My KH/Alk too high

T

Tab964

Member
I do not understand how it is possible but I am sure Chem'ist would say it is.
My calcium is low at 320
Ph at 8.4
my alk/Kh is off the charts at 18.0Dhk/6.4 meg/l and Alk 6.4 meg/l.

I stupidly thought since my calcium was low and my Ph was fine that the Alk was fine as well and my cheap test kit said so.

I bought the Salifert which came with a check vile of water with a Kh of 8.1dhk and it tested correct with the +-.3 it states.

Now how do I lower these numbers without doing a massive water change. How will it affect my corals I have a few LPS like hammer/frogspawn and some soft Zoo's and leathers.:hammerhea :banghead:
 
Clownfish518

Clownfish518

Razorback
PREMIUM
When I hooked up my kalk reactor for the first time, my dKh went up high, to 19. I frantically searched the web, and it seems that a high alkalinity may have bad long term effects, but is not immediate danger. Nothing in my tank was unhealthy.

I adjusted my routines, and did more frequent water changes and brought it down slowly. I think you need to fix this, but can do it slowly
 
T

Tab964

Member
The salt is Oceanic it comes in a large plastic bin type thing. No I do not dose but I do add calcium liquid as stated on the bottle. I checked my source water and it comes at low alk and hk. And since my Calcium and Ph were always running low I did not check the alk as much as I sould have.
 
Z

zy112

Active Member
Hi Tab, I actually just had very similar numbers to you. When I was gone my dosing got out of wack and I think they forgot to use the buffer, but my PH was at 8.4 KH at 14 Ca at 400. I did a 20% water change and it got back within reason
 
T

Tab964

Member
Yes I am doing a water change now at about 25%. My limited knowledge on that was that Ph and Alk were were close you could not have high Ph with low Alk but further research said yes. I thought it seems my corals were not as fully open as usual the LPS were out but not the normally inflated look and the zoos are open but the tentacles did not seem as long as normal.
 
T

Tab964

Member
How do I know if it a testing error. I checked with the test vile it test kit came with and tested both the source water and a freshwater aquairium I have and they seemed normal.
 
B

BobBursek

Active Member
I looked at the Oceanic results from RC, if you are doing Wc you should have close to those readings unless you have tons of corals using up Ca and Alk. As far as a testing error, I would have a offset in my check book registry, and the banks, it was always my fault where I carried a 10 wrong, but never say it when I went over it to or 3 times before I sat down with the bank! I am not familur with Salifert Alk test kit but could be a bad batch, can you take a water sample to LFS and have them check it? Other wise if not dosing Alk will come down on its own. Maybe Boomer will chime in on "his" forum!
 
T

Tab964

Member
thanks for all the advice and the links to articles. I have seen a number of times the term "precipitation" when it comes to calcium. In layman's terms what does that mean?
 
B

BobBursek

Active Member
Can be a disolved chemical in the liquid, and when a new chemical is added causes the previous to come out of solution,{already disolved in the liquid} to a solid again, that is precipitaion.
 
T

Tab964

Member
Well I just finished the 25% water change, will check the numbers again in a few hours. I have some reading it get to and try to change my mind thought of "You can not have low PH and calcium and high Alk".

Thanks again for all your help!
 
T

Tab964

Member
Well this AM my Alk seems to be slightly higher at 18.6 dkh ph is slightly lower at 8.0 and calcium is unchanged at 320. This is after the 25% water change and I added seachem reef complete to help raise the calcium level. and I would have to get the calcium over 420 to equal the alk at 18.5 is this even possible without rasing the PH, which my system seems to take the opposite path.

I may have read incorrectly but it seems that I need to raise the calcium to lower the alk but it seems the calcium did not raise and the ph lowered and the alk increased.
 
B

BobBursek

Active Member
As I said, I would get a different Alk test kit and or have your LFS test your water for Alk, Ca, and Mg to get a different opinion.
 
Boomer

Boomer

Reef Sanctuary's Mr. Wizard
Tab

precipitation" when it comes to calcium. In layman's terms what does that mean?

Calcium usually "floats" around in water as just calcium, Ca++. Under the right conditions, such as the Alk getting to high, the Ca++ to high or the pH tom high or a combo of them, the Ca++ combines with the Alk, which is often CO3--

Ca++ + CO3--(Alk) ===> CaCO3, a solid like that on aragonite sand.

You can not have low PH and calcium and high Alk

Sure, if there is to much CO2 in the room air or tank the pH will drop no matter what the Alk or Calcium is. Also, it one keeps pumping up the Alk, to high it can pull Calcium out of the water, Ca++ + CO3--(Alk) ===> CaCO3. In the olden day when the Calcium was to high this is how we use to get it down

Have you been adding buffer to raise the pH ? If you do this with high CO2 you will get what you are getting. You DO NOT add buffers to raise the pH.

Salifert did have a bad batch of Alk kits, so that may be it. Test the water with another kit or try your kit at the LFS against their kit.
 
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