Abzdot Posted July 19, 2020 Share Posted July 19, 2020 Hi, I’m new to the hobby, been in it for around 4 months, I have a 50 litre (13.5 gal) tank and have had few problems but out of no where my Dkh has dropped down to 6.4 which is normally at 12! I tested twice with my salifert test kit which is in date till 2023. My cal is at 450 and mag at 1340, I use Red Sea coral pro salt Which makes this near impossible to happen as if I have calcium at 450 and mag at 1350 my all should be at 12. And I haven’t just started using this salt, I am half way through the 7kg bucket. does anyone have any ideas why my Dkh has/is dropping? Quote Link to comment
mitten_reef Posted July 19, 2020 Share Posted July 19, 2020 1 hour ago, Abzdot said: Hi, I’m new to the hobby, been in it for around 4 months, I have a 50 litre (13.5 gal) tank and have had few problems but out of no where my Dkh has dropped down to 6.4 which is normally at 12! I tested twice with my salifert test kit which is in date till 2023. My cal is at 450 and mag at 1340, I use Red Sea coral pro salt Which makes this near impossible to happen as if I have calcium at 450 and mag at 1350 my all should be at 12. And I haven’t just started using this salt, I am half way through the 7kg bucket. does anyone have any ideas why my Dkh has/is dropping? How quickly did this drop happen? Any effects on corals? If not, I won’t sweat it. do some water change to bring it up slowly. And don’t keep it at 12. Look around water chemistry forum (forums > system setup > water chemistry) on here, plenty of alk and dosing discussion. Quote Link to comment
Abzdot Posted July 19, 2020 Author Share Posted July 19, 2020 3 hours ago, mitten_reef said: How quickly did this drop happen? Any effects on corals? If not, I won’t sweat it. do some water change to bring it up slowly. And don’t keep it at 12. Look around water chemistry forum (forums > system setup > water chemistry) on here, plenty of alk and dosing discussion. This dropped over the course of a few days, I don’t test daily because I don’t have the time for that but I do test weekly and it was at normal parameters Quote Link to comment
Tamberav Posted July 19, 2020 Share Posted July 19, 2020 Do your have a lot of coral or coralline algae using it up? Quote Link to comment
mcarroll Posted July 22, 2020 Share Posted July 22, 2020 If you're using a large container of salt.... And if you didn't premix the container.... And if you're doing a pretty aggressive water change schedule... Then...it might be a problem of settling happening in the salt bucket that is causing your salt to mix to the wrong specs, which is then dragging your tank specs out of whack as you do water changes. Quote Link to comment
SaltyGallon Posted July 22, 2020 Share Posted July 22, 2020 There are a few causes: If you're keeping SPS and LPS coral they will be naturally sucking alk and calcium out of the water column as they grow - look up dosing... It's an integral part of keeping hard/LPS corals If you have lots of coraline it will have the same effect Sometimes salt can end up mixed unevenly in the bucket and cause odd alk measurements - give it a good mix before each water change to avoid wacky swings! Quote Link to comment
debbeach13 Posted July 22, 2020 Share Posted July 22, 2020 Great advice on mixing the salt up within the bucket before using it. Have you done any thing since Sunday? A WC or tested again? Quote Link to comment
Abzdot Posted July 23, 2020 Author Share Posted July 23, 2020 On 7/19/2020 at 6:17 PM, Tamberav said: Do your have a lot of coral or coralline algae using it up? I have a few coral but do have lots of coralline algae On 7/22/2020 at 7:58 AM, mcarroll said: If you're using a large container of salt.... And if you didn't premix the container.... And if you're doing a pretty aggressive water change schedule... Then...it might be a problem of settling happening in the salt bucket that is causing your salt to mix to the wrong specs, which is then dragging your tank specs out of whack as you do water changes. I have used half of the bucket and have had stable alk. On 7/22/2020 at 8:13 AM, SaltyGallon said: There are a few causes: If you're keeping SPS and LPS coral they will be naturally sucking alk and calcium out of the water column as they grow - look up dosing... It's an integral part of keeping hard/LPS corals If you have lots of coraline it will have the same effect Sometimes salt can end up mixed unevenly in the bucket and cause odd alk measurements - give it a good mix before each water change to avoid wacky swings! I do have lots of coralline algae. I have very few lps corals. i guess I’ll start mixing the tub up! 1 Quote Link to comment
SaltyGallon Posted July 23, 2020 Share Posted July 23, 2020 It'll be the coraline then ! 2 Quote Link to comment
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