KH 800 mg/L Help

[FB]

First post, please help.

Ammonia = 0
Nitirite = 0
PH 8.2
Temp = 80
30 Gallon Tank
12 lbs live rock
3 inch argonite bed.
Salinity 1.024

5 Turbo Snails
4 blue hermit crabs
1 peppermint shrimp
1 Blue Damsel

My KH is very high my water test kit says >125 mg/L is ussually high so I'm assuming this is stupidly high.

What's the best way to correct this

Thanks

FB

 

[Anonymous]

125 mg/L is a little low in my opinion although I like keeping it a little higher than natural sea water.

For a reading of 800 mg/L I would say the test kit is defective and I'd look for a second opinion.

What's the Calcium level?

 

[trido]

And, FB :welcome:

 

[FB]

I don't have a Ca test kit yet. Maybe I'll bring it to LFS for testing.

Thanks

 

[FB]

I have an akalinity test kit and it's at the very top of that chart. KH and Alkalinity are the same are they not.

Thanks

FB

 

[Anonymous]

I have an akalinity test kit and it's at the very top of that chart. KH and Alkalinity are the same are they not.

Thanks

FB

Technically no but for reefkeeping purposes you can consider them the same.

If you mix up a fresh batch of saltwater what's the KH reading on that?

 

[FB]

I did a 4 gallon water change last night. The new batch of water had a "very high" top of the scale Alkalinity reading. I didn't run the other test as it is old and probably wrong.

The peppermint shrimp died before I did the water change. The snails are acting wierd but still alive the Damsel looks to be having a blast. Although I think the Damsel might be responsible for the shrimp death. He first stole his home and then was picking on him. The crabs are not moving around a lot but still actively eating.

Tank before water change

Ammonia 0
Nitirite 0
PH 8.3
Temp 80
Salinity 1.025

FB

 

[Anonymous]

You really need to get a better test kit. HIGH is a meaningless value. You need to know the actual numbers for Calcium and Alkalinity.

From your description it sound like you might have a bad batch of salt mix but there's no way of knowing without accurate test results.

 

[FB]

Well have had some more changes to the tank

5 turbo snails are now dead. (In the garbage)
1 missing hermit
2 inactive hermit (dead?)
1 alive but inactive (eating occasionally)
1 Blue Damsel seems fine.

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 50 (New)
Ph 8.2
Temp 80
Salinity 1.024
Ca 80 mg/L (New)
Didn't retest KH

I did a 20% water change tonight due to the High nitrate

The new batch of water was

RO Water
Ph 8.2
Salinity 1.024
KH 140 mg/L (I used the same test kit as the 800 mg/L. I will check the tank again tomorrow)
CA 420 mg/L

Is it possible the nitrate killed all the snails. Or possibly the low Calcium ??

I think with some more water changes I should be able to get this back under control

Any suggestions greatly appreciated

Thanks again

FB

 

[FB]

Through water changes and adding calcium to the tank I have managed to get things under control a little better.

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10
PH 8.2
Temp 80
Salinity 1.024
CA 220 mg/L - still to low
KH 320 mg/L - still to high

I also installed a protein skimmer this weekend. Filled the cup several times with ugly green water. I'm assuming this is normal and will eventually slow down.

I've been adding little bits of calcium every day but I can't get it to go above 220. Does anybody have any suggestions.

Thanks

FB

 

[Anonymous]

Larger water changes will made a really significant improvement. Try 50% if you have the ability.

Test the new saltwater to make sure it has good levels of Magnesium, Calcium, and Alkalinity. The water you used for the 20% was fine.

Calcium and ALK are consumed by corals and other skeleton building organisms so it's no surprise that levels don't rise if you're not dosing a lot.

IMO you're having tropuble raising Calcium because your Alkalinity is too high. It's also possible that Magnesium is low. Magnesium is often lowered from unbalanced Calcium and Alkalinity levels similar to what you're experiencing.

 

[FB]

Been slowly adding calcium and we are slowly getting progress.

Ca = 280 mg/L started moving up again
KH = 280 mg/L started to come down some more

What are the optimal levels for each and when should I start to dose Kalkwasser.

Still getting lots of Green water in my skim cup.

Thanks

FB

 

[ChrisRD]

A good range to target would be Ca=400-450 and KH=125-175.
IMO stability is more important than hitting exact numbers.

 

[FB]

Thanks for the numbers

Ca = 400 mg/L
KH = 220 mg/L

Should I now start topping up with kalkwasser now.

Thanks

FB

 

[ChrisRD]

Personally, I would keep up with the Ca additions a little longer and let the KH drop a bit lower before starting with kalkwasser.

 

[Anonymous]

Have you tested your source water without the salt mix?

Hard water will have high alk and KH ratings. My inlaw's water is unusable for aquarium purposes because of this.

Well water often shows this.

 

[FB]

I did a conversion from fresh to saltwater. the water used to setup the tank was tapwater and is very hard. I have sinced switched to culligan (can't yet afford my own RO unit). My KH levels are back down to 170 - 180.

I took the damsel back. Bought two clown's one has a nice case of ick. Started dosing the food in garlic to try and help. Since the fish cost less than the ick treatment (That may or may not work). I figure i'll try and let them fight it. If they parish I guess i'll be running fishless for a month and a bit to wait out the ICH life cycle and start over.

FB

 

[spaulr]

Check ebay for good deals on RO/DI units. I got mine from this guy and its been great. Customer service is very good too. You might also want to consider getting a TDS water quality meter to check your water. Here in Santa Barbara the water smells like chlorine and shows up around 430ppm on mine. You can't even drink the tap. I wouldn't. After the RO its down to 30ppm, after the single DI is at 1ppm. I bought mine from this guy.

http://stores.ebay.com/Filter-Direct-store

 

[Anonymous]

Check ebay for good deals on RO/DI units. I got mine from this guy and its been great. Customer service is very good too. You might also want to consider getting a TDS water quality meter to check your water. Here in Santa Barbara the water smells like chlorine and shows up around 430ppm on mine. You can't even drink the tap. I wouldn't. After the RO its down to 30ppm, after the single DI is at 1ppm. I bought mine from this guy.

http://stores.ebay.com/Filter-Direct-store

I got mine frome ebay too. Cool guy. Makes his units in Canada. I've been very happy with it.

I also went from 20-30ppm TDS to <1ppm when I added the DI chamber.

The whole deal only cost me $200, including some replacment filters, the DI, and the storage tank.

If you pay for water, the unit pays for itself in a matter of months.