Damn dKh...

r20crazy

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#1
so noticed this morning one clown has pop eye, the other has no dorsal fin, and my monticap looks like chit (thankfully my growout coral is still a beautiful brown), and a florida ric is melting. so did a quick test... (lights on for 4 hrs)

35ppm salinity
460 Cal
NO3 (undetectable on API kit)
phosphate undetectable with API
PH 7.53
dKh 5 !!!!
Mg no test kit

i use a red sea blue/coral pro mix that tests at 10dKh... and I ato kalk 4 hefty teaspoons/5 gallons, with average ato of 1gal/day...

did a 5g water change 30mins ago (do so weekly), all numbers unchanged except tank went from 5 to 5.6dKh in 40g tank

something that i'm missing? it is a HEAVY lps tank with large colonies. I dont add more kalk to the ato as it seems such a waste as so much settles out, but I will if rcmded.

planning another 5g wc either shortly or tomorrow, as dont wanna raise to fast.
 

BgFish

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#2
Magnesium needs to be at proper levels to maintain dkh- I don’t quite understand why but they work hand in hand with each other.

if you don’t already have, I would pick up some 2 part like what brs sells with the mag/ca/alk.

Sounds like your tank is maturing to a point where water changes alone can’t keep up with the uptake of your corals. This is a good problem to have.

with ca and mag you can dose to proper levels in one shot. But with alk you will need to raise it SLOWLY. Like .5 dkh a day or less. So you will need to test daily and dose daily.
What alk test are you using?
 
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#3
what salt mix are you using? I had this problem with TM. Alk was low so I did water changes to bring it up right? Wrong. My mix was low so it made no difference. Being lazy and not testing enough so my alk hovered around 6 dkh and lost some sps before I realized what was going on. I went back to IO/RC after that even tho it was [lazy] user error lol.
 

r20crazy

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#4
tank has been running for almost 14 years.

all tests are API except salinity (refracto) and ph is a handheld. NEVER tested or had any issues until i had to switch salts from d-d h2Ocean magnesium pro to red sea blue/pro mix as d-d cant be found since feb.

dosing is not an option other than kalk, as i work nights so cant test perams when lights are on most days as sleeping. I refuse to automate anything more than my reefkeeper lite (which is basically only temp/light control) and ato as its just more things to fail. keep it simple

the nsw mixes to 10kdh even after mixing (heated) for a week. I am not opposed to doing more frequent wc's (like 5g twice a week) instead of dosing
 
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#5
API are garbage test kits. If you really want to find the problem get an icp test. It helped me find some problem areas in my system
 

r20crazy

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icp tests you are just chasing and looking for numbers at that instant and mean nothing 2 weeks later when u get results..... my opinion
 
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r20crazy

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i know... but i dont test or chase numbers.. only when chits wrong... so gives me an idea when chits way off like this.

API are garbage test kits. If you really want to find the problem get an icp test. It helped me find some problem areas in my system
 
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#10
Get some decent test kits. Do another water change ASAP. Keeping your water quality high and the Popeyes should heal quickly. If your nitrate and phosphate are truly zero that is a problem. More likely the junk test kits than really zero. All most all life forms needs phosphate to live.
 

All Delight

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#11
PH is low too.

I've had test kits go bad on me, even within the expiration date. So now if things don't add up, I test but with a different brand test kit. Doesn't have to be the same result, but it should be within the neighborhood.

Main kit I use weekly is salifert, backup kit is red sea.
 
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icp tests you are just chasing and looking for numbers at that instant and mean nothing 2 weeks later when u get results..... my opinion
i know... but i dont test or chase numbers.. only when chits wrong... so gives me an idea when chits way off like this.
I don’t do an ICP regularly. But I am going to try to do them quarterly. They give you a base line of where your test kits are at. When I package up a sample I fill up a large glass. I then fill my sample vials when I do tests for all the kits I have. Which are all the Red Sea protest kits.

I then log the Red Sea results in apex and wait for my icp test results. Doing this gives me a piece of mind knowing if my kits are off or not. Now I don’t chase numbers to be exact on point but I do like to know that when I’m testing I’m getting results that are fairly accurate.
Also how often do you calibrate the pH meter. I run 3 pH probes on my tank and I do calibrate them monthly. I bought a year supply of calibration fluids off eBay for like $20 and pour a small amount in old Red Sea test containers when I need to recalibrate the probes.

This is another piece of mind that I know my equipment is running properly. Granted it’s excessive. But on my 300 a few years ago I didn’t do crap to that tank. I didn’t test regularly. I didn’t do water changes. The tank did great for a few years. Then all of a sudden the tank went down hill and when it went I went fast. I got massive algae issues. I lost a few fish that I had for years (sounding familiar). Then I took the tank down and took a break. It left a sour taste in my mouth. Then when I got the itch to get back in the hobby I started looking at articles of tanks that did well for many years and one of the patterns I noticed was these reefers did was test regularly. By testing regularly the noticed any small changes and could correct before that small changes could turn into a large problem.
S—- I test bi weekly and I still hit a large problem in my nutrient levels feel to low and my corals are now starving.
Yes I know people have luck with not testing regularly and yes even a broken clock is correct twice a day. But I’m not a gambling man and don’t want to play a game of roulette with the life of my corals and fish.

Dam I just spewed a load of nonsense lol

PH is low too.

I've had test kits go bad on me, even within the expiration date. So now if things don't add up, I test but with a different brand test kit. Doesn't have to be the same result, but it should be within the neighborhood.

Main kit I use weekly is salifert, backup kit is red sea.
Yea my Red Sea cal test was a 100ppm off the icp test so I contact Red Sea and they sent me a new one.
I had a neighbor years back that used api and would always talk smack on how his tank flourished and he didn’t need those expensive test kits (he did do weekly water changes tho). When after a year or so his tank took a dive and he started loosing stuff like crazy. He couldn’t figure it out why. He telling me “everything is testing ok and I keep doing water changes”. I tell him to bring a cup of water over and I’ll test his water. His alk was thought the roof at 14+. He got a bad batch of salt but he didn’t know cause the api test kit he was using was garbage.
 

r20crazy

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#13
UPDATE:

ok so got some real test kits. all is good except the ph (yes i just recalibrated my handheld)... but the ph is the same in tank as in my NSW mixing station

35ppm
420 Cal (salifert)
1320Mg (aquaforest)
11.5 dKh (salifert)
7.6Ph (in tank) 7.7Ph (NSW) 6.8Ph (ro/di 7 stage) [lights on for 5 hrs at test of 8hr period]

I did not check the ph of the ato/kalk mix but can if makes a difference.

so may need to just bump my ph up in NSW and be good? I'll add an airstone to tank 1st but dont expect a difference as have a skimmer
 

r20crazy

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#14
lights just went off.

Ph 8.0 after 8hrs light period. (in tank)

adding air stone now...update tomorrow with those values
 
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