use muriatic acid to lower your alk. Read up on how to do that on the internet. Its an acid so proper safety is a must when handing and using.

 

[Tray]

Hard to point it to salt, have rsm 250 that uses the same salt and same time w/c with rodi water, has dkh of 8.2. I have been testing same time to validate test kits. But I do that you for the acid advice. Could I just shut down the part 2 dosing and continue the calcium to try to help it lower the dkh?

 

[webster1234]

Agree with above. If you don't have corals sucking up the alk and calcium, you don't need to dose anything. As coraline starts to grow, that will consume some. But for now, water changes are sufficient. I have a lot of corals and love the Coral Pro salt. What are you mixing your sg at? I set mine at 1.025 and I have never had a dKh of 13.7. Is it possible you are mixing it at 1.026 or 1.027? If you like Red Sea salt, you could always drop down to the regular Red Sea salt. It mixes with a lower dKh. Then kick it back up later on.

 

[webster1234]

Hard to point it to salt, have rsm 250 that uses the same salt and same time w/c with rodi water, has dkh of 8.2. I have been testing same time to validate test kits. But I do that you for the acid advice. Could I just shut down the part 2 dosing and continue the calcium to try to help it lower the dkh?

Don't touch anything...In fact, stop your water changes for a month and just let the tank balance out on its own. But don't don't don't dose anything. And don't add anything to try and bring it down. You will end up chasing your tail. Just let the salt do its thing. With my tank, I did nothing but water changes with Coral Pro for the first 3 years and had a beautiful tank.

 

[Tray]

I am just confused why my old tank Red Sea tank rsm 250 maintains 8.2 dkh using the same salt mixture on same day same brute trash can same rodi water, but new 625 maintains 13.7. They are in the same room about 8 feet apart both mixed to 1.25 sg . It is indeed a mystery, other than acid is there anything else that would bring it down? Is it possible that my corals will be ok at 13.7 dkh? I turned dosing pump off, and perhaps I will pick up reg Red Sea for next w/c and see if it drops. I will keep updating with my findings.

 

[webster1234]

Could be your rock, sand, any number of things. My money is on the sand. Just don't dose anything for a while and let nature take its course. 13.7 dKh will not kill your corals. In fact, Red Sea recommends running sps tanks that high. That is one of the reasons their Coral Pro mixes so high. They want it close to what they feel your tank should be at all the time when you do water changes. As long as your pH isn't off the chart, you will be fine and it will come down over time. It is impossible to keep alk at that level for extended periods without dosing A LOT.

 

[Tray]

Thanks to all, I think I will take the advice of discontinuing all dosing, and skip 1 month water change and test for dkh frequent to see if it declines in the month and do nothing. I will advise of my findings. You guys have help me relax about it since corals should be ok.

 

[Clownfish Chris]

Nothing in reef keeping ever happens fast. The guys who responded really know their stuff. As they said, the best action now is no action. Next time, use regular Red Sea salt. Your tank will be fine.

 

[Diesel]

Uhm.......... something fishy here.

With ALK at 13.7 it hard to believe the pH sits at 8.2.
Lets do a few test.
Morning at 7am test ALK and the pH, do this again at noon and again at 6pm.
Let me know the out come.

 

[RR-MAN]

Once you stop dosing your dkh will go down gradually.

60ml is a lot for a bare tank especially fusion-it's a very concentrated product.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Tray]

Diesel, sorry I just read your message to late to test at work now. I will try alk test tomorrow morning, however I have a Milwaukee ph meter and I did see it at 8.2 this morning as I passed by on way to work at 700. However I will be able to test alk Tonight. That for helping me.

 

[Diesel]

How long you have the Milwaukee running on your tank?

 

[Tray]

About 2 weeks

 

[RR-MAN]

PH is irrelevant in this case-


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Tray]

At 3 pm dkh is 12.9 and ph is 8.1. I will check it again at 9 pm

 

[Tray]

Dkh 12.7 ph 8.1 at 8 pm. It is appearing that my beginner skill set has shown my ignorance. Clearly a example of having tools and no idea how to use them. Unplugged dosing pump and now understand testing before acting is best. Sorry for the false alarm. However one more test at 0700 tomorrow and if results continue to decline in dkh, will indeed prove I am moron reef keeper. Again thank everyone for their guidance.

 

[FarmerTy]

No need to be so hard on yourself. We've all been there.

Oh, and for the mystery of why the same water caused one tank to have super high alk yet the other tank had normal alk is entirely based on coral uptake. Your established tank uses up alk at the same speed you did water changes so the alk never increased. The new tank had hardly any uptake so when you added the high alk from Red Sea Pro, it stayed high instead of being used up by corals.

 

[Diesel]

^^^^^ what Ty says^^^^^
Established tanks dealing with a lot more you think.
Your corals consuming only about 50% of your BIG three.
CUC, coralline algae, skimmer and reactors all are ALK magnets

 

[Tray]

Just to conclude this thread so closer to my ignorance, 7 a.m. test flowed suit dkh 12.2 ph 8.0 At what level of dkh and calcium should I plug the doser back in? And how much of fusion 2 part 1 and 2 should I set the pumps to.